Wednesday, May 17, 2017

History In-Class essay J.Edgar

     J.Edgar tells a great overview of J.Edgar Hoover's life, a very historically accurate film doing things like exemplifying the manipulation that Hoover used on the press to make himself look like a hero. However, covering things that are up to opinion about Hoover and no one will ever know what happened, the film portarays him as a gay, cross-dresser but barely provides evidence why they think that. While it is incredibly likely that Hoover was a closet homsexual and transvestite it can only be assumed about Hoover's life, as there is only clues, all-be-it heavy ones to depict his personal life. The J.Edgar movie heavily involves aspects that were used in 12 Years a Slave,Glory, and Smoke Signals.


 J.Edgar incorporates the dramatization of 12 Years a Slave, by putting some of the more intriguing subjects to the fore front of the movie, while pushing the more mundane subjects in a limited light. For example, in the movie, Hoover goes on and on about wanting and needing a fingerprint system to identify criminals, but upon doing research all the articles I looked at just briefly specifically the Britannica biographyy about him went over how he incorporated forensics and science into the Bureau.
The film also uses tactics similarly to the one in Glory, J.Edgar's mother is a key figure in the film used to draw in sympathy, and to explain why Hoover acted the way he did. He tells his mother he goes on a date in the movie, and she gets angry with him, later when he tries to come out to her, she insults him and tells him she would never want a gay son. As Hoover was a very private man it will literally be impossible to ever find out whether these events ever really happened.  According to Washington Post Hoover did have gay china let in his house however so it can be speculated that these events were likely to happen. These events likely caused him to be the paranoid power-hungry man that he is, by the way accordin to the move and a Chris Lydon NYTimes article as he got older he would take shots of vitamins, literal syringes filled with vitamins injected into his blood, for energy. He was desperate because of his insecurities not to come across as weak and to be better than his opposition.
 
J.Edgar also uses a similar kind of storyline as Smoke Signals and Glory by making interesting events happen that did not really happen. In the movie, Hoover is continuously giving interviews to media members and he talks about all the exciting things that happened in his life and with cases. During the famous Lindbergh kidnapping he claims that Charles Lindbergh himself shook his hand and talked about how much respect he had for the FBI and that he was glad they could help. According to the FBI.gov article about the case Lindbergh acted cold and wanted to sort it out by himself and never get the police involved. The movie later covers its bases when alleged life-partner of Hoover, Clyde Tolson (Britannica) told Hoover he knew he was lying to the press and that Hoover could not deceive him, the movie than later goes into flashbacks correcting all the mistakes Hoover told. The lies exemplify that Hoover wanted power and wanted people to look up to him, because he was "the good guy" and deserved to be looked up to.
Personally, I think that J.Edgar can and should be used as a credible historical source. The film highlights lesser known/talked about events in Ameriacn history such as communist radicals in the 1920’s and Emma Goldman who was deported for being a leader of the communists (PBS). Emma Goldman herself shows another clue into Hoover’s life, as she was a gay rights activist and Hoover despised her(PBS), a classic school yard bully move where the bully picks on a kid because they are insecure about themselves in some way. Another example is the MLK-Hoover rivalry shown in the film. Hoover absolutely hated MLK because he was a communist, and in an interview I found on USNews.com it showed he hated communism as a whole and how it could corrupt good men. Hoover threatened MLK not to accept the Nobel Peace Prize and to stop spreading his views. I think the fact that MLK made Hoover nervous was that he wanted to control his citizends and limit free speech, the same reason why he deported Emma Goldman. The Atlantic writes in review about Mlk and Hoover about how Hoover blackmails MLK with a letter about an affair he had with another person and that he would go public with it, and ruin King's reputation. Thankfully, King never lacked faith and kept his head held high and gained civil rights for many people around the country. The letter entailing King's sexual relationship and also many other letters he claimed to have in the movie about people's personal life showed how he was insecure about his sexual orientation.
The Roger Ebert review about J.Edgar confirms how the movie was correct in the displaying of facts. The ony thing up to debate was whether or not he was a gay cross dresser, but most historians such as Richard Hack who wrote "PuppetMaster: The Secret Life of J.Edgar Hoover" agree that he indeed was one. The Ebert review shows that the movie can be trusted to look at as fact, but a person will most likely want to do extra research about the stories in the movie.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Works Cited

Works Cited
"About J. Edgar Hoover." J. Edgar Hoover: The Man Behind the Desk. National Law Enforcement Museum, n.d. Web. 15 May 2017.
Ackerman, Kenneth D. "Five Myths about J. Edgar Hoover." The Washington Post. WP Company, 09 Nov. 2011. Web. 15 May 2017.
Ebert, Roger. "J. Edgar Movie Review & Film Summary (2011) | Roger Ebert." RogerEbert.com. N.p., 08 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 May 2017.
FBI. "Lindbergh Kidnapping." FBI. FBI, 18 May 2016. Web. 16 May 2017.
FBI. "Lindbergh Kidnapping." FBI. FBI, 18 May 2016. Web. 16 May 2017.
Garrow, David J. "The FBI and Martin Luther King." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 16 May 2017.
Hoover, J. Edgar. "J. Edgar Hoover on the FBI." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 June 2014. Web. 15 May 2017.
Hoover, J. Edgar. "J. Edgar Hoover on the FBI." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 June 2014. Web. 15 May 2017.
"How Communist Operate Interview." Interview by Anonymous. Usnews.com. Usnews, 16 May 2008. Web. 12 May 2017.
Lydon, Christopher. "J.Edgar Hoover Made the FBI Formidable with Politics, Publicity, and Results." The New York Times. The New York Times, 3 May 1972. Web. 15 May 2017.
"Nonfiction Book Review: THE PUPPETMASTER: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover by Richard Hack, Author . New Millennium $27.50 (455p) ISBN 978-1-893224-87-2." PublishersWeekly.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2017.

PBS. "Anarchism and Emma Goldman Timeline." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. Web. 16 May 2017.

Exhibit, Blog post #2

G-Men comics showed how Hoover ised publicity/comics to gain support of children/public
The poster shows how important this case was to Hoover so he could gain respect and favoritism in the public eye

The poster shows why Hoover hated communism and thought how communism was going to destroy America also Mother Earth is Emma Goldman.
Newspaper clipping showing how much power Hoover had and how he knew it too.


Speculated MLK letter written by Hoover or other FBI higer up blackmailing King.
Hoover's letter of reccomendation for Emma Goldman's deportation
J. Edgar Hoover's report card, receiving almost all excellent scores, and never being absent or tardy.
Gold ten dollar bill, these kind of dollar bills were used in the Lindbergh kidnapping to catch the kidnapper after seeing where he spent the money




Blog post #3 Dinner

To drink, coffee will be served something that Hoover notoriously banned agents at the bureau from drnking after 8:15. 

For the main course, baked ham will be cooked and served with deviled eggs and collared greens. Something his mother would always feed him and tell him not to worry about gaining weight because it was solid weight.


For dessert, angel food cake and chocolate cream pie will be served, as Hoover had to give these two foods up to stay in shabe and keep his weightdown while he was in the bureau.






Blog post 1, Guest list

Dear guests,

         I would like to cordially invite you to remember the late J. Edgar Hoover. While he may have been a controversial man, I think we can all agree he lived a very interesting, secreive life. I have decided 6 select members of society as well as Clyde Tolson, and Helen Gandy. Tolson and Gandy have agreed to answer all of your questions, up to their disclosure of course. You 6 people have speculated upon Hoover and his life, and I know you all are just dieing to know who he really was. Please RSVP and get further information at johndoe@yahoo.com Thank you all and I hopoe all of you will be in attendance.

Guest #1: Helen Gandy- The secretaryof J.Edgar Hoover from 1918-1972, one of the few people to know about him and his scretive way of life, destroyed his personal and confidential files after Hoover's death, testified about what Hoover told her to wrote to MLK.

Guest #2 Clyde Tolson- Associate director of the FBI from 1930-1972, was Hoover's right hand man, alleged life partner of  J.Edgar Hoover, knew of Hoover's blatant lies and exaggeration of stories about arrests and crime.

Guest #3 Richard Hack- Author of Puppet Master: The secret life of J.Edgar Hoover, knowledgable of Hoover, has differing opinions than public eye.

Guest #4 Clint Eastwood- Director of the 2011 J.Edgar movie.

Guest #5 Anonymous student author of Cal Berkley/Emma Goldman article, would like to find out about what they thought about J.Edgar and his disdain for communists

Guest #6 David J.Garrow, author of Atlantic article about MLK/Hoover relationship.

Guest #7 Leonardo Dicaprio- played J.Edgar Hoover in latest J.Edgar movie (2011), how did getting into Edgar's mind feel for him, did he feel a personal connection?

Guest #8 L.Patrick Gray, he was the first long serving director after Hoover, what was it like operating after him?