ublic saw the Bureau as an agency unto itself, not just part of the Justice Department. (Bardsley, Ch.4, p.4) Hoover controlled the story lines and content of several movies and radio shows. Children even knew the name of J. Edgar Hoover. Several comic books glorifying the exploits of the Bureau and its G-men were sold to kids.Hoover was delighted with this image and it started to go to his head. Journalist Courtney Cooper wrote some twenty-three feature stories romanticizing the adventures of the FBI agents for American Magazine. Cooper’s FBI was a crime fighting machine whose effectiveness, which verged on the edge of omnipotence, was completely the result of J. Edgar Hoover’s leadership; his care in selecting and training his agents, his skill in leading them, the technical facilities he had assembled to interpret evidence. The feats of derring-do, the miracles of crime lab wizardry…”(Powers, pp. 288).Later Hoover wanted his own high-profile arrests. His first target was the current “Public Enemy Number One” at the time, Alvin Karpis. Karpis was a member of the notorious Barker gang. When police finally cornered him, Hoover was called in to make the arrest. The arresting officers were actually agents Clarence Hurt and Dwight Brantley. (Holt, p. 281) When police surrounded bank robber, Harry Burnett, Hoover was again brought in for the arrest and the pictures that followed. These are just a few of the examples that illustrate Hoover’s concern with public image and his manipulation of the papers to shape that image. In my opinion, Hoover was a master at marketing and selling himself. His contributions to police work and to the country are undeniable. J. Edgar Hoover was an intelligent man. He did bring crime fighting out of the dark ages. He was the first to use fingerprinting as a tool to combat crime. He compiled huge databases of fingerprints. Encouraging the public to do so by pictures an...
