The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism

In this revealing history, Martin (Preaching on Wax), director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, contends that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI “joined forces with the founding architects of white evangelicalism to aid and abet the rise of white Christian nationalism as a legitimate force in American politics.” Drawing on recently declassified documents, Martin details how Hoover built the FBI into a “white Christian force” that battled against communism, desegregation, and other perceived threats to “traditional morality.” In so doing, Hoover became a hero to white evangelicals even though he wasn’t born again, never married, and “regularly ordered his agents to conduct unlawful break-ins and unconstitutional surveillance, and to lie about it under oath.” Along the way, Martin documents the FBI’s spiritual retreats and Catholic Communion breakfasts; Hoover’s frequent contributions to Christianity Today, “the intellectual mainframe of white evangelicalism”; high praise for Hoover from televangelist Billy Graham and Catholic bishop Fulton Sheen; and the FBI’s crusade to discredit Martin Luther King Jr. as a “clerical fraud.” Marked by Martin’s impressive research and sharp character sketches, this is a fresh and invigorating look at the interplay between faith, politics, and American law enforcement. Photos. (Feb.)