Franklin D. Roosevelt, J. Edgar Hoover, and FBI political surveillance

摘要

The ongoing controversy over political surveillance activities can be traced back to the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the J. Edgar Hoover years as director (1924-72). The scope of the agency's illegal activities became public following Hoover's death in May, 1972. In part, Pres. Richard Nixon's abuses of power (first disclosed during the Senate investigation of the Watergate affair) resulted in the uncovering of FBI political surveillance activities during 1973-76. These initial revelations suggested that the impetus to FBI political spying involved presidential requests dating not from Nixon, but from the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt.