Emily Maitlis explores the influence and legacy of former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover

In a new podcast and series for BBC Radio 4

Maitlis asks if the man who “kept America safe” actually laid the path for a deep-seated distrust in government and fears of a “deep state”

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From his office at the FBI - the crime-fighting agency he led for nearly 50 years - J. Edgar Hoover became perhaps the most powerful individual the United States of America has ever seen. He gathered extensive data and knowledge and had dirt on enemies and allies alike. He could manipulate almost anything. He could control almost anyone.

He turned the FBI into a formidable crime-fighting force. But did he also shape the paranoid political culture of an entire superpower?

In this vivid new podcast and radio series, award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author Emily Maitlis explores Hoover’s extraordinary period in office, and its enduring aftermath.

She meets a close aide of Martin Luther King Jr, who reveals King’s hatred and fear of Hoover. She hears White House tapes revealing how Nixon failed to fire the all-powerful FBI boss and an account of an audacious break-in by anti-Hoover activists trying to reveal the scale of his spying on ordinary US citizens.

BBC Radio 4 brings together vivid archive material from the Hoover era – from the gangsters of the Great Depression through to 1950s McCarthyism and the Nixon presidency - and the testimony of people who worked for him, and against him.

Emily Maitlis says: “J. Edgar Hoover was an enigmatic figure, adored in his lifetime with a public approval rating of around 80 percent. Nowadays, he is seen as the man who spied on America.

"In this podcast for BBC Radio 4, I trace his legacy and join the dots to where we are today, asking if the fear with which many Americans now view 'big government' can be attributed to Hoover’s overreach. When I hear the phrase 'deep state' I assume knucklehead levels of conspiracy. But one historian suggests to me that the origins of the deep state can be laid at Hoover’s feet. Maybe he made all of us less trusting of the mechanisms and institutions of government.”

Richard Knight, Commissioner for Radio 4, says: “We tend to define political eras in America in line with presidential terms. But what if – as occupants of the White House came and went – someone else was shaping the modern American political psyche too, over decades? I am delighted Emily took on the fascinating job of exploring this question, alongside the talented producer Neal Razzell. The series is a gripping deep dive into the origins of the 'deep state’.”

The People Vs J. Edgar Hoover (8 x 15’) is a new podcast series hosted by Emily Maitlis. It is a BBC Audio production for BBC Radio 4. Neal Razzell is Producer. Louise Byrne is Researcher. The Editor is Hugh Levinson. It was mixed by Tom Brignell and commissioned for Radio 4 by Richard Knight.

It will be broadcast weekdays at 1.45pm on Radio 4 from Monday 13 June, and be available as a podcast on BBC Sounds.

Source BBC Radio 4

May 26, 2022 6:19am ET by BBC Radio 4  

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