alternatehistory.com

J. Edgar Hoover is the man often credited for having built the FBI into the powerful national agency that it is today, but he's also widely remembered as having been power hungry, ruthless, and was even accused of trying to turn the FBI into his personal police force. President Harry Truman once wrote of Hoover, "We want no Gestapo or secret police. FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and plain blackmail… Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him."
Removing Hoover was seen as a huge political risk, and ultimately he was able to keep his job until his death in 1972. But what if Truman had rolled the dice, and removed J. Edgar Hoover from his post? Who would likely fill the void, and what would the FBI look like in the following decades? Would it still have the influence it does today?
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