4. Witches
Hoover fans paranoia as his spy machine goes after communists - real and imagined. Emily Maitlis on the story of arguably 20th-century America's most powerful figure.
Hoover fans paranoia as his spy machine goes after Communists - real and imagined. J Edgar Hoover built then ran the FBI for almost five decades. He turned it from a bureaucratic backwater into a premier crime fighting and counterintelligence force. In the process, he arguably became Americaβs most powerful man. Heβs been dead 50 years and still his shadow looms over the US. Todayβs fears of a βdeep stateβ - of unaccountable government officials working against the public in their own interest β can be traced back to him. In the first of an 8-part series, Emily shows how though his job was to enforce the law...he would not always be bound by it.
Producer: Neal Razzell
Research: Louise Byrne
Editor: Hugh Levinson
Production Coordinator: Janet Staples
Sound: Tom Brignell
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcast
- Thu 16 Jun 2022 13:45ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Podcast
-
The People vs J Edgar Hoover
An examination of how the first director of the FBI's iron grip still permeates America.