“the thing I am concerned about is having something issued so that we can convince the public that Oswald is the real assassin”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
Figure timeline
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the fifth and final director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and the first director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). President Calvin Coolidge first appointed Hoover as director of the BOI, the predecessor to the FBI, in 1924. After 11 years in the post, Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
politics · American law enforcement administrator (1895–1972) · military officer · politician · lawyer · librarian · screenwriter · jurist · police officer · also J. Edgar Hoover, John Edgar Hoover, Hoover
Born 1 January 1895 · Died 2 May 1972 · Q210435
49 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
Photos & media
12 photos · 2 audio
Listen
Depression era gangsters
Depression era gangsters
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
In the news
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Recent highlights
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
- Quote
- Quote
2026· 7 entries
“much more important functions”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #quote
WBRC: Hoover Police doing security sweep of school after threat
- #news
- #headline
Charleston Gazette-Mail: WATCH LIVE: St. Joseph Irish vs. Herbert Hoover Huskies: High School Gameday Soccer, presented by Peyton Law - Charleston Gazette-Mail
- #news
- #headline
WHNT.com: Hoover’s Heroes: At 100 Years Old, Scottsboro Attorney Jack Livingston Is Still Practicing Law
- #news
- #headline
WBRC: Hoover Police want to know if you’ve seen a man wanted for questioning in credit card fraud cases
- #news
- #headline
The Guardian: Trump’s spying on leftwing groups recalls J Edgar Hoover’s Cointelpro | Ken Roth
- #news
- #headline
2021· 1 entry
USA Today rated the claim “As FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover said 'negro unity' was the greatest threat to the U.S.” False.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
- #fact-check
- #rated
- #claim-about-figure
2014· 1 entry
Which revealed that it also praised "older leaders" in the civil right movement such as Roy Wilkins and urged King to step aside and let other men lead the movement
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1998· 1 entry
Democratic Senator Harry Reid sponsored an amendment to strip Hoover's name from the building, stating that "J
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1996· 1 entry
“Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”
- #wikiquote
- #quote
1994· 2 entries
Won: 1974 (1994).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #honour
- #club
- #accolade
After information about Hoover's illegal activities was released, the school's name was changed to commemorate President Herbert Hoover instead
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1993· 1 entry
When Democratic Senator Howard Metzenbaum pushed for a name change following a new report about Hoover's ordered "loyalty investigation" of future Senator Quentin Burdick
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1979· 2 entries
Gilbert Gude—a Republican congressman from Maryland—introduced H
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Critical of the performance by the FBI, the Warren Commission, and other agencies
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1976· 2 entries
Congressional investigations reviewed the FBI's campaign against King and criticized it as being "one of the most abusive of all FBI programs"
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
That the FBI's intent was to push King out of SCLC leadership
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1975· 1 entry
By the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, called the "Church Committee" after its chairman, Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho); the committee decla
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1972· 5 entries
Died 1972-05-02.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #death
Whereupon operational command of the Bureau was passed onto Associate Director Clyde Tolson
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
“Sólo somos una organización de recogida de datos. Nosotros no exculpamos a nadie. Nosotros no condenamos a nadie.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:es
“Los miles de criminales que he visto en 40 años de aplicación de la ley, han tenido una cosa en común: Todos y cada uno de ellos era un mentiroso.”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:es
“Hoover, he was a body remover. (ang.)”
- #wikiquote
- #saying
- #undated
- #lang:pl
1971· 2 entries
After the burglary by a group of eight activists of many internal documents from an office in Media, Pennsylvania, whereupon COINTELPRO became the cause of some of the harshest criticism of Hoover and the FBI
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
As stating that one of the reasons he would not fire Hoover was that he was afraid of Hoover's reprisals against him
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1970· 1 entry
Personally authorized "black-bag" jobs against the Weather Underground per testimony from William C
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1969· 1 entry
Screw published the first reference in print to Hoover's sexuality, titled "Is J
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1968· 1 entry
The FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1965· 1 entry
On Warner's long-running spin-off television series, The F
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1964· 3 entries
Hoover's FBI investigated Jack Valenti, a special assistant and confidant of President Lyndon Johnson, married to Johnson's personal secretary, but who allegedly maintained a homosexual relationship with a commercial pho
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Indicating "There is only one thing left for you to do", which King interpreted as an exhortation for him to commit suicide; however, King's interpretation of the letter has not been proven, with more portions of the let
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Just days before Hoover testified in the earliest stages of the Warren Commission hearings, President Lyndon B
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1957· 1 entry
Hoover could no longer deny the existence of a nationwide crime syndicate
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1956· 2 entries
Several years before he targeted King, Hoover had a public showdown with T
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Hoover was becoming increasingly frustrated by U
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1950· 1 entry
At the outbreak of the Korean War, Hoover submitted a plan to President Truman to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and detain 12,000 Americans suspected of disloyalty
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1939· 2 entries
Won NAS Public Welfare Medal (1939).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #trophy
- #achievement
The FBI became pre-eminent in domestic intelligence, thanks in large part to changes made by Hoover, such as expanding and combining fingerprint files in the Identification Division, to compiling the largest collection o
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1935· 2 entries
Career landmark: Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1935–1972).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
The Bureau of Investigation was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1933· 1 entry
Of Dillinger in 1934, and of Alvin Karpis in 1936, which led to the Bureau's powers being broadened
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1932· 1 entry
To examine and analyze evidence found by the FBI
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1929· 1 entry
And 1932 – to plan the foundation of his own FBI laboratory in the United States
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1924· 2 entries
President Calvin Coolidge appointed Hoover as the fifth Director of the Bureau of Investigation, partly in response to allegations that the prior director, William J
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
Career landmark: Chief of the Bureau of Investigation (1924–1935).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #milestone
1921· 1 entry
Hoover rose in the Bureau of Investigation to deputy head, and in 1924 the Attorney General made him the acting director
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1916· 1 entry
Hoover obtained a Bachelor of Laws from the George Washington University Law School, where he was a member of the Alpha Nu Chapter of the Kappa Alpha Order, a Southern fraternity
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikipedia
- #event
1895· 1 entry
Born 1895-01-01.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- #wikidata
- #birth