| Birth: | Jan. 1, 1895
Washington
District Of Columbia, USA | | Death: | May 2, 1972
Washington
District Of Columbia, USA | 
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Chief, Author. J. Edgar Hoover was the FBI director for over forty eight years until his death by a heart attack at age 77, after being appointed by President Calvin Coolege. He was born on New Year's Day in Washington, D.C. three blocks behind the Capitol in the Seward Square neighborhood. John was the youngest of three children born to Dickerson Naylor and Annie Marie Scheitlin Hoover. His family had been civil servants for generations and his father served in this capacity with the Coast Guard. He was baptized a Presbyterian at age thirteen and became a devout member even considering the ministry as a career. He overcame a stuttering problem while attending Central high school by becoming a member of the debating team. Hoover was an excellent student excelling in math, physics, Latin and French. He was a member of the track team which won four national championships but his main interest was the cadet corps. He was close to his mother and lived with her until her death when he was 49 in the family home in the Seward Square neighborhood only then moving and acquiring his own residence. While employed at the Library of Congress, he took night school courses at George Washington University which culminated in a law degree. During World War I, he was granted a draft-exempt status with the Department of Justice. In 1924, at age 29, Hoover became the director of the Bureau. He took a corrupt, inefficient and dysfunctional organization and built it into the a police force which was the envy of nations around the world. He oversaw the application of science to police work and promoted the creation of police training facilities and established the National Crime Information center boosting a centralized fingerprint cataloging system with a state-of the-art crime laboratories. The 30's was the era of the gangster and Hoover's agents rounded up the notorious such as John Dillinger, "Machine Gun" Kelly, "Pretty Boy" Floyd, "Baby Face" Nelson and "Ma" Barker. Aided by the creation of Hoover's "Ten Most Wanted List" the American public became involved. The Bureau was kept busy during the War years arresting German and Japanese saboteurs and secret agents then switching in the postwar to communist agents and plots. Hoover spearheaded the civil rights movement in the 60's by disrupting and then destroying the network of Klansman who perpetuated racial terrorism. J. Edgar became the most powerful individual in Washington. Hoover successfully avoided independent investigations of both his and the FBI's conduct during his tenure while enjoying virtually unchecked public power. He helped create McCarthysim while maintaining secret files on individuals and organizations from Presidents, movie stars and even Bess Truman with information illegally obtained by wire taps, searches and seizures. He used this information to destroy or manipulate his enemies or detractors. An Agent went to his bedroom to awaken him at his colonial brick house on Thirtieth Place, N.W. Hoover was on the floor next to the bed dead. Never married, his lifetime companion, Clyde Tolson, the number two man in the bureau, was the primary heir of his estate and promptly destroyed many of his personal files thus making any attempt at knowing the true story of his term as director near impossible. President Nixon ordered a full state funeral. Hoover's remains were taken to the Capitol's Rotunda where he lie in state and then to the National Presbyterian Church where some two thousand mourners including President Nixon, the First Lady and Mamie Eisenhower witnessed his funeral service. A national audience watched on television. His body in a lead-lined coffin weighing over a thousand pounds was used to discourage grave desecration and he was buried in the family plot beside his parents at Congressional Cemetery not far from the house of his birth. Epilogue...His writings include "Persons in Hiding, Masters of Deceit, A study of Communism and Crime in the United States." A few of the many books written about him..."Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover" by Richard Gid Powers, "J. Edgar Hoover, The Man and the Secrets" by Curt Gentry, "J. Edgar Hoover, As They Knew Him" by Ovid Demaris and "From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover" by Athan Theoharis. Starting in 1935 a whole series of G-man movies were produced and J. Edgar Hoover became a media hero. The granddaddy of these contrived movies was James Cagney's starring in "G-Men." The imposing national headquarters at 935 Pennsylvania Ave E St. NW was named The J. Edgar Hoover Building in 1974. The official collection of memorabilia from Hoover's home and office is preserved in the J.Edgar Hoover Law Enforcement Museum located in the Masonic House of the Temple in Washington, DC. It is maintained by the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation and Society while also offering grants and scholarships in the memory of Director J. Edgar Hoover to deserving men and women in the field of law enforcement. In a bit of trivia...Hoover was a dog lover, the seven he owned all have graves and markers in Washington's Aspen Hill Pet Cemetery. (bio by: Donald Greyfield)
Search Amazon for J. Edgar Hoover | | | Burial:
Congressional Cemetery
Washington
District of Columbia
District Of Columbia, USA
Plot: Range 20, Site 117 |
Maintained by: Find A Grave
Record added: Jan 01, 2001
Find A Grave Memorial# 499 |
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