He Was The King Of Propaganda & A Consultant For A TV Show
Hoover enjoyed being praised and acknowledged for his accomplishments. He liked inflating the work he and his agents performed so they would look like heroes. He negotiated a role as a consultant on the TV series The FBI and had the final word about the episodes.
Hoover also praised an agent for directing a news program to criticize the civil rights movement, writing, “Local New Left and black nationalist leaders… seemed to have been chosen for either their inability to articulate or their simpering and stupid appearance… the show had the leaders seated, ill at ease, in hard chairs. Full-length camera shots showed each movement as they squirmed about in their chairs, resembling rats trapped under scientific observation.”
Hoover’s unsavory acts didn’t stop at propaganda — he also took credit for FBI cases he had minimal involvement with.
