A G-Man for All Seasons...Let's Romp Around in the Early Career of J. Edgar Hoover, and rounding up Depression era bank robbers (like Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and others) part one.

 Well, this was how he wanted to look.  Here is what Hoover actually looked like:

Not such a bad, eh? But, oh, did he gain weight -- and jowls -- in later years....

So, what were his dates? January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972, and yes, he did live (a little while) during the reign of Nixon the first.  Hoover was also in charge of the FBI for more than FORTY years.  Yeah, I know...a long time, right?

Fun fact:  he was born to Anna Marie and Dickerson Naylor Hoover.  His mother would play an instrumental role in her son's life.  Edgar grew up amidst the political society of Washington DC, and would live there until his death, in 1972.  When he was in high school, he joined the debate team, where he excelled.  Contemporaries remembered that he argued against the vote for women, and passionately supported the death penalty.  He was particularly courageous in his participation, because he had a serious stutter as a young man, but he trained himself to speak quickly, which aided his speech patterns.

When he was 18 years old, he was given a job as a courier in the Library of Congress.  This taught him to think logically-.-a trait that he would later apply to the ways in which he categorized information gathered by agents of the FBI.  It also was a way for him to perfect the gathering of information, and making it easily accessible.  

J. Edgar Hoover was at the center of the major political upheavals of the twentieth century, as active director of the FBI--a position he held until his death in 1972, some 48 years.  Talk about job security, right? Early on, Hoover began his duty of modernizing the FBI into one of the largest crime fighting institutions in the world.  As the 1930s progressed, he kept on with his efforts at domestic intelligence--something that (when once widely known) provided his critics with ample ammunition against him.  Something else he did, during his early tenure, was to institute an enemies list, containing different kinds of institutions and individuals.  At this time, his chief concern were suspected communists, which would briefly later morph into fascists during WWII.  He also banned the hiring of all female agents, firing the few who existed in the mid thirties.  

Hoover was a temperamental leader of the powerful bureau, often promoting his favorites, and demoting other agents who'd lost his favor.  Those who'd lost favor were often called "truck drivers," or "pinheads."  One such agent was Melvin Purvis, who at first was quite close to Hoover, but rapidly lost his status, particularly when he intended to marry.  

Among Hoover's many achievements in the early years, was to promote relatively new science:  Criminology.  For example, fingerprints.  By the beginning of world war two, the bureau amassed hundreds of criminal fingerprints, and had placed them in a central file, making identification of suspected felons much, much easier.  Such innovations were among Hoover's specialties--making the new FBI one of the premier crime-fighting institutions in the world.

One of the issues preoccupying Hoover in the thirties, was to clamp down on the rise in crime, that accompanied the Great Depression.  Perhaps the most infamous of these manhunts, was for the gangster John Dillinger.

So, who was Dillinger? A very nasty character indeed.

Well, he was reputed to be one of the most successful bank robbers in American history, hitting more than 24 banks, and (OMG) four police stations. ??????? Who in the H E double hockey sticks robs a police station? Oh-kay.  Dillinger did land in prison twice, but escaped both times.  Also, the only murder he was ever accused of, was the killing of an Indiana police officer.

Like Capone, ole John loved to get his name on the radio, and in the newspapers.  Also like the Chicago gangster, Dillinger had quite the colorful personality.  If you can believe this, he was often portrayed as a kind of Robin Hood (mainly because he chose banks to hit, and they were one of the most hated Depression-era institutions).  This was a fantasy, however, in reality, Dillinger was a cold blooded killer, much like the equally mythologized Bonnie and Clyde (soon to be explored by yours truly!).  

By 1934, Dillinger had avoided the police for nearly a year.  After a particularly violent gunfight, John was wounded.  But, Hoover's FBI was closing in:  a trap was set by field agents at a well-known Chicago run by madam Ana Cumpanas--who'd previously informed the G-men of Dillinger's whereabouts.  While watching a show at the Biograph theater, agents closed in, laying a trap.  Upon exiting the theater, John spied the agents, and tried to flee--to no avail.  He was fatally shot in the back.

The end of the Dillinger gang was one of the crowing achievements of Hoover's career, adding to a rather gruesome display cabinet outside of his office, where he kept a collection of weapons and other items that played a role in the successful apprehension of other criminals, like Pretty Boy Floyd.  As a direct result of these arrests and/or 'justifiable homicides,' the authority and overall scope of the bureau was enlarged.

But, that was only the beginning....