Finding Leo

     Hollywood all-stars descended upon DC this weekend as the film “J. Edgar” began shooting on location. The movie, set to hit theaters in 2012, stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Naomi Watts, Armie Hammer, and Dermott Mulroney and is directed by Clint Eastwood. On Friday night, filming took place in the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress and continued throughout downtown DC on Saturday and Sunday.

     The film depicts the notorious career and controversial personal life of J. Edgar Hoover, the most infamous law enforcement official in our nation’s history. While attending The George Washington University Law School, Hoover worked as a messenger at the Library of Congress. Thereafter, he quickly rose through the ranks of the Justice Department. Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation (the predecessor of the FBI) in 1924, founded the FBI in 1935, and continued to serve as its director until his death in 1972. During his reign, the FBI grew into a highly equipped and professionalized investigative body that played an integral role in fighting off organized crime and developing counterintelligence tactics against the threat of Nazi and Communist espionage.

     But, Hoover was never far from controversy, both professionally and personally. Critics often charged him with abusing authority and using his power to harass and blackmail public figures, including Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Joseph McCarthy, Frank Sinatra, Ernest Hemingway, John Lennon, and Lucille Ball among others (find a summary of some of Hoover’s confidential files here). Rumors also surfaced that Hoover had a sexual relationship with his number two man at the FBI, Clyde Tolson (played by Armie Hammer).

     What’s the FBI up to these days? Apparently making some adjustments to Constitutional Law. The full story .