http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=062EA000

J. Edgar Hoover was head of the FBI for 48 years. A very colorful character in our recent history. Yet much can be said, pro and con about this man.

Was J. Edgar Hoover a man who we should look up to for his accomplishments as FBI director? Or was he a man who abused his authority & his position?

Personal opinion? Many of the advancements in law enforcement would have come about anyhow. He was bogus and a tyrant. The citizens at the time did not question government like we do since 'nam. Hoover was much to crude to make it in todays political climate. The people are still buying images but they are much more polished.

Tyrant is a good word to describe him.

A militaristic, constitution-trampling, cross-dressing Tyrant.

There was an excellent episode of Sliders a few years back entitled: "Time again & World" in which depicted an alternate reality where J.Edgar Hoover became President following the J.F.K assassination. His first act was to declare Martial Law, and abridged the Constituion, expunging it from the public record. By the 1990's, America was one big police state, not unlike Soviet Russia or Nazi, Germany of old. Police donning skirts and automatic weapons everywhere. Alcatraz was still in use in this reality, used primarily for the most hardened of political prisoners, including Martin Luther King Jr.
lol all very humorous, but also kind of scary.

Raven - You just described what I'm sure was Hoover's idea of Heaven. I love LBJ's quote regarding why he didn't get rid of Hoover: "It's better to have him inside the tent, p****ng out than outside the tent, p****ng in."