J. Edgar Hoover: Memo on the Leak of Vietnam War Information

About the Author

J. Edgar Hoover, who directed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for eight different presidents over a forty-eight-year period, dominated federal law enforcement through much of the twentieth century. Hoover, however, was also a controversial figure. He maintained his power in Washington, D.C., in part by amassing enormous amounts of information on enemies both real and perceived. Many allege that Hoover regarded constitutional rights as an inconvenience and routinely engaged in illegal activities and “dirty tricks” in the investigation not only of criminals but also of those who held political beliefs he considered a threat to American security. His targets included such figures as the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abbie Hoffman, leading member of the Youth International Party (Yippies) and one of the Chicago Seven, a group charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot for protests that took place in Chicago, Illinois, at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

John Edgar Hoover was born on January 1, 1885, in Washington, D.C. Little is known about his early life. He attended George Washington University, taking a law degree in 1917. During World War I he worked at the U.S. Justice Department and rose to the head of the Enemy Aliens Registration Section at a time when the nation felt deep unease about immigration and subversive foreign influences. Then, in 1919, Hoover was appointed head of the Justice Department's Radical Division (later called the General Intelligence Division), which played a major role in the Palmer raids of 1919 and 1920. Some ten thousand suspected political radicals were arrested in the raids. Hoover was chosen to be deputy director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1921. In 1924 he was named acting head of the bureau. On May 10, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge appointed him director of the bureau, which became known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. In this capacity he produced a large number of documents, many of them in the form of memos summarizing his activities or issuing directives to members of the FBI in connection with investigations.

In the 1930s, under Hoover's direction, “G-men,” as FBI agents were known, focused their attention on organized crime and gangsterism. In the years leading up to World War II, Hoover's greatest concern was the threat of foreign subversives and saboteurs on American soil. This concern with subversion deepened during the cold war, when Hoover's focus was on Communism and then on antiwar and revolutionary groups, including members of the civil rights movement. His concern with subversion and revolutionary sentiments is reflected in various documents produced by Hoover during his tenure at the FBI. He also made his concern with Communists and subversion the subject of books, though it is likely that the books under his name were ghostwritten. Hoover died on May 2, 1972.