During J. Edgar Hoover’s nearly 50 years as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, he transformed the FBI from a small enterprise mainly investigating interstate crimes to one of the nation’s most formidable intelligence institutions. But during his tenure, Hoover became more than just the agency's leader — he became its spiritual general.

"Hoover baptized the FBI in his own image," says Lerone Martin, the Martin Luther King Jr. Centennial professor and director of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. 

Martin uncovered thousands of internal FBI documents using the Freedom of Information Act, and these documents paint a picture of Hoover’s FBI as not just a force of the law, but a force of white Christian nationalism. 

Martin's new book is "The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism."