I just returned from seeing “J. Edgar,” directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Hoover served as director of the F.B.I. under eight presidents, and he is largely responsible for making that agency both a modern crime-fighting organization and a major violator of the Bill of Rights.
Hoover began his career working for Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, famous for illegally deporting hundreds of radicals because they were opposed to U.S. government policies. Hoover was responsible for keeping files on the radicals, a habit he never abandoned. The film notes how he also collected information on various presidents for blackmail purposes to enhance his own power.
Hoover was a master at using crises to undermine due process and legal protections. The threat of communism was a justification for warrantless wiretaps, the Lindbergh kidnapping provided an opportunity for new federal crimes, and Hoover’s hatred of Martin Luther King led to the illegal surveillance of King’s extramarital affairs.
We’re still doing it, of course. On November 30 the New York Times published an article entitled “Senate Approves Requiring Military Custody in Terror Cases.” One of the provisions of the bill would require the government to place into military custody any suspected member of Al Qaeda connected to a plot against the U.S. 44 Republicans voted for the bill along with 17 Democrats; it passed 61 to 37. J. Edgar would be proud.
Incidentally, Sen.Rand Paul voted against the bill, showing more courage that 17 Democratic Senators.
I wonder what the Occupy Wall street think about this. Is the FBI collecting data on them and creating files? Food for thought.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say I'm disappointed in the Democratic senators.