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How J. Edgar Hoover Set The Stage For NSA Surveillance

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Courtesy of FBI

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:

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