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Most importantly, it was Hoover's obsession with "Communist subversion" that drew his complete attention and he was aided and abetted in this by successive post-war administrations and Congresses. He believed communism to be the main threat to the "American way of life." According to Richard Hack, "It didn't matter if there were Mafia out there. They weren't going to bring the government down, they were just making money illegally and there were lots of cops to deal with that."
It was this desire to keep the fight against communism at the top of the political agenda that led to his clash with the first attorney general who saw the Mafia as public enemy No. 1.
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But, according to most Hoover biographers, the new director quickly turned it into an efficient and uncorrupt policing agency. Hoover abolished political appointments, recruited highly educated agents, instituted centralized fingerprint and statistical files, developed a crime laboratory and founded a highly acclaimed training academy. As investigative reporter and Hoover nemesis Jack Anderson wrote, "J. Edgar Hoover transformed the FBI from a collection of hacks, misfits and courthouse hangers-on into one of the world's most effective and formidable law enforcement organizations. Under his reign, not a single FBI man ever tried to fix a case, defraud the taxpayers or sell out his country."
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Detractors characterize Hoover as a man who had a lot of prejudices, disliking Jews, African-Americans and "pseudo-liberals"; as a man who saw enemies of the state everywhere and it was his God-given right to protect the nation. To these critics Hoover was, essentially, the major threat to American liberties. They describe him as a man who spent too long in the job, becoming increasingly senile, angry and personally corrupt, misappropriating government time, money, services and equipment for his own ends and for having accepted gratuities from Dallas millionaires Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson.
Critics of Hoover point to the extensive use of illegal investigative techniques including "black bag jobs," illegal break-ins) wiretaps, bugs and illegal mail-openings. Although Hoover often ordered his agents to commit aggressive and sometimes illegal acts against individuals and organizations engaged in legitimate political activities, it was clear to many that some of Hoover's practices must have been, if not condoned, at least allowed by every president he served under. The presidents Hoover served under cannot escape blame.
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