{{Short description|American security inspector (1917–2002)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox person | name = Joseph Sullivan | birth_date = February 17, 1917 | birth_place = Montreal, Wisconsin, U.S. | death_date = August 2, 2002 (aged 85) | death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S. | occupation = FBI Major Case Inspector }}

'''Joseph Aloysius Sullivan''' (February 17, 1917 &ndash; August 2, 2002<ref name="onwisc">{{cite web|url=http://waa.uwalumni.com/onwisconsin/winter02/code2.html |title=The Code-Breaker and the G-Man — Part 2 |date=Winter 2002 |publisher=On Wisconsin |accessdate=2010-02-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721052139/http://waa.uwalumni.com/onwisconsin/winter02/code2.html |archivedate=2010-07-21 }}</ref>) was a Major Case Inspector for the Federal Bureau of Investigation from 1941 to 1977. Born in Montreal, Wisconsin,<ref name="onwisc" /> he grew up in Hurley, Wisconsin and died in Manhattan, New York City. He was involved in a number of highly publicized cases in the sixties and seventies including the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.,<ref name="opj">{{cite web |url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110002104 |title=The Gentle G-Man (Sullivan's obituary) |date=2002-08-09 |publisher=Wall Street Journal |accessdate=2010-02-14}}</ref> the murder of United Mine Workers reformer Joseph "Jock" Yablonski,<ref name="opj" /> the Sterling Hall bombing at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the Kent State shootings. Despite his involvement in such high-profile cases, Sullivan is best known for his relentless search to track down the killers of three civil rights workers, who were brutally slain in Mississippi in 1964.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price%26bowers/Sullivan.htm |title=Biography of Joseph Sullivan |publisher=University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law |accessdate=2010-02-14 |archive-date=2009-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091230084054/http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/price%26bowers/Sullivan.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Popular culture == The character played by Willem Dafoe (himself, incidentally, also a native Wisconsinite) in the movie ''Mississippi Burning'' is loosely based on Sullivan. According to ''The FBI – A Comprehensive Reference Guide'' (1998), edited by Athan G. Theoharis, Sullivan was also the model for Inspector Lew Erskine, the lead character played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., on the TV series ''The FBI''. Upon Sullivan's death in 2002, author Tom Clancy is quoted as referring to him as "the greatest lawman America ever produced."<ref name="onwisc" /><ref name="opj" />

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Joseph}} Category:1917 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Category:Kent State shootings Category:Murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner Category:People from Hurley, Wisconsin Category:People from Montreal, Wisconsin

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