Once a revered political figure the public looked to for advice on everything from crime to child rearing, J. Edgar Hoover—the former director of the FBI from its inception in 1935 to his death in 1972—is now known as a bigot who abused his power to squash progressive causes and spy on political enemies. Before the creation of the FBI, he headed the Radical Division in the Justice Department, where he orchestrated the Palmer Raids against communist and socialist immigrant groups. Under his leadership, the FBI started its COINTELPRO program to dismantle left-wing activism, known for stunts like urging Martin Luther King Jr. to kill himself and attempting to blackmail him with evidence of extramarital affairs. One could be forgiven for imagining Hoover as an omniscient boogeyman, spying on activists out to ruin his American dream.
