In-Class Write
1. A person can gain a lot of knowledge about history by watching the film, J. Edgar. I personally learned a lot of things I didn't know before. I didn't even know who J. Edgar Hoover was, but now I know that he had a huge impact on what the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI is today. I came into watching the movie with the idea that Hoover was a good person. Later on in the film I started to doubt myself on whether he was or not. He had many accomplishments in the FBI as the very first director, but he also did questionable and controversial things that seemed hypocritical to me.
Hoover was the one who came up with fingerprinting criminals to be able to keep track of them and have their criminal background stored. This is very important because this is how we keep track of criminals today. Many people back then didn't understand this idea. J. Edgar Hoover ensued the "red raids", which solved who constructed the bombing of Mitchell Palmer's house, but many innocent people were taken.
There were many parts in the movie that stuck out to me. Hoover blackmailed the Kennedy's, and kept secret files on many people that could destroy their lives. Hoover also kept all the glory of the arrests of bad people and accomplishments to himself, and he kept it from the people who actually did the work. He never personally made arrests, but he flat out lied about that and exaggerated the truth to make himself look good. Lying is a crime, and Hoover's goal is to fight crime, so there is a little bit of irony there. Something else that struck me was Hoover's relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. He bugged his room and blackmailed him. Hoover went around the law to get what he wanted. I think that Hoover thought that since he was so powerful and famous, he could do whatever he wanted and not get in trouble.
2. There are many important historical facts that I learned about from research that wasn't quite clear in the movie. I saw these things happen in the movie, but I needed more detail to really understand what happened. I decided to research more on Hoover and Tolson's relationship. Clint Eastwood, the director of the film, told abc news that, "He was a man of mystery. He might have been gay. I am agnostic about it. I don't really know and nobody really knew." The only part of the movie I'm not sure is completely accurate is this relationship. They make it pretty clear that Hoover is gay, and he even tells his mother, but there is no actual real life evidence that this happened. He occasionally sought a "Mrs. Hoover", which was shown in the movie, but when women talked to him and tried to flirt, he would awkwardly find a way out of it.
Hoover had a list of people that he sent his secret intelligence on, which he considered "enemies of the United States." This list included terrorists, communists, spies, or anyone him or the FBI deemed subversive, which also included Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to learn more about what Hoover did to Martin Luther King Jr. They showed a few clips in the movie but I didn't understand exactly what was going on. I learned from the Washington Post that Hoover wrote a letter to a top lieutenant condemning King. Hoover had assailed King at a news conference as "the most notorious liar in the country." There was a lot of FBI effort to destroy King. I also learned from the National Public Radio that Hoover planted bugs around not only King, but other civil rights leaders as well. He thought that the communists had infiltrated the civil right movement. "Hoover had his intelligence chief bug King's bedroom, and then sent the civil rights leader a copy of the sex recordings his intelligence had taken of King - along with an anonymous letter from the FBI." Martin Luther King ignored the letter that was basically telling him not to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, but he accepted it anyway. Some people believe that Hoover may have had something to do with his assassination, which may be a little far fetched, but it could easily be true based on the other horrible things he had done. Hoover kept secret files of over 20,000 Americans. He used these on all eight presidents he worked under to blackmail them and keep them from firing him.
What wasn't shown in the movie I learned from the National Public Radio, and that was that World War II had a ginormous impact on Hoover. "Hoover had a terrible premonition after World War II that America was going to be attacked - that New York or Washington was going to be attacked by suicidal kamikaze airplanes, by dirty bombs... and he never lost this fear." This is why Hoover wanted every foreigner out of the country.
3. I liked the end of the movie a lot. It ended right after Hoover had died and President Nixon was searching for his secret files Hoover had on him, but before they could get to them Helen Gandy, Hoover's secretary, had destroyed them. If I could add twenty minutes to the end of the movie, I would probably add what was in the secret files. Nobody really knew exactly what was in the files, but I would like to pretend that Clint Eastwood, the director did, and was showing the audience for the first time what Hoover had in the files. We would find out exactly what he had on all of the presidents, especially the Kennedys. I know that Hoover blackmailed JFK with his brother, Bobby's personal information, but I'm sure that Hoover had way more on not only him, but the entire family. I think the filmmaker should use this time to scan over all of the files with the information on it so we could read it. I think that this would make the film better because then we would have answers, but I also like how the original end of the movie makes us want to know more and what was in the files.
Hoover was the one who came up with fingerprinting criminals to be able to keep track of them and have their criminal background stored. This is very important because this is how we keep track of criminals today. Many people back then didn't understand this idea. J. Edgar Hoover ensued the "red raids", which solved who constructed the bombing of Mitchell Palmer's house, but many innocent people were taken.
There were many parts in the movie that stuck out to me. Hoover blackmailed the Kennedy's, and kept secret files on many people that could destroy their lives. Hoover also kept all the glory of the arrests of bad people and accomplishments to himself, and he kept it from the people who actually did the work. He never personally made arrests, but he flat out lied about that and exaggerated the truth to make himself look good. Lying is a crime, and Hoover's goal is to fight crime, so there is a little bit of irony there. Something else that struck me was Hoover's relationship with Martin Luther King Jr. He bugged his room and blackmailed him. Hoover went around the law to get what he wanted. I think that Hoover thought that since he was so powerful and famous, he could do whatever he wanted and not get in trouble.
2. There are many important historical facts that I learned about from research that wasn't quite clear in the movie. I saw these things happen in the movie, but I needed more detail to really understand what happened. I decided to research more on Hoover and Tolson's relationship. Clint Eastwood, the director of the film, told abc news that, "He was a man of mystery. He might have been gay. I am agnostic about it. I don't really know and nobody really knew." The only part of the movie I'm not sure is completely accurate is this relationship. They make it pretty clear that Hoover is gay, and he even tells his mother, but there is no actual real life evidence that this happened. He occasionally sought a "Mrs. Hoover", which was shown in the movie, but when women talked to him and tried to flirt, he would awkwardly find a way out of it.
Hoover had a list of people that he sent his secret intelligence on, which he considered "enemies of the United States." This list included terrorists, communists, spies, or anyone him or the FBI deemed subversive, which also included Martin Luther King Jr. I wanted to learn more about what Hoover did to Martin Luther King Jr. They showed a few clips in the movie but I didn't understand exactly what was going on. I learned from the Washington Post that Hoover wrote a letter to a top lieutenant condemning King. Hoover had assailed King at a news conference as "the most notorious liar in the country." There was a lot of FBI effort to destroy King. I also learned from the National Public Radio that Hoover planted bugs around not only King, but other civil rights leaders as well. He thought that the communists had infiltrated the civil right movement. "Hoover had his intelligence chief bug King's bedroom, and then sent the civil rights leader a copy of the sex recordings his intelligence had taken of King - along with an anonymous letter from the FBI." Martin Luther King ignored the letter that was basically telling him not to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, but he accepted it anyway. Some people believe that Hoover may have had something to do with his assassination, which may be a little far fetched, but it could easily be true based on the other horrible things he had done. Hoover kept secret files of over 20,000 Americans. He used these on all eight presidents he worked under to blackmail them and keep them from firing him.
What wasn't shown in the movie I learned from the National Public Radio, and that was that World War II had a ginormous impact on Hoover. "Hoover had a terrible premonition after World War II that America was going to be attacked - that New York or Washington was going to be attacked by suicidal kamikaze airplanes, by dirty bombs... and he never lost this fear." This is why Hoover wanted every foreigner out of the country.
3. I liked the end of the movie a lot. It ended right after Hoover had died and President Nixon was searching for his secret files Hoover had on him, but before they could get to them Helen Gandy, Hoover's secretary, had destroyed them. If I could add twenty minutes to the end of the movie, I would probably add what was in the secret files. Nobody really knew exactly what was in the files, but I would like to pretend that Clint Eastwood, the director did, and was showing the audience for the first time what Hoover had in the files. We would find out exactly what he had on all of the presidents, especially the Kennedys. I know that Hoover blackmailed JFK with his brother, Bobby's personal information, but I'm sure that Hoover had way more on not only him, but the entire family. I think the filmmaker should use this time to scan over all of the files with the information on it so we could read it. I think that this would make the film better because then we would have answers, but I also like how the original end of the movie makes us want to know more and what was in the files.
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