Journey Through the Hoover Files: Presidential Correspondence

(from The National Law Enforcement Museum, 2013)

J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure as Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)* spanned the administrations of eight U.S. presidents. Sifting through the National Law Enforcement Museum’s extensive Hoover Collection (donated by the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation in 2010) uncovered some correspondence between the longtime FBI Director and a handful of the nation’s commanders-in-chief (from 1933-1964): Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon.

We thought these letters (and photos) were worth sharing. Every letter provides a snapshot that captures some aspect—if even a tiny shred—of the unique relationship between Director Hoover and the President who penned each note.

* This includes Director Hoover’s time as head of the Bureau of Investigation (1924-1935), before it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).