next on a second look. the life and times of jay edgar hoover the man who ran the fbi for nearly half a century. a man who wielded power through secrets and the threat he would reveal them. a man who targeted crooks, communists and political foes. all straight ahead on a second look. good evening i'm julie haener and this is a second look. a movie opened this weekend about one of the most controversial and powerful figures in the 20th century america, jay edgar hoover. hoover was director of the fbi

and the agencies that proceeded it from 1934 to 1972. he ran the agency with an iron fist and secretly influenced the government by using investigation, secrets and threats. he listed gangsters, communists and political radicals as the enemies of america. and went to great lengths to find them and stop them. in november 1933 a kidnapping case in san jose brought hoover's agents. a case that would result in a lynch killing in one of the most notorious acts of vigilante capture. >> reporter: the heart family had always owned the store by 1933 young brook heart 22 years old and just graduated from the university of santa clara was poised to take over the store

from his father. minutes before closing time, brook heart left the department store and walked a short distance to his car. his kidnappers would be the last people to see him alive. >> this is the great gangster era of the 30s and the great terrorists crimes or fashion in that time was kidnapping for ransom. >> howard thermon was described by those who knew him as slow whited. he became friends with jack holmes. together they would plan and carry out the kidnap and murder of brook heart. >> they did this for the money. they murdered him immediately and then asked for the money because they weren't going to have him around to identify them. >> brooks had waited for heart to leave the store.

he forced him to drive his car to milpitas. using another car they drove over the san mateo bridge. they placed weights around heart, hit him until unconsciousness and threw him in. james and thurmo began bombarding his parents. the hearts' responded asking for proof they had heart. five days after the kidnapping they arrested harold thurmon in a phone booth, one block and a

half from a police station. >> he confessed too. >> two suspects are being held in the jail behind the city's courthouse. 17 days after the kidnapping, two duck hunters discovered the badly decomposed body of heart. the crowd began to gather at the white house and jail where holmes and thurmon were being held. the crowd had become a lynch mob. >> this was basically a crowd of curiosity seekers and thrill seekers. the lynch mob was probably no more than 100, 150 people. >> reporter: william amet told his investigators that they cold only defend the jail with gas, not bullets. at one point a group of the vigilantes broke off and went

to the construction site where the postoffice was being built. they took a large pole and took it around the white house where they knocked down the jail. they took holmes and thurmon from their jail then they brought them here to st. james park. they hung thurmon first. it took each men several minutes to strangle and die. >> their bodies hung there for about 25 minutes before the corner came out and brought them down. >> police from oakland and san francisco would arrive too late. san jose's police and fire department said they could not help. james roth refused the request to send in the national guard.

roth would later gain notoriety. brook heart was finally laid to rest in his hometown of san jose his death avenged at least those in the minds of those who killed his kidnappingers. an even more famous kidnapping the lindburg baby case. the battle between jay edgar hoover and america's intelligence agency. a conflict that goes back to the early days of world war ii.

with the opening of the movie jay edgar we're taking a second look at the man who ran the fbi for nearly 60 years and some of the cases in which they were involved. in 1932 bureau of investigation as it was then known entered into one of the highest profile investigations of the century. the kidnapping of charles lin

dburg infant son. it would be controversial because of the execution of the man some believe to be innocent. bob mackenzie brought us this look at the lindburg case. >> reporter: no one was more famous or more admired by a worldwide public lucky lindburg. he came home to a triumphant's heros. the public adored them and it was headline news when they had a child, charles jr. in 1932 their luck was evaporated, their child was kidnapped. >> to descend a few moments

later with this tiny burden. >> the crime was reported all over the world. lindburg paid the ransom but the child was not returned. months later the baffled police tot a break. a man had used a bill of the marked ransom money at the gas station. the man was bruno richmond. >> they said we solve the case before they had even interviewed witnesses. the case has been solved and so, richard helm was dead the moment he was arrested, he was doomed. >> reporter: robert bryan has spent 30 years resourcing the case. >> i come into the case many many decades later. and start kicking in the fbi

found, jesse started investigating the case. the time of the execution in 1936. under the hammering of prosecutor david willis, he maintains his innocence. but bryan says there was something the jury didn't know. >> what i discovered was that the leading handwriting expert for the state told the police investigators at the outset you have the wrong person, the handwriting doesn't match. then the police tell them look we're sure we have the right person. we have all this evidence, like smoke in my mirrors that accomplishes. moments later the officials call back and say, we made a mistake. >> reporter: police found a missing floorboard. a board used to build the

ladder in the kitchen. >> they searched the attic 29 officers many times searched the attic over many days. and they said nothing is missing, no floorboards missing, nothing is missing. >> dan says bryan a new jersey state police detective named lewis bortman represented the house. he came out a couple of days later and said, wood missing from the attic. half of the piece of the wood ár wood is missing. >> reporter: most damming police found $18,000 of the marked ransom fun in a box in his garage. >> he told them, after they had long interrogation that the money had been given to him, left to him for safekeeping, a box. he denies to be what's in the box until months later.

but from a present friend who was from gelmy. he wept back to business family. >> executed 8:47-1/2. >> any statements? >> we did not want to make any statement after he left the death cell. no kind of -- >> he made no kind of a confession at all? >> no. >> this is why we should not have corporal punishment. even for someone who is very guilty. years later you discover that person is innocent. and you can unring the bell. the man was electrocuted. the world war ii son flick between jay edgar hoover. and why hoover had the fbi

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we continue our second look at jay edgar hoover and the fbi. one of the criticisms after the 9/11 attack was that top officials were not sharing information and that primarily involved the fbi and cia. but those who worked to catch spies during world war ii say that was not a new product. but it was a problem that proceeded. >> veterans of america's world war ii spy agency gathered on its 60th anniversary to hear george tenni say. but just how the attack sent

them to work, september 11th have galvanized security. >> it is your path that we follow, your results, victory that we must achieve. history does repeat itself. problem is, it's not only the good stuff. general -- the general had a bringal rival with the fbi. there was some nasty finger pointing. it got so with glad -- through mr. hoover you saw them, many of them repeat verbatim in teus tapbs come hum in a spear --

many of them repeat srer bay tin in distance. reorganized world war ii , until this organization the cia. officials are not opposed to the reorganization of the school trick. but they argue it will not be the solution. >> just typical government reaction. we are going. and that doesn't, i just don't think that does anything. the fact of being cold today going to win. but the caliber of the people. >> who were doing what? >> demotion. >> history is he seating tháeupls in somology old ways

that -- he parachuted into southwest france to link up with the key in the area. they held an operation to blow up a german plane. >> that is the kind of history they study at the cia and try not to repeat. while those are keeping track. at the nation police academy which he had founded in the offices 6 years older, hoover outlined the danger he believes the nation faces. >> let the law enforcement

buddies of the line form the first line of defense against any attack that might be lost from within. the rebel communist, s cuteties and seemingly honestly cut. and the in every conceivable mound as their first step toward turning law and order into revolution and into chaos. >> when we come back on a second look we will talk about the files hoover kept on some of the most famous people of the 20th sefrplg reu. -- 20th century.

in his efforts to track down communists, hoover often tarted people in hollywood. he may also have enlisted their

help. hoover recruited walt disney. >> reporter: revelation is in 175 page report shown to the new york times that publicizes his up coming book. the documents show how hoover listed their help for their help to communists and entertainment business. >> are you a member of the communist party? >> some movie industry leaders cooperated with the house committee on american activity. walt disney said a strike by demonstrators were hatched. >> one way for studios to move

forward, they jumped on the bandwagon. they were also serving their own needs. >> what walt disney told the fbi in his role as a informer is blacked out in the four row files obtained by the fbi. the book is full of fiction, half truths, this this book with the help of walt disney they tampered with their situation. one was kevin keller who is an

advocate despite being both death and mind. we ask every citizen to immediately report any information. and so it was during the cold war, j. edgar hoover was on a mission to root out communists and no one was above suspension. not everyone the beloved helen keller. she overcome severe handicap and became a good will ambassador. she was very interested in all different types of philosophies. >> it was that interest that raised eyebrows in washington. her support of better russian u.s. solution. though there was an perfect file on helen keller there was never a full investigation and

that was probably because of her handicapped. a recent biology per said that even if he was a communist was to threat to national security. also the logistical problem. how to wiretap a person who rarely used the phone and who communicated in the sign language students. remember the time. >> kelly was one of thousands of americans. including she was on the left of american politics. and in that sense, e he'll keller is fair game. >> her politics made some unease sáe. but to others especially people with i can hospital doesn't

mean a thing. >> the legacy will -- some of the people included were frank sinatra and our waitress. in 1994 mark texeriafbi file on a former gospel hearing. the fbi was in the crowd watching and listening. the new documents confirmed what we expected all along is that it treat johnson. uncovered three the freedom of information act shows the fbi

contributed $75,000. activists jerry ruben sitting out or on. other files tell of an apparent falling out. over his lack of interest or investors that want to live for their quality of life. >> with the pretext to the who surveillance. means the more important seem more unjusttied. with thousands of civilian. i don't snow, u be i know that you put him to rest and the acl

have says it will continue to a let swaoeud. and that's it for this week's second look. i'm julie haener, thank you for watching.