Hoover Takes FBI Helm: Five Decades of Power
J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation (renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935) on May 10, 1924, at age 29. He immediately professionalized the agency, requiring agents to have law or accounting degrees and establishing fingerprint files, forensic laboratories, and the FBI National Academy for training. He also built a vast domestic surveillance apparatus, maintaining secret files on politicians, civil rights leaders, journalists, and celebrities. The FBI's COINTELPRO operations targeted Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers, the American Indian Movement, and antiwar groups through illegal wiretapping, infiltration, and disinformation campaigns. Hoover served 48 years as director, through eight presidents, dying in office on May 2, 1972. Congress subsequently limited future directors to ten-year terms.
May 10, 1924
102 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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