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A review by ferris_mx
J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets by Curt Gentry
5.0
One of the first serious history books I ever read, I expected this to be average and then I expected to donate the book. I'm not donating it.
Despite being personally and organizationally useful against crime, Hoover and the FBi had all the hallmarks of any successful totalitarian organization. The inviolable rules were in fact violable to benefit the few. What rules? Oh, petty and not so petty graft and abuse of power. Money paid the FBI by the networks was somehow subverted to Hoover's gain and a select few of the others. The rank and file of the FBI were taxed to support further graft. Inspectors visiting regional offices had to be bribed to give good performance reviews, whether accurate or inaccurate.
Peoples' careers were subject to the whims of those above them. This created a cult of personality. Anyone who advertently or inadvertently gained power or publicity rivaling the director's found his (yes, his) career shortly terminated. So the FBi wound up with a buncy of sycophantic administrators clamoring for Hoover's love and attention. So reminiscent of Stalin's administration.
"Criminals" were pursued less based on their crime than for personal or publicity reasons. Organized crime was ignored and even denied for years in favor of other safer and easier crimes and only pursued when local police action embarrassed the FBI and forced it's hand. What else determined which crimes were or were not pursued? Ability to classify the criminal as communist was a big one. Race was another big one. And same-sex orientation or other non-normative sexuality was yet another. Hoover's FBI was deeply racist and sexist and homophobic. Once Hoover made up his mind, it didn't matter whether the allegations were true. Careers were destroyed based strictly on allegations that a person was communist or was gay. Hoover did nothing he didn't have to to fight for civil rights, in many cases assisting the KKK in preventing civil rights.
How did he retain power so long? The ability to embarrass politicians by what he knew about what they had done. What crimes had the committed before getting elected, to get elected, or after? It seems like every single politician had benefited from graft, and many from election irregularities, especially Johnson and Kennedy. Many had sexual dalliances or same-sex experiences that could be used to destroy their careers. Every President Hoover worked for wanted to force him out, but none could.
Least of all Kennedy. Kennedy bought Illinois' results, even though it turned out he didn't need Illinois given Johnson's ability to control Texas' results. And his history of pre-marital and extra-marital affairs with spies, models, and actresses was astonishing. If Kennedy could have admitted those affairs then it would have been his business (except for those who worked in the White House, or were procured, as many were, by senior White House staff). But he couldn't admit them, and was held hostage by both Hoover, who ran the FBI as he liked, and also by organized crime. Hoover was free to continue to suppress civil rights contrary to Kennedy's wishes. And nobody's civil rights were suppressed more than King's who was subjected to suppression, and tapping, and ultimately Hoover tried to control him through his non-normative sex practices in ways that were appalling, like forging a letter purporting to be from an African American colleague to Corretta King describing King's sins.
The tone is understated, lending credibility to the author's tale. Much of the story is unknown or controversial, due to the FBI's and other parties' willful destruction of records. The author's take on history, no matter how shocking, is alluded or dropped without breathless delivery common in some of the other revelatory books I have trusted less. The author's slant seems liberal and pro civil rights, so the discussion of the Kennedys doesn't seem slanted.
Despite being personally and organizationally useful against crime, Hoover and the FBi had all the hallmarks of any successful totalitarian organization. The inviolable rules were in fact violable to benefit the few. What rules? Oh, petty and not so petty graft and abuse of power. Money paid the FBI by the networks was somehow subverted to Hoover's gain and a select few of the others. The rank and file of the FBI were taxed to support further graft. Inspectors visiting regional offices had to be bribed to give good performance reviews, whether accurate or inaccurate.
Peoples' careers were subject to the whims of those above them. This created a cult of personality. Anyone who advertently or inadvertently gained power or publicity rivaling the director's found his (yes, his) career shortly terminated. So the FBi wound up with a buncy of sycophantic administrators clamoring for Hoover's love and attention. So reminiscent of Stalin's administration.
"Criminals" were pursued less based on their crime than for personal or publicity reasons. Organized crime was ignored and even denied for years in favor of other safer and easier crimes and only pursued when local police action embarrassed the FBI and forced it's hand. What else determined which crimes were or were not pursued? Ability to classify the criminal as communist was a big one. Race was another big one. And same-sex orientation or other non-normative sexuality was yet another. Hoover's FBI was deeply racist and sexist and homophobic. Once Hoover made up his mind, it didn't matter whether the allegations were true. Careers were destroyed based strictly on allegations that a person was communist or was gay. Hoover did nothing he didn't have to to fight for civil rights, in many cases assisting the KKK in preventing civil rights.
How did he retain power so long? The ability to embarrass politicians by what he knew about what they had done. What crimes had the committed before getting elected, to get elected, or after? It seems like every single politician had benefited from graft, and many from election irregularities, especially Johnson and Kennedy. Many had sexual dalliances or same-sex experiences that could be used to destroy their careers. Every President Hoover worked for wanted to force him out, but none could.
Least of all Kennedy. Kennedy bought Illinois' results, even though it turned out he didn't need Illinois given Johnson's ability to control Texas' results. And his history of pre-marital and extra-marital affairs with spies, models, and actresses was astonishing. If Kennedy could have admitted those affairs then it would have been his business (except for those who worked in the White House, or were procured, as many were, by senior White House staff). But he couldn't admit them, and was held hostage by both Hoover, who ran the FBI as he liked, and also by organized crime. Hoover was free to continue to suppress civil rights contrary to Kennedy's wishes. And nobody's civil rights were suppressed more than King's who was subjected to suppression, and tapping, and ultimately Hoover tried to control him through his non-normative sex practices in ways that were appalling, like forging a letter purporting to be from an African American colleague to Corretta King describing King's sins.
The tone is understated, lending credibility to the author's tale. Much of the story is unknown or controversial, due to the FBI's and other parties' willful destruction of records. The author's take on history, no matter how shocking, is alluded or dropped without breathless delivery common in some of the other revelatory books I have trusted less. The author's slant seems liberal and pro civil rights, so the discussion of the Kennedys doesn't seem slanted.