Untold numbers of words have been written about Hoover, but the public record is so replete with distortions, embellishments, alf-truths and outright lies that it will be many years before anyone can produce a definitive biography. Ovid demaris has taken an important step toward defining Hoover and the role he played in the life of the nation. Using the interviewing technique which Merle Miller used to such great advantage in "Plain Speakaing". his best selling study of Harry Truman, Demaris receives startlingly candid views of the Director from practically everyone who knew him. Demaris fears to ask no question.
What emerges in The Director is not only the picture of a man capable of heroism and petty hatreds but a cameo history of Washington politics during the long years of Hoover's reign.