12. The Role of the FBI
Under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI became a central player in the Red Scare, launching widespread surveillance programs targeting suspected subversives. Agents infiltrated organizations, monitored activists, and built extensive dossiers on thousands of Americans—often based on little more than rumor or association. The bureau’s far-reaching tactics blurred the lines between legitimate investigation and civil liberties violations, intensifying the era’s climate of suspicion and fear.
