J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (1 January 1895 – 2 May 1972) was an American attorney and law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final Director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Life
Hoover was born on New Year's Day 1895 in Washington, D.C., to German American Anna Marie (née Scheitlin; 1860–1938) and Dickerson Naylor Hoover (1856–1921), chief of the printing division of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, formerly a plate maker for the same organization. Dickerson Hoover was of English and also German ancestry. Hoover's maternal great-uncle, John Hitz, was a Swiss honorary consul general to the United States. Among his family, he was the closest to his mother, who despite being "inclined to instruction", showed great affection towards her son.
He was appointed as the director of the Bureau of Investigation – the FBI's predecessor – in 1924 and was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director for another 37 years until his death in Washington, D.C. in 1972 at the age of 77.
There are numerous controversies and speculations regarding Hoover, such as regarding COINTELPRO, stated use of his position to collect information that could be used for blackmail and keeping himself in power, stated homosexuality, and stated blackmailing of Hoover using his homosexuality by organized crime leaders such as the Jewish Meyer Lansky.
