J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets

by Curt Gentry

Book Overview

Shocking, grim, frightening, and darkly comic, Curt Gentry's masterful portrait of America's top policeman is the most important political book in years. From more than 300 interviews and 100,000 pages of previously classified documents, the coauthor of Helter Skelter reveals exactly how a paranoid FBI director created the fraudulent myth of an invincible, incorruptible FBI. Photographs.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393024040
• ISBN13: 9780393024043
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 846 Pages
• Weight: 3.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

A masterpiece of careful documentation

In the context of recent concerns about spying on Americans by the Executive Branch of government, it is timely to re-read this classic biography. Gentry skips sensationalism and scandal, but his carefully detailed portrait shows a nasty, bigotted old man who happily chiselled his employer. So how did Hoover remain in power for half a century? Simply put, he had a file on everyone. And he wasn't afraid of using his minions to imply the threat of blackmail. There's little evidence of active homosexuality by Hoover, indeed labelling someone a "fag" seems to have been his biggest threat. However, here we have a many who lived with his mother until his mid-40's, whose "Associate Director" was his daily companion whose adult sexuality at best could be called retarded. Gentry's indictment of Hoover does not avoid his few good qualities -- he was a hard worker and an efficient administrator. The notes and footnotes are extensive, but do not interfere with a page-turning narrative for those who want to go quickly. In sum, it amounts to a crashing indictment of a man whose name does not deserve to be on a government building.

A thoroughly detailed, fascinating, and shocking account of a complex man

A fascinating and comprehensive look at a complex, powerful, and manipulative man. Gentry brings to life the power that Hoover held, power bestowed on him by virtue of the secrets he held in the massive volumes of FBI files he collected over his 48 year tenure. Hoover's far reach and influence are stunning. Most people probably have a cursory idea of Hoover's god-like legacy, but Gentry brings out the jaw dropping, scandalous details in vivid candor. Hoover had leverage over his superiors - the president and the attorney general - as well as his subordinates, Congress, Hollywood, local police jurisdictions, and civil rights leaders. His sway only increased with every year his held his office. Gentry's account is exhaustively researched and probably the most extensive and authoritative history of Hoover in existence. He delves into the paradox that Hoover was, a rigid, aggravating, unlikeable, and deeply vindictive man to many, yet to a few close associates, he was engaging and affable, if not warm, and to him they were 100% loyal. Hoover was no doubt a product of his time. For the calculating personality he possessed, who could ask for better career advancement opportunities than to serve in a time of the depression, bootleggers, gansters, the mafia, the Communist red scare, and the Kennedy assasinations successively. All during Hoover's time at the FBI, there was a valid argument to be made that he was simply indispensible. The desire of many in government to end his tenure was thwarted time after time, almost to a comical degree. Hoover was saved by the skin of his teeth more than once by fortuitous turns of events. Beyond just Hoover, this book explores the dark side of politics in general. The horse trading, the double dealing, the secret deals, the blacklisting, blackmailing, break-ins, cover-ups, set-ups, take-downs, paybacks, payoffs, and the vindictiveness. It's ugly, ugly work. Most would have no idea their own government operates in such a shameful, despicable manner. Gentry writes in an engaging narrative style that's easy to read and compelling. The book is well paced and very cohesive despite covering a wide time period and a diverse range of incidents. The book is lengthy and comprehensive. It does not skimp on details. I'm hard pressed to imagine a more thorough account. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in this period of contemporary American history or the fascinating personality that was J. Edgar Hoover.

J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets

J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets by Curt Gentry is a biography of J. Edgar Hoover one of the most powerful men in Washington, D.C. In his time, Hoover kept files on everyone in power, he trusted no one and his paranoia isolated him further.Hoover was a bachelor and a private man, but he was not a particularly honest man. He blackmailed, threw his influence around, used illegal wiretaps, and was seroiusly flawed as a human being. America's "number one cop" loved to use sexual slander as his favorite tool to destroy all who crossed his path.This book reveals Hoover as a man who was frighteningly obsessed and had the power to change U.S. History and wasn't afraid to use it if it made him a national hero. Hoover was director of the FBI and during his tenure he manipulated presidents, the Supreme Court and Congress. No one was immune to him and his incorruptible FBI.I found this book to be written well, as the narrative flows, the reader in enveloped into intrigue and into Hoover's web of paranoia. J. Edgar Hoover spread his political cancer far and wide making him virtually untouchable. A shocking tale of a man for nearly fifty years who would destroy anyone with his virtually unchecked power.A very good read that will fascinate the reader and keep your intrest throughout.

Hoover and his FBI

Curt Gentry's book is about J.Edgar Hoover(JEH), the most powerful, most durable U.S.bureaucrat ever and about the KGB-, Gestapo-like organization (the FBI) that he created. Since JEH held his position for 55 years - he served under 8 presidents and 16 attorneys general- the book offers a multitude of extremely interesting historical moments involving the interplay between JEH, the FBI, and elements and major personalities of our government and society. While Gentry never resolves the issue of JEH's sexual orientation, he does adequately document why JEH can rightfully be described as ambitious, puritanical, vain, loquacious, cold and unemotional, neat, organized and resourceful, articulate, devious and manipulative, prejudiced, effective, smart, vindictive, energetic, feared, and, on some rare occasions, humorous. The FBI's methods and techniques -legal and illegal- by which the FBI acquired the information and the secrets that filled FBI file cabinets - the secrets that constituted JEH's real power- are fully described: telephone (wire) taps/recordings, 'bugs' (surreptitiously mounted miniature microphones in the homes, offices, vehicles, organizations, etc., of FBI targets), 'black bag jobs'(breaking and entering operations to collect info, membership and mailing lists, etc.), burglaries (forced, illegal entries to steal or to plant incriminating evidence), mail openings (to and from targeted individuals and organizations), infiltrations (using FBI spies who are or become members of targeted organizations), paid and unpaid informants, 'news' leaks (to embarrass or discredit individuals or organizations), anonymous messages (to intimidate or coerce targeted individuals or organizations), and counter-intelligence programs (active measures and strategies implemented to generate family feuds, or internal conflicts between individuals or within organizations). Also very interesting are those historical moments that Gentry identifies when JEH's responses and actions impacted upon the nation both significantly and negatively - like, for example, his long time policy that organized crime did not exist in the U.S., his secret but indispensable aid to Sen. McCarthy's anti-communist campaign, his failure to provide FDR with available intelligence that could have altered the events at Pearl Harbor, and his on-going advice to LBJ that anti-Vietnam protests were communist-inspired (vs. a true manifestation of genuine American opposition to the war). In short, if you enjoy U.S. history - and you want 'the rest (or at least more) of the story' - you'll enjoy this book.

The Most Powerful Man in American History

Mr. Gentry's account of J. Edgar Hoover puts forward strong evidence that he was the most powerful man in American History. He tracks a young Hoover who took over the FBI (though not named so in the beginning) and made it into a police power, most notably in 1932 when FDR signed into law the ability for federal agents to carry firearms.The author also gives an astonishing account of how Hoover dealt with Presidents. He detested Truman (a feeling reciprocated), was indifferent to Ike, and was good pals with LBJ. Twice he was called to the Nixon White House, to be relieved of his director duties. Both times he left with his job.His personal life was also circumspect. Never married, rumors that he was a homosexual were fueled by the fact that his top lieutenant, Clyde Tolson, was always by his side both on and off the job. Hoover was not an elected official, but he was the most proficient and influential politician of the 20th century. Very fascinating reading.