logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2019
43m 53s

J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - The Bobby Sox Ba...

Wondery
About this episode
During the mid-1930s, the FBI’s public relations department had effectively changed the image of its agents from accountants into action heroes; and its director, from a bureaucrat into an American icon. They pushed stories about heroic G-men facing off against violent foes, gunning them down in self-defense. And the press ate it up. But in April 1939, an FB ... Show More
Up next
May 2019
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Controlling the Message | 4
The rise of fascism and World War II shifted the FBI’s focus in the 1940s from fighting midwestern outlaws to catching Communists. To Hoover and the FBI, nearly anyone on the political left was suspect, potentially part of a Soviet conspiracy to overthrow Western democracies. In ... Show More
41m 37s
May 2019
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Black Bag Job | 5
Between 1956 and 1971, the FBI carried out more than 2,000 top secret spying operations aimed at American citizens. Their target? The so-called Fifth Column, a network of undercover Soviet agents allegedly working to destroy the American government from within. The agency even ha ... Show More
39m 50s
May 2019
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI - Citizens Resistance | 6
On March 8, 1971, seven ordinary Americans broke into a poorly guarded FBI regional office in Media, Pennsylvania. They called themselves the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, and they had one purpose: to gather evidence that would prove the agency was engaged in a cove ... Show More
40m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2020
Gangster Capitalism S2: The NRA | EP1: Let Loose the Dogs of War
A show of strength and unity kicks off the 2019 Annual Convention, but behind the scenes, the NRA is nearing a civil war. 
36m 58s
May 2022
EP291: The Tale of the Stolen Texas Confederate Locomotive and The Opportunistic Patriot
On this episode of Our American Stories, Jackson McQuigg of the Atlanta History Center tells the story of the principle pursuit locomotive of the Great Railroad Chase...but the story goes much deeper than just that. Bill Bryk tells the story of America's first practical politicia ... Show More
38m 17s
Dec 2023
Dare to Dissent
Sometimes, the most dangerous and powerful thing a person can do is to stand up not against their enemies, but against their friends. As the United States heads into what will likely be another bitter and divided election year, there will be more and more pressure to stand with o ... Show More
50m 16s