Who is J. Edgar Hoover from the nonfiction book, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI?

J. Edgar Hoover was the director of the Bureau of Investigation and remained at the agency when it became the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover was named director at the age of 29 and charged with reforming its reputation for corruption and ineffectiveness. Over the next several decades, Hoover was zealous in his efforts to reform the bureau into a modern, effective law enforcement agency. He implemented a highly organized management system, regularly evaluating his agents. He also sought to transition to the use of forensic methods of investigation, such as fingerprinting. Accordingly, the director was skeptical of many of the old-fashioned tactics employed by agents like Tom White. Hoover saw himself as personally linked to the bureau’s reputation and thus regularly interfered with ongoing investigations to ensure they were being completed as quickly and successfully as possible. He used the Osage murders and other high profile cases to bolster his reputation and that of the bureau, but rarely shared credit with the field agents involved.