The Complex Life of J. Edgar Hoover, the Man Who Built the FBI & Targeted MLK | Amanpour and Company

[@asbeautifulasasunset]

She doesn't talk about Hoover's blackmailing of political figures and Hollywood writers, actors, producers as well. JFK wanted to fire Hoover but couldn't because Hoover would blackmail him. JFK had to accept LBJ as his Vice President or it's likely Hoover would have discredited JFK by means of an affair he had. Hoover is practically synonymous with blackmail. That's how Hoover remained in power for so long. See youtube Video: "J. Edgar Hoover the man who rebuilt the FBI | Dark Side of the FBI". Also, investigative journalist and author, Whitney Webb, has written two volumes that every American should probably read: One Nation Under Blackmail. The KIng family won a court case in 1999 that proved government involvement of Martin Luther King, Jr. Who was in charge of the the FBI at the time? Who hated King with an "insane" hatred? Don't whitewash Hoover. He didn't stay in power because he was a "good bureaucrat".

[@pj61114]

Great Comment! J Edgar was a more bad than good conservative. PBS types protect Democrats and Liberals. Absolutely some conservatives are not always on the up and up. I am waiting for the day Amanpour & Company review a book that brings up dirt on a Democrat/ Liberal and not just once a year to fake fairness.

[@donnaaarons2556]

thank you. it was difficult to listen to this whitewash of his blackmailing.

[@aldadebater]

Where's the white-washing?

[@pj61114]

@@aldadebater WOW! Unless you do more research you will never know or perhaps even then you will never know. It depends on your level of confirmation bias if after more research you don’t see it.

[@presterjohn1697]

This was truly a bizarre and counterintuitive attempt to sanitize J. Edgar Hoover's well documented infamous legacy. Hoover was always a enemy to the working class, artist, labor unions, civil rights, and human decency. He didn't simply turn sour in the 1960s. He was never a rogue agent. Hoover was consistent in his steadfast service to the American power structure.

[@sxt4447]

The wildest contradiction about J. Edgar Hoover is that he was openly gay but secretly African American

[@umalaurenbowman7276]

Is that a fact? I did notice he looked African American in his young photos

[@sxt4447]

@@umalaurenbowman7276 There are African Americans who have told the press that they always knew they were related to him but didn’t want to be associated with him, similar to the relatives of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Obviously, J. Edgar never confirmed nor denied the claims but it’s pretty clear to me.

[@GirmaKassa-ip7ht]

It’s not really a contradiction. Those that usually go to the extreme on things have something they’re covering up. His racist college frat club boys would have known if he was black though

[@timothyfreeseha4056]

I think the Biogapher makes such an important observation in pointing out that Hoover could not have done with his office what he allegedly did- good or bad, without the wide support he had in doing anything. It gives you pause to consider the leaders we have now & the transport they have in the support they have behind the scenes.

[@carlettesouthern-robert2992]

J. Edgar Hoover also controlled many important people b/c he did survalence on them, looking for dirt and information, to hold over their heads. Many were caught in J Edgar Hoover's web.

[@portugal5698]

Of course, you never knew that ever since we allowed the mob to whack JFK, almost every pres. since then is some tool who is nothing more than a rep. for a team of “mill/billionaire Palpatine” figures lurking in the shadows, pulling all the strings??

[@leemdynamo]

Part of the reason for Hoover's "popularity" was the way he maintained secrecy, even to the point of using FBI Agents to intimidate those who spoke out critically. I do not believe his relentless campaign against Dr. King was supported by the public. The fact is the public did not know about many of the things Hoover was doing. There is some gray here and that confuses matters. He made public statements about King. Most of what Hoover did with respect to Dr. King was done secretively. Hoover placed ads in newspapers about Dr. King's public appearances because he wanted white southerners to cause trouble at those events. James Earl Ray saw one of these ads and thus knew about Dr. King's appearance in Memphis. J. Edgar Hoover bears direct responsibility for Dr. King's death. J Edgar Hoover subverted the functioning of his agency.

[@presterjohn1697]

How can Hoover subvert the functioning of a organization who "always" sought to derail civil rights from inception. Hoover's first major target was Marcus Garvey in the 1919?

[@leemdynamo]

@@presterjohn1697 Where did I use the word subvert? Of course, he subverted the Constitution. I think that is obvious. He broke laws repeatedly. At times, it was under the direction of presidents. No president, however, wants responsibility for the things he did to Dr. King.

[@presterjohn1697]

@@leemdynamo your quote, "J Edgar Hoover subverted the functioning of his agency." From it's inception the FBI as a whole was used as a tool of the American business class (fascism) to subvert democracy, organized labor, civil rights and basic human decency. J. Edgar Hoover had a well documented record of infamy spanning half a century. He didn't simply turn sour in the 1960s. On Hoover subverting the Constitution? The US was fascist before the ink could dry in 1776. The US was a dress rehearsal for Nazi Germany, and furthermore the US had a far greater margin of success at it. Nazi officials came to the US "before" the start of WWII to study the mechanics on how to brutally subjugate populations and formally codify the sickness into law.

[@presterjohn1697]

@@leemdynamo your quote, "J Edgar Hoover subverted the functioning of his agency." You're treating the FBI and the US Constitution as if these were wholesome institutions and documents who somehow got mucked up by bad apples. Both were founded and driven by amoral men with criminal motives. From it's inception the FBI as a whole was used as a tool of the American business class (fascism) to subvert democracy, organized labor, civil rights and basic human decency. J. Edgar Hoover had a well documented record of infamy spanning half a century. He didn't simply turn sour in the 1960's. On Hoover subverting the Constitution? The US was fascist before the ink could dry in 1776. The US was a dress rehearsal for Nazi Germany, and furthermore the US had a far greater margin of success at it. Nazi officials came to the US "before" the start of WWII to study the mechanics on how to brutally subjugate populations and formally codify the sickness into law.

[@johnmaisonneuve9057]

I read the book, couldn’t put down. What a read! Super scholarship! Learned so much.

[@markrobinowitz8473]

For a follow up, the show could interview Dexter King, son of MLK Jr. Dexter and the family filed a lawsuit in 1999 against one of the participants in the murder of Martin in Memphis. 2,700 pages of trial transcript is posted on the website of the King Center in Atlanta. Hoover didn't just smear MLK, he was complicit in his assassination. This is not a "theory," merely inconvenient history. I hope the guest's book mentions this and other aspects of COINTELPRO, the FBI's attacks on civil rights, peace and other social movements. Much more interesting than the fact Hoover was a self-loathing gay man who was in a de facto marriage with Clyde Tolson.

[@kimthomas781]

Great interview. Love PBS❤❤❤

[@jo-annerichardson34]

Great Interview. Definitely going to get the book.

[@DJS11811]

What about how Hoover's homosexuality and his secret life of gay sex affected his role? How the fact that the Mafia blackmailed him to leave them alone for 40 years? The New Yorker wrote about that extensively. Hoover wanted to make sure people knew about King's affairs so thy would not look at Hoover's. He also blackmailed congressmen and JFK and Bobby to keep his job and get his way. The blackmail is how he kept his job.

[@umalaurenbowman7276]

Not going after organized crime is a crime on its own, tragic really. The man is a national shame and his name should be taken down from buildings.

[@Happyherm2468]

I’m not surprised to hear about his treatment of Martin Luther King’s family. He would also use the power of the FBI to end personal relationships his friends disapproved of. Joseph Berry Keenan, Assistant Attorney General under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, enlisted his friend Hoover to send FBI agents to the University of Arizona to break up Keenan’s daughter’s relationship with a young man there. They terrorized the young man into breaking up with Betty Jean Keenan. Her father was proud of it. She never married. She said in her 70s that the only man she ever wanted, her father had Hoover terrorize and chase away. She became a nun, deacon and educator.

[@karenwaddell9396]

My father said Hoover was wicked in the 60s.

[@AndreaRoss-o6v]

Excellent ❤

[@tommac5411]

A must read!

[@TTM9691]

Excellent, excellent interview. Excellent, concise questions, well-articulated answers. I had no idea there were so few biographies about him, I figured there would be lots. He certainly appears in OTHER people's biographies plenty, that's for sure! 🤣

[@charlesrovira5707]

It must have been made more complex by *Hoover's* predilection for _pinafores, gingham,_ and _patterned dresses._ The poor man never got to wear any of his elbow-length sequined gloves and [expletive]-me pumps _outside._

[@gregknipe8772]

having dirt on everyone and anyone did a lot to conserve his place in office. ideology has no place in law enforcement. classic cult of personality on a mafioso scale.

[@lukehanley4272]

Pretty soft take on J Edgar Hoover. "How'd he stay in power so long? Many reasons a lot of it luck" Hmmm, and illegal blackmail files on everyone in power.

[@mjford6152]

Well, she's not a revisionist. Wonder if the agency wrote this for Yale's BG like they wrote all of Hoovers books for him. Hope to see this terrible man's name off the FBI building in my life time.

[@plasticweapon]

yeah, because that's so important. and he FOUNDED the FBI.

[@g09560]

Strange how this is on Mr. Rodgers network???? Won't you be my neighbor 👺🌞🫥

[@riverrun3995]

How he was so evil to African Americans & Gays, yet he was bi-racial and gay himself. Difficult to understand.🤔

[@roymaduro571]

What a beautiful woman

[@inconvenientideas]

JayneEdgarHoover ⁉️

[@rubychew6535]

Hoover was Afro American.

[@jacquelinepeoples379]

Lol

[@presterjohn1697]

....and Hoover hired the FBI's first black agent to spy on Marcus Garvey in 1919. What a self-loathing little fella he must've been.

[@sayresrudy2644]

apologist nonsense

[@tommac5411]

Why or how so?

[@pj61114]

Please read Asbeautifulasasunset’s comment and my reply.

[@karenjohannessen8987]

Your comment doesn't show, @Paul.

[@pj61114]

@@karenjohannessen8987 I just checked and it shows in the reply to Asbeautifulasasunsets comment located nearby in the comment stream.

[@karenjohannessen8987]

@@pj61114 Could you/would you copy and paste it again here? I just checked again, and it only shows the up/down arrow - no comment on my screen 😕

[@pj61114]

@@karenjohannessen8987 Thank you for your interest. Looks ok on my end. Don’t know what or how to do that.