Edward Snowden's revelations about the scope of US government surveillance programs took many people by surprise. But the federal government has been tracking people's personal information for a long time.
Surveillance really took off in 1919. That's when a young Department of Defense lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover was tapped to head a brand new division of the department: the Radical Division. Hoover was only 24 years old at the time.
Historian Beverly Gage is writing a biography of Hoover. Today on KUOW Presents Brian Balogh asks her: Why Hoover? What qualified this young upstart to take over the government surveillance of radicals?
Full list of stories on KUOW Presents, August 8:
- BBC: Eid In Egypt
- Bargain Blueberries: Low Prices Hard For Farmers, Great For Fruit Lovers
- Diary of A Bad Year: A War Correspondent's Dilemma
- Study Finds Warmer Climate Can Trigger Increase In Human Conflict
- Video Gamers Descend On Benaroya Hall
- BBC: Burma Anniversary
- How J. Edgar Hoover Revolutionized Surveillance
- Writer's Almanac
- Wagner's "Ring"
- Department Of Homeland Security: Necessary Or Needless?