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→Crime Buster
The gangsters got their ballads and films, but the real winner of the war on crime was Hoover and his agency. At first the small bureau was little known. When it ended, Hoover and his re-named "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (1935) became iconic symbols of fighting crime, hailed in newspapers, radio shows, comic strips and James Cagney's hit movie G-Men. Thanks to Hoover, the media now lionized the good guys not the criminals.
The gangsters got their ballads and films, but the real winner of the war on crime was Hoover and his agency. At first the small bureau was little known. When it ended, Hoover and his re-named "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (1935) became iconic symbols of fighting crime, hailed in newspapers, radio shows, comic strips and James Cagney's hit movie G-Men. Thanks to Hoover, the media now lionized the good guys not the criminals.
Besides an organizational genius, he proved himself a master of the Washington arts, as he was able to convince the public, and Congress, that the FBI deserved more money, personnel and power. Increasingly he forged direct ties with the president in office, bypassing his nominal superior the Attorney General. By setting up services for local police, especially training programs in scientific methods and a national fingerprint database, the FBI built a solid connection with police departments across the nation.<ref> Kenneth O'Reilly, "A New Deal for the FBI: The Roosevelt Administration, Crime Control, and National Security," ''Journal of American History'' 69 (December 1982)</ref>
Besides an organizational genius, he proved himself a master of the Washington arts, as he was able to convince the public, and Congress, that the FBI deserved more money, personnel and power. Increasingly he forged direct ties with the president in office, bypassing his nominal superior the Attorney General. By setting up services for local police, especially training programs in scientific methods and a national fingerprint database, the FBI built a solid connection with police departments across the nation.<ref> Kenneth O'Reilly, "A New Deal for the FBI: The Roosevelt Administration, Crime Control, and National Security," ''Journal of American History'' 69 (December 1982)</ref>
The FBI's headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington D.C., was named after him in 1972.
==FDR's domestic spying==
==FDR's domestic spying==