Possibly one of the most powerful men in American history, J. Edgar Hoover began his career in the Justice Department in 1917 working in the War Emergency Department, which was charged with identifying and arresting disloyal foreigners during wartime. Having proven himself in that role he was made head of the General Intelligence Division of the Bureau of Investigation (B.O.I). By 1924 he was made director of the Bureau of Investigation, and later in 1935 when it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he was named the first director. He would remain the Director of the F.B.I. until his death 37 years later.
His long career began during Franklin D. Roosvelt’s Presidency with the FBI going up against prohibition-era mobsters like Al Capone, Pretty Boy Floyd, and Machine Gun Kelly. It ended during Richard Nixon’s Presidency and with the Watergate scandal. During his tenure, he built one of the most modern and effective crime fighting organizations in the world.
All of his Masonic affiliations were in Washington, D.C. Brother J. Edgar Hoover was a member of Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington D.C. He was a charter member of Justice Lodge No. 46 in Washington, D.C. He was both a York Rite Mason, and a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Mason. He was also a Shriner–a member of Almas Shrine.
Bro Hoover passed to the Grand Lodge above on the 2nd May 1972.
