not bring Edgarinto the Bureau (Summers 29). Instead he told John LordOBrian, head of the War Emergency Division, about Edgar(Summers 29). Many people helped Hoover to become what hewas. Many of the people who helped him, made drasticchanges in Hoovers life. Because of the way Hoover turnedout, a great majority of the people who helped him, regretever knowing the man.J. Edgar Hoover knew a lot of private information abouta lot of different people. Edgar used the Bureau to spy onlawyers who represented those arrested or worked to exposethe abuse of civil rights (Summers 38-39). Edgar alsodiscovered it was possible to spy on people and hunt themdown - not because of crimes but because of their politicalbeliefs (Summers 39). He also learned that a way had to befound to keep the investigators greatest treasure, hissecret files, out of the public eye (Summers 39). Later, asFBI Director, Edgar would perfect a file system that, excepton rare occasions, proved inaccessible to outsiders (Summers39). Documents would be released on occasion, but only whenit served Edgars purpose. Meanwhile, Edgar had made theBureau unique. Edgars dream was UniversalFingerprinting, the notion that the prints of every citizen- the innocent as well as the guilty - should be recorded(Summers 49). Edgar developed a massive crime laboratory,room after room in which rows of experts peered overballistics evidence and analyzed poisons, hairs, and fibers. The FBI Crime Laboratory quickly became the most advanced inthe world - and the key to the expansion of Edgars empire. The fingerprint and laboratory operations alone changed theBureau from a small agency with limited jurisdiction to avital facility upon which all other law enforcement depended(Summers 50). Soon the Bureau had a virtual monopoly on thesupply of crime information, not only to the police but tothe country at large. Accurate or not its version becamegospel (Summers 50). All of these different t...
