The FBI's Mass Media Program Historically--Part 1

Although nobody ever elected him to be FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover monopolized his U.S. government position from 1924 until the day he died in May of 1972. And, in addition to being the director of the U.S. White Corporate Male Power Structure’s secret police, Hoover also apparently spent years moonlighting as a U.S. magazine writer, in order to whip up popular support for FBI activities. As Robert Sherrill noted in his essay, “The Selling Of The FBI,” which appeared in the 1973 book, Investigating The FBI:

“Let us now make a final survey of propaganda devices adroitly used by Hoover…By his death he had written well over a hundred articles for the major magazines—that is, magazines indexed by Reader’s Guide—not to mention probably an equal number in magazines of lesser repute and circulation.”

Hoover’s FBI apparently initiated its mass media program to manipulate U.S. public opinion in the 1930s, according to The FBI Nobody Knows by Fred Cook, when “Hoover finally decided to promote the image of the G-man as the incorruptible fighter against crime.” The same book also noted in 1964 that:

“All possible media of information that could be used to build the image have been tapped. Newspapers…have gloried in displaying cops-and-robbers features, with Hoover and the men of the FBI cast in infallible heroes’ roles. Magazines have followed in the footsteps of the press. Comic strips have featured the FBI in daily sequences…Radio and television have dramatized the great manhunts. Books bearing Hoover’s name or, if not his name his blessing, make the best-seller list. Movies have poured out documentaries and full-length feature dramas, lending visual impact to the promotion of the legend. The barrage has been overwhelming. Never before, on any level of government, have the American people been subjected to such brainwashing on behalf of any agency.” (end of part 1)

(Downtown 4/14/93)