Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

JohnDunstable t1_iu5lg6h wrote

He was basically treated like shit by J Edgar Hoover, who probably had a file on him full of compromising information. Hoover hated that Ness became a household name and over shadowed the FBI. Hoover sidelined him and derailed him.

153

capsaicinintheeyes OP t1_iu5um37 wrote

He's one of those people whose life ended before his legacy took off—you wish there was a way to let them know what the judgment of history will be

69

rubemechanical t1_iu7bzwf wrote

You know that episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor takes Van Gogh to a modern exhibit and shows him how his artwork came to inspire and delight millions? Who ELSE in history is deserving of that treatment?

46

merkitt t1_iu8hvue wrote

There is a short story where the inventor of a time machine secretly enrolls Shakespeare in a class on Shakespearean works. He fails it.

3

wizardvictor t1_iu84ukz wrote

Norm Macdonald

1

_-C0URAGE-_ t1_iua11e7 wrote

RIP. I barely figured out who he was and started looking up videos of him a year before he passed. I only knew him as “that guy with the voice named Norm”, hearing him on radio talk shows, always made me laugh. Now, I found the Norm Macdonald Live show after he passed, makes me appreciate him even more. Wish he had more time.

2

capsaicinintheeyes OP t1_iu9kz5r wrote

You'd need to send somebody with a thick skin for periodic racist screeds, but HP Lovecraft

1

ironroad18 t1_iu986ui wrote

I think you are confusing Ness with Melvin Purvis a bit.

Ness was a Special Agent with the Treasury Department (Bureau of Prohibition). Hoover worked for the Department of Justice, and later became head of FBI. Ness was grabbing headlines as a Prohibition Agent before the FBI had really established itself as the "chief law enforcement" agency.

Hoover did keep files on Ness, and disliked him as he saw him as a rival to the FBI. Ness apparently tried to apply to the FBI, after his time in Chicago. However, either Hoover or some of his underlings taunted Ness about salary and experience (according to Smithsonian Magazine, they offered Ness a lowball entry-level salary, despite him being a supervisory federal agent). Ness went on to do enforce prohibition in Ohio, but eventually had a string of divorces, and had a failed run for political office. He died broke and of a heart attack apparently. https://case.edu/ech/articles/n/ness-eliot

Now Melvin Purvis is a real sad story, as he did a lot of leg work for Hoover and was intensely loyal to him. However, due to jealousy of Purvis's fame for his involvement in catching or killing several high profile gangsters (to include Dillinger and Babyface Nelson), Hoover started treating Purvis like crap. He demoted Purvis, moved him at will, and often berated him in front of others. Purvis eventually resigned from the FBI and went to practice law. He died in 1960 of either a suicide or a possible accident by the FBI service weapon he was given as a parting gift when he resigned almost 30 years earlier.

3

JohnDunstable t1_iu992sj wrote

This is an awesome post! Thank you for clarifying, I certainly did confound the worst parts of the stories into a single individual. And I can only imagine that dozens if not hundreds of other agents who crossed Hoover in a way or rubbed him wrong in a way that resulted in executive retaliation.

3

ironroad18 t1_iu99gbj wrote

Hoover was a monster, IMHO. Yes, he helped build the FBI into the primer law enforcement agency in the US, but he did so on the backs of several loyal employees and by breaking the very laws and rules he was tasked with enforcing.

6