The Beginning of FBI
By Denis Mueller
In 1908, Attorney General Charles Bonaparte created a
permanent agency, which used temporary Secret Service
agents to uncover a land fraud scheme involving two
members of Congress. Congress, in turn, compared the
new agency to the Tsar's secret police. The new agency,
not called the FBI yet, had to assure Congress that it
only would investigate interstate commerce laws. They
were also forbidden to monitor political dissent or
investigate members of Congress. This was all to change
with the outbreak of the First World War and the Russian
Revolution. The specter of communism frightened government
and business leaders and this fear was to be the catalyst
for the growth of the surveillance for the next seventy
years.
J. Edgar Hoover was a low level lawyer at the Library of
Congress before he was promoted to the newly created GID,
which would monitor dissent within the United States.
Hoover was a master bureaucrat whose tactics play a
crucial role in the development of the governmental
surveillance system. He was so successful that by 1921
the Bureau compiled over 200,000 dossiers of different
organizations and people. The list included such names
as Jane Adams, anti-war Senator Robert Lafollette, civil
liberation Roger Baldwin, Emma Goldman who would be
deported due to the Hoover's tenacity, The International
Workers of the World (IWW) many of whom would be arrested,
the Socialist Party who would emerge from the war destroy-
ed partly due to bureau tactics and Black Nationalist
leader Marcus Garvey. Hoover's keen interest in black
groups would manifest itself into some of the FBI's worst
illegalities. This would include blackmail, disruption of
people's lives, framing people for crimes they did not
commit and murder.
After the war, the GID enlisted the support of private
groups. The Bureau lacked the authority to use their
material for prosecution so they leaked the information
to the press, private groups and local police departments.
These unlawful activities conducted by private groups
like and American Legion and the deputized American
Protective League included intimidation and beatings.
This was condoned and supported by police authorities
and the press.
The Bureau began to overstep their bounds when they turned
their attention towards the Democratic Party and those who
opposed the Harding Administration. This caused the
Democrats to force investigations into the actions of the
GID and call for reform. The Congress turned to J. Edgar
Hoover. If this sounds like putting the fox in the hen
house, then all of this was lost on Congress, who now
installed the architect of the Red Scare. Hoover never
stopped collecting files on citizens but his efforts became
limited to gathering information, which he would insert
into his files, creating the beginnings of an intelligence
system that would abuse its charter as long as Hoover
retained power. The threat of fascism, and President
Roosevelt concerns about pro-fascist groups, led FDR direct
Hoover to look into the activities of these groups and of
the Communist Party. Hoover used this directive as a
rationale for the surveillance of citizens for the rest of
his career.