Emily Maitlis introduces the man who made presidents wait. J Edgar Hoover built, then ran, the FBI for almost five decades, turning it from a bureaucratic backwater into a premier crime fighting and counter-intelligence force. In the process, he arguably became America’s most powerful man. He’s been dead 50 years and still his shadow looms over the US. Today’s fears of a ‘deep state’ – of unaccountable government officials working against the public in their own interest – can be traced back to him.
5. “The Most Notorious Liar in the Country”: Martin Luther King Jr crosses Hoover’s radar. It doesn’t end well.