Back to Show
American Experience
Becoming J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover is mostly remembered as the dominant force of the FBI. But he really got his start in 1919. He was 24 when he got a job at the Justice Department and was handed the position of running the “Radical Division,” which was designed to gather information on radical groups and political organizations. Filmmaker Susan Bellows discusses where Hoover got his start.
Support Provided By

1:52:47
Part Two examines the mounting dispute over strategies and reveals the pervasive racism.

1:52:42
The fiery campaign that led to passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the vote.

1:53:12
The Eugenics Crusade tells the story of the campaign to breed a “better” American race,

1:52:46
The Gilded Age: Full Film

1:53:15
The woman whose groundbreaking books revolutionized our relationship to the natural world.

52:55
The story of nine young men from Washington who captured gold at the 1936 Olympic Games.

52:03
After attempting to commit the perfect crime, would two boys get the death penalty?

1:20:50
The Stonewall riots marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement.

Unlock with PBS Passport
52:21
The 1968 My Lai massacre and its subsequent cover-up.

52:01
In the 1950's a Polio outbreak swept the U.S., devastating communities nationwide.

1:49:38
The man behind the atomic bomb is put on trial for suspected communist ties in 1954.

Unlock with PBS Passport
1:49:22
The final months of WWII from the vantage points of both the Japanese and the Americans.