flacking for the bureau - the harold weisberg archivejfk.hood.edu/collection/weisberg subject index...
TRANSCRIPT
FIV
E
Flacking for the Bureau
HE
FB
I'S M
AL
\ nmus-r w
as not investigations but public rela-
tions an
d p
ropag
anda to
glo
rify H
oover. E
very
one w
ho
work
ed in
the b
ureau
. especially
those o
f us in
hig
h p
laces
around h
im. h
ear our sh
are of th
e blam
e.
Flack
ing fo
r the F
BI w
as part o
f every
agen
t's job fro
m h
is first
day
. In fact. "m
akin
g a g
ood first im
pressio
n"
was
a necessary
prereq
uisite fo
r bein
g h
ired as a sp
ecial agen
t in th
e first place. B
ald-
headed m
en, fo
r exam
ple
, were
never h
ired a
s agents b
ecause
Hoover th
ought a b
ald h
ead m
ade a h
ad im
pressio
n. N
o m
atter if the
man
involv
ed w
as a mem
ber o
f Phi B
eta Kap
pa o
r a much
-deco
rated
marin
e, or b
oth
. Appearan
ces were terrib
ly im
portan
t to H
oover. an
d
special ag
ents h
ad to
hav
e the rig
ht lo
ok an
d w
ear the rig
ht clo
thes.
One clay H
oover was going up to his office in the elevator w
hen a
young m
an, a clerk
, wearin
g a red
vest u
nder h
is suit jack
et got o
n
with
him
. And as if th
e red v
est wasn
't bad
enough, th
e poor fello
w's
face was b
roken
out. A
s soon_as H
oover g
ot to
his o
ffice, the o
rder
wen
t out to
find th
e young m
an w
ith p
imples w
earing a red
vest, fire
him, and discipline the m
an who recom
mended him
for employm
ent.
Though a b
ald-h
eaded
man
would
n't b
e hired
as an ag
ent, an
emplo
yee w
ho later lo
st his h
air wasn
't fired b
ut w
as kep
t out o
f the
public ey
e. Nath
an F
erris, who cam
e from
the fam
ily th
at inven
ted
the F
erris Wheel, b
egan
his lo
ng career w
ith th
e FB
I with
a full h
ead
of h
air but w
as bald
by th
e time h
e work
ed fo
r me at h
eadquarters as
the m
an in
charg
e of all o
ur fo
reign o
ffices. One d
ay in
the early
196os, N
ate came to
me to
say th
at his fo
ndest w
ish w
as to clo
se out
his F
BI career in
our M
exico
City
oflce w
here h
e had
ore w
ork
ed
Nate and his w
ife, who w
as Latin, both loved M
exico so much that he
- -
P
acking for th
e Bu
reau
81
was w
illing to
accept a su
bord
inate p
ositio
n ju
st to g
o b
ack.
It was fin
e with
me an
d I to
ld h
im so
, but th
ere was o
ne p
rob-
lem. T
he men in our foreign offices w
ere always on displa■ . m
eeting
people. speaking in public—in short. spreading H
oover's public rela-
tions message abroad. "N
ate." 1 said to him. "you know
what the pol-
icy is o
n b
ald h
eads. H
ow
am I g
oin
g to
get y
ou a jo
b in
Mex
ico?"
Ferris ad
mitted
that h
e had
a pro
blem
. but h
e wan
ted to
to an
yw
a .
so I okayed Ferris's request and sent it on to A
l Belm
ont. who w
as the
num
ber th
ree man
at the tim
e. Belm
ont called
me as so
on as h
e got
m■
mem
o.
"Why the hell," he w
anted to know, "did you send m
e this mem
-
oran
dum
on F
erris? He's b
ald; H
oover w
ill nev
er appro
ve h
im."
When I explained to A
l how m
uch the job meant to F
erris, he agreed
to try
to p
ush
the tran
sfer thro
ugh, b
ut w
e both
knew
the o
dds w
ere
against Nate.
Al called m
e a day or two later, laughing like hell. "I finally put
something over on that no-good bastard T
olson," he said. Tolson, w
ho
was H
oover's clo
sest aide as w
ell as his clo
sest, indeed
only
, friend,
saw ev
eryth
ing th
at wen
t to H
oover an
d h
e met w
ith B
elmont w
hen
he receiv
ed N
ate's request fo
r a transfer to
Mex
ico.
"Belm
ont." T
olso
n said
to A
l, "I seem to
remem
ber th
at Nate
Ferris is b
ald."
"Oh, n
o, M
r. Tolso
n," A
l told
me h
e said, "y
ou're th
inkin
g o
f
another fellow," and nam
ed another agent who w
as totally bald, even
bald
er, than
Nate w
as.
Tolson looked hard at B
elmont, and then his face lit up. "Y
ou're
right," h
e said, "th
at is who I'm
thin
kin
g o
f." and h
e appro
ved
the
transfer an
d p
assed th
e request o
n to
Hoover, w
ho w
as the last
hurdle. Hoover had a rule that no m
an was to be sent out to a foreign
office w
itho
ut a p
erson
al interv
iew w
ith th
e directo
r. But F
erris was
requestin
g h
is transfer at th
e directo
r's busiest tim
e of th
e year, ju
st
befo
re his an
nual testim
ony b
efore th
e House A
ppro
priatio
ns C
om
-
mittee. A
s this ap
pearan
ce determ
ined
the F
BI's b
udget, H
oover
prep
ared fo
r it very
carefully
. So N
ate and I d
ecided
to try
to g
et
around th
e perso
nal in
terview
by w
riting H
oover a letter. W
e flat-
tered him for about a page and a half, saying N
ate knew how
busy he
82 T
he B
urea
u
was and felt he couldn't possibly take up any of his valuable tim
e and w
as willing to forgo his interview
because of that, crossed our fingers. and sent it off.
To our am
azement, H
oover agreed and approved Nate's transfer
to Mexico w
ithout seeing him. It w
as the first time he ever did that.
But N
ate still had
one m
ore th
ing to
worry
about. H
e had
to co
me
back to see Hoover and T
olson after two years in M
exico for a review,
But he had tw
o years to think of a way to get around that situation.
Tw
o years after his transfer. Nate show
ed up in Washington. H
is head w
as still bald but he was loaded dow
n with silver gifts from
Mex-
ico. W
hen
he w
ent in
to see T
olso
n. h
e spread
about sev
enty
-five
dollars worth of silver on his desk. W
hen he went in to see H
oover, he spread about a hundred dollars w
orth of silver trinkets on his desk. B
oth
Hoover an
d T
olso
n w
ere so b
usy
lookin
g at all th
eir presen
ts that they never noticed his bald head, and N
ate returned to Mexico a
happy m
an.
Hoover's insistence on good appearances w
as a ridiculous policy. O
ne of my form
er students from the days w
hen I taught school in Bol-
ton, a man called R
andall, decided that he wanted to join the F
BI and
asked if I could help. He w
as a smart young m
an with a fine character
and I w
as delig
hted
to reco
mm
end h
im. B
ut h
e was tu
rned
dow
n.
The m
an w
ho in
terview
ed h
im th
ought th
at he w
as too m
uch
of a
farm b
oy
for th
e FB
I, that h
e wasn
't -polished- en
ough. th
at he
lacked
the m
aniacal g
leam in
the ey
e that F
BI recru
iters seem to
valu
e so h
ighly
. I was fu
rious w
hen
I heard
and I w
ent rig
ht to
H
oover with
it. He ag
reed to
giv
e the y
oung m
an an
oth
er chan
ce w
ith a n
ew in
terview
er. I m
ade it damn clear to the interview
er that he'd better not turn R
andall down. H
e was accepted and graduated high in his class. I fol-
low
ed R
andall's career an
d n
oted
that h
e was g
etting h
igh p
erfor-
mance ratings from
his superiors. After a few
years in the bureau Ran-
dall called to say that he wanted to speak w
ith me in person. T
he next m
orn
ing
he cam
e to m
y o
ffice and
said h
e wan
ted to
qu
it. He h
ad
been assigned to the bureau in Cincinnati and told m
e that they had so
man
y m
en th
ere that th
ey w
ere falling o
ver each
oth
er. Ran
dall
said th
at wh
en th
e office th
ere pu
t4a m
an u
nd
er surv
eillance th
at
Flocking for the B
ureau 83
needed just one or even two agents, as m
any as five men w
ere stuffed into one car and their subjects very quickly caught on that they w
ere being follow
ed. Randall said.
want to w
ork. I want to do som
e- thing. W
hat I don't want is to be superfluous and w
aste a lot of time
and the rest of it doing P.R
. for the bureau." I told Randall. "I can do
two things. I can clean that office out and reassign you, or I can accept
your resignation." I added. "Do
n't w
orn
, it won't hurt m
y position if you resign." A
nd he did. It was just one m
ore case of losing good m
en to inefficiency. M
ost SA
Cs overstock their offices because H
oover kept the FB
I expanding. A
teletype w
ould come into an S
AC
asking -How
man.
new agents w
ill your office take?" The S
AC
would look over his office
and think, "I could probably get rid of three men and not m
iss them
and riow. they w
ant to know how
many m
ore I need. - And he'd take
what he w
as sent. A
t the heart of Hoover's m
assive public relations operation were
the fifty-nine FB
I field offices whose territory took in every village,
town, city, and county , in A
merica. E
ach day, out of these field offices stream
ed eig
ht th
ousan
d ag
ents g
oin
g in
to ev
ery state, city
. and
town, talking to and becom
ing friendly with ordinary citizens from
all w
alks of life. People w
orking in the judiciary system on local. state,
and federal levels were especially singled out by agents for the es-
tablishment of close, influential relationships. Judges, district attor-
neys, special prosecutors, and even supporting office personnel were
developed as allies of the bureau. Important organizations—
patriotic, civic, fraternal, and others—
were also treated for developm
ent by our m
en. Som
e people became our inform
ants, others our apologists and supporters of influence.
The real job of the special agent in charge of each of these field
offices was public relations. T
he SAC
was out of the office a lot, visit-
ing the -right- people, those who m
olded public opinion in his terri-to
ry: n
ewsp
aper p
ublish
ers and ed
itors, o
wners an
d m
anag
ers of
radio and televison stations, corporate executives, and church of-ficials, to nam
e a few. T
he SA
C also plugged the bureau line day in
and day out at police headquarters, City H
all, Masonic L
odge meet-
ings, Jaycee luncheons, even at the local college or university.
84 T
he Bureau
In th
e 1
94
os a
nd
19
5o
s eve
ryon
e a
t the
FB
I kne
w th
at H
oo
ver
ha
d a
de
sire to
ge
t ho
no
rary d
eg
ree
s from
colle
ge
s an
d u
nive
rsities. It
turn
ed in
to q
uite
a n
oelce
t beca
use
whoeve
r would
get H
oove
r. say.
an ho
no
rary d
octo
r of la
w d
eg
ree
wo
uld
ge
t a fa
vore
d p
ost o
r at le
ast a
lette
r of co
mm
en
da
tion
with
a $
25
0 ca
sh b
on
us. F
or e
xam
ple
. the
agent w
ould
go to
his o
wn co
llege, sp
eak w
ith th
e d
ean o
r pre
sident.
arra
nge it if h
e co
uld
, and th
en m
ake
sure
Hoove
r knew
, by m
eans o
f a le
tter, so
meth
ing like
:
Dear M
r. Hoove
r: Y
esterday afternoon I stopped by at my college to discuss an F
BI appli-
cant with the P
resident. While I w
as discussing this applicant the President
said to me. "I have long thought that your director, J. E
dgar Hoover, is un-
doubtedly one of the greatest men that this country ever turned out, and I've
been thinking that the very least we could do is to confer on him
an honorary degree. and w
ould you please convey to him m
y view."
Hoove
r alw
ays a
ccepte
d. a
nd th
e a
gent a
lways g
ot th
e p
ost h
e
wante
d, a
lette
r of co
mm
endatio
n, a
nd a
cash
aw
ard
. But a
fter a
bout
fiftee
n ye
ars o
f this, H
oo
ver b
eg
an
to lo
se in
tere
st in d
eg
ree
s an
d th
e
racke
t stopped.
Beca
use
of th
is netw
ork o
f field
office
s, and th
anks to
the sco
res
of co
nta
cts ma
de
an
d m
ain
tain
ed
by th
e sp
ecia
l ag
en
ts in ch
arg
e,
Hoove
r was a
ble
to p
lace
"new
s" storie
s—in
vente
d a
nd w
ritten in
the
bu
rea
u, re
ally n
oth
ing
mo
re th
an
pre
ss rele
ase
s, pu
ff pie
ces fo
r the
F
BI—
in n
ew
spa
pe
rs all o
ver th
e co
un
try. Ou
r stren
gth
wa
s in th
e
sma
ll da
ilies a
nd
we
eklie
s; an
d w
ith h
un
dre
ds o
f the
se p
ap
ers b
eh
ind
him
. Hoover d
idn't g
ive a
dam
n a
bout p
apers
like th
e N
ew Y
ork
Tim
es or th
e W
ash
ing
ton
Po
st. Most o
f the m
en w
ho ru
n sm
all lo
cal
pap
ers a
re'u
sed
to p
rintin
g sto
ries a
bo
ut g
ran
ge
suppe
rs on th
e fro
nt
page: im
agin
e h
ow
gra
tefu
l they a
re fo
r a s
tory
from
the F
BI. O
f co
urse
, score
s of W
ash
ingto
n-b
ase
d re
porte
rs prin
ted sto
ries w
e g
ave
th
em
too, a
nd th
ey u
sually
prin
ted th
em
under th
eir o
wn b
ylin
es.
Som
e o
f them
lived o
f us. It w
as a
n e
asy w
ay to
make
a livin
g. T
hey
were
our p
ress p
rostitu
tes.
We a
lso
pla
nte
d s
torie
s c
ritica
l of s
om
e o
f Hoo
ve
r's fa
vo
rite
targ
ets, th
e C
IA fo
r insta
nce
. An
d o
f Jou
rse w
e p
lace
d strie
s ab
ou
t H
oove
r's congre
ssional critics. A
negative
story w
hich
ai3
pears in
a
Flacking for the B
ureau 85
new
spaper p
ublish
ed in
a co
ngre
ssman's h
om
e d
istrict hurts h
im
more
than a
ny a
rticle in
the W
ashington Post. I re
mem
ber th
at th
e
FB
I he
lpe
d to
de
fea
t Go
vern
or S
aw
yer o
f Ne
vad
a b
y givin
g so
me
d
am
ag
ing
info
rma
tion
on
Sa
wye
r to h
is op
po
ne
nt. w
ho
saw
to it th
at
the sto
ries m
ade th
e lo
cal p
apers. W
hat sin
had S
aw
yer co
mm
itted?
He h
adn't c
oopera
ted w
ith o
ne o
f Hoover's
investig
atio
ns. B
ut
wh
eth
er th
e a
rticles w
ere
ne
ga
tive o
r po
sitive. H
oo
ver a
lwa
ys re-
me
mb
ere
d th
e lo
cal e
dito
r wh
o p
rinte
d th
em
. an
d th
an
ked
him
Fo
r his "su
pport" in
a p
erso
nal le
tter.
Pe
rson
al le
tters w
ere
on
e o
f Ho
ove
r's favo
rite w
ea
po
ns in
his
pu
blic re
latio
ns a
rsen
al. O
ver H
oo
ver's sig
na
ture
. we
wro
te "p
er-
so
na
l" lette
rs to
eve
ryb
od
y fro
m c
hild
ren
in th
e s
ixth
gra
de
to
me
mb
ers o
f sen
ior citize
ns' clu
bs. W
e w
ere
the
gre
ate
st lette
r-writ-
ing b
ure
au in
the h
istory o
f the U
nite
d S
tate
s. Lette
rs went b
y the
thousa
nds to
the Ja
ycees, th
e n
ew
spaper e
dito
rs, the m
ove
rs and
shakers so carefully cultivated as FB
I contacts by our agents out in the fie
ld. T
he
se fie
ld a
ge
nts w
ere
also
resp
on
sible
for re
ad
ing
all th
e
new
spapers p
ublish
ed in
their te
rritory a
nd clip
pin
g a
ny a
rticle o
r let-
ter to
the
ed
itor th
at m
en
tion
ed
the
FB
I or H
oo
ver. A
ny fa
vora
ble
m
entio
n o
f eith
er in
any n
ew
spaper in
Am
erica
meant a
perso
nal le
t-te
r of th
anks fro
m H
oove
r. Lette
rs were
also
sent to
people
who w
rote
to th
e b
ure
au a
sking
qu
estio
ns a
bo
ut th
e F
BI, a
nd
esp
ecia
lly ab
ou
t J. Ed
ga
r Ho
ove
r. Did
th
e d
irecto
r take
cream
in h
is coffe
e o
r did
he d
rink it b
lack?
How
d
oe
s he
like h
is stea
k coo
ked
? W
ha
t kind
of tie
s do
es h
e p
refe
r?
Shoes?
Suits?
The A
merica
n p
ublic w
ante
d to
know
. W
e h
ad
two
full-tim
e d
esks o
pe
ratin
g th
is corre
spo
nd
en
ce m
ill. T
he
y we
re m
ad
e u
p o
f sup
erviso
rs, reg
ula
r ag
en
ts, assista
nts, cle
rks, and se
creta
ries. F
or e
very le
tter re
ceive
d, th
e se
nder, th
e o
rganiza
-tio
n, a
nd
its me
mb
ers w
ere
che
cked
ou
t in th
e F
BI's ce
ntra
l files
be
fore
the
lette
r wa
s an
swe
red
. Th
ou
san
ds a
nd
tho
usa
nd
s of m
an
-hours sp
ent. U
nto
ld m
illions o
f the ta
xpaye
rs' money sq
uandere
d.
Th
e a
ge
nts w
ho
actu
ally a
nsw
ere
d th
ese
qu
estio
ns a
nd
wro
te th
e
pe
rson
al le
tters fo
r Ho
ove
r wo
rked
for a
sma
ll divisio
n o
f the
FB
I mis-
leadin
gly ca
lled C
rime R
eco
rds. T
his d
ivision h
andle
d p
ublic re
la-
tions fo
r the b
ure
au. a
nd in
doin
g so
dealt w
ith th
e p
ress a
nd w
ith
congre
ssmen a
nd se
nato
rs. As H
oove
r did
n't b
elie
ve in
form
lette
rs.
86
The B
urea
u
any agent assigned to C
rime R
ecords had a full-time job. G
enerally, the letters w
ere fairly innocuous: "It has come to m
y attention that you w
rote a letter praising the FB
I . ." followed closely by "I hope I
contin
ue to
deserv
e your co
nfid
ence" ,an
d H
oover's sig
natu
re. But
some of them
could be tricky. T
he director must have once m
entioned that he liked popovers. because he got quite a few
letters asking for his popover recipe. An
agent named R
ussell .Asch, w
ith whom
I used to go fishing in Virginia,
was in charge of the correspondence desk w
hen one of the popover letters cam
e in. He had already answ
ered so many routine popover
letters that he knew the recipe by heart, or so he thought, and he dic-
tated it from m
emory. B
efore it was sent out, the letter w
ith the pop-over recipe w
as checked by Asch's section chief, by A
ssistant Director
Nichols's assistant, by N
ichols himself, and finally by H
elen Gandy,
one of Hoover's secretaries. M
iss Gandy called A
sch after reading his letter to ask if he had gone to the file for' the recipe. A
sch, who felt a
sudden sinking feeling in his stomach w
hen he heard her question. lad
to ad
mit th
at he h
ad d
ictated th
e recipe fro
m m
emory
. Miss
candy to
ld A
sch to
get th
e file with
the recip
e and b
ring it to
her.
When A
sch located the file (which took an hour or tw
o), Miss G
andy Jointed out that the recipe called for five teaspoons of baking pow
der, lot five tablespoons as A
sch had written..
Asch knew
he was in for it then. M
iss Gandy reported his m
istake o H
oover, who sent him
a letter of censure which becam
e part of his ierm
anent record. A letter of censure from
Hoover m
eant that Asch's
iending promotion, and the additional incom
e that went w
ith it, was
leld up. Asch told m
e that when he got hom
e that night, his wife said
hat sh
e had
been
readin
g sto
ries about th
e FB
I in th
e Washington
'ost in connection with som
e espionage cases and some big bank rob-
>eries. W
as he working on these cases, she asked. "G
ood God," he
aid to me later, "w
hat could I tell Polly? C
ould I tell her I was send-
ng out popover recipes?" T
he name of everyone w
ho wrote a letter to the F
BI, w
hether it :as a request for a popover recipe or a serious statem
ent on law en-
ircement, w
as thoroughly checked out. Hoover relied on his files ab-
olutely, and he also checked the file of fveryone who cam
e to visit im
in his office. Because of this, H
oover vas able to flatter h6 guests
Flocking for the B
ureau 87
by making personal rem
arks to them, or bringing up subjects about
which they had som
e expertise. He w
ould mention golf if his visitor
was a golfer or football if the visitor had played in college. T
he public relations never stopped.
Hoover once got a letter from
a minister w
ho said that he had been praising H
oover in his sermons for fourteen years until he heard
that Hoover spent a lot of tim
e at the racetrack and actually bet on the horses. T
he agent in Crim
e Records w
ho answered the letter started
by thanking the minister for his support over the years. and then he
wrote that it w
as true that "I" (Hoover) do go to the racetrack. I've
loved horses since I was a boy, the agent w
rote. and I love to watch
them run. A
few paragraphs later, the agent slipped in a sentence or
two explaining that H
oover did place an occasional two-dollar bet so
as not to embarrass his com
panions, but that his primary interest w
as the im
provement of the breed. T
he letter must have w
orked because w
e did
n't h
ear from
the m
inister ag
ain. b
ut it w
as pure in
ven
tion.
Hoover did m
ake a few bets at the tw
o-dollar window
, but that was
just for show. H
e had agents assigned to accompany him
to the track place his real bets at the hundred-dollar w
indow, and w
hen he won
he was a pleasure to w
ork with for days. H
e and Tolson used to be
driven from the courtyard of the D
epartment of Justice to the track in
a black bullet-proof car. Although H
oover always told people that he
and Tolson w
ere going off to work on a case, it w
as comm
on knowl-
edge that they were actually rushing to m
ake the first race. W
ith all th
ese letters com
ing in
and g
oin
g o
ut, H
oover h
ad a
huge mailing list and he sent out thousands of C
hristmas cards every
year. To H
oover, taking a man's nam
e off the mailing list w
as dire punishm
ent indeed. When H
oover got a letter from a doctor in B
al-tim
ore who had been an active supporter of the F
BI for years com
-plaining that the John D
illinger exhibit at bureau headquarters hadn't been changed in tw
elve years and needed modernizing, H
over re-taliated by taking the doctor off his m
ailing list. I'm sure he believed
that he was ruining the doctor's life by doing so.
Aside from
writing letters and handling the press, the other m
ain function of the C
rime R
ecords Division w
as dealing with C
ongress. T
here were tw
o ways w
e could help senators and congressmen: w
e could give them
useful information and w
e could cater to their needs,
Flacking for the B
ure
au
89
imager, a regular racetrack habitat. leueld he seen m
aking two dollar bets w
hite FB
I agents
gamed other bets far hint at the hrindred-dallar w
indow. .4 Photo
itti5 nam
e, he d
idn
't write th
e book
either. A
s a matter of fact, I w
as
dae one who suggested the b
ook to H
oover in th
e first place, an
d th
e
Research
and
the w
riting w
ere don
e by five or six of u
s at the b
ureau
.
On
ce the book w
as published, the real work began. E
very office
The B
ureau
or sm
all. We g
ave th
em in
form
ation o
n th
eir opponen
ts, of
urse, and thanks to the FB
I network of field offices w
hich blanketed
e country we w
ere sometim
es able to tell an incumbent w
ho was
inning to run against him before his ow
n people knew. W
e dealt in
ire personal information, too. If a senator heard about a son's drug
oblem from
us before the story got into the papers, he'd be mighty
ateful. It was unlikely that that senator w
ould ever stand up in the
:nate to
criticize the F
BI. In
fact. if the F
BI w
as bein
g criticized
,
!'d probably get up and defend it. It gave Hoover his leverage
Crim
e Records also dealt in services to congressm
en and sena-
rs, especially when they w
ere traveling abroad. Som
e of these ser-
ces were m
inim
al, pro
vid
ing lim
ousin
es, for in
stance. co
mplete
ith an
agen
t beh
ind th
e wheel to
do th
e driv
ing, o
r arrangin
g d
is-
tunts in the local shops. But som
e were of considerable im
portance
id d
elicacy. W
e set up in
troductio
ns 'an
d in
terview
s with
key
.embers of foreign governm
ents for many a senator. A
fter a few trips
Euro
pe, a sen
ator co
uld
dev
elop a n
ice warm
feeling fo
r the
ureau, which is just w
hat Hoover had ih m
ind.
What did H
oover get in exchange from som
e of these grateful
ten? In his maiden speech in C
ongress, Gerald F
ord, who had run
it his seat w
ith th
e blessin
g o
f the lo
cal FB
I, recom
men
ded
that
loover get a raise. When C
ongressman 'John J. R
ooney of Brooklyn,
Iew Y
ork, was asked to vote for a raise for the director, he tried to
icrease the amount. O
nce a year there was an event called the C
on-
ressional Dinner at w
hich former F
BI m
en who w
ere serving in the
louse of Representatives gave speeches honoring their form
er boss.
On occasion, H
oover would ex-tend the services of the F
BI to
.usiness executives. We helped som
e of the top men from
Warner
Iroth
ers by settin
g u
p m
eetings fo
r them
with
foreig
n p
olitical
eaders an
d b
usin
essmen
: they
got th
e same treatm
ent th
at som
e
lected officials did. All courtesy of the F
BI, all paid for by the tax-
tayer. Hoover bragged that he had the m
otion picture studio under
us thum
b.
When H
oover's book Masters of D
ereit came out, the agents in
)ur field offices were put to w
ork drumniing up sales. O
f coarse, just
is Hoover d
idn't w
rite the th
ousan
ds o
f letters that w
ent o
ut u
nder
10 T
he Bureau
n each state was expected to sell it. A
gents all over the country made
niblic appearances promoting it at bookstores and on local television
aid radio programs. A
gents who w
ere responsible for big book sales eceived bonuses, and agents w
ho sold an exceptionally large number
if books got raises. Our m
en in the field also placed reviews of the
iook w
hich
had
been
written
by ag
ents at F
BI h
eadquarters w
ith
heir co
ntacts at lo
cal new
spap
ers and
mag
azines. N
eedless to
he review
s were excellent. W
e used to joke in the bureau. "Masters
f Deceit, w
ritten by the Master of D
eceit who never even read it."
I was assigned by H
oover to make a speech to boost the book to a
;coup called the Citizens' C
omm
ittee of Cincinnati. W
e used to talk a 3t about C
omm
unist front groups in the 19505—the C
itizens' Com
-m
ittee of Cincinnati w
as an FB
I front group. Its sole purpose was to
ell Hoover's book. W
hen I arrived to give my speech, I noticed som
e ,anel trucks parked outside the building. A
n agent with the C
incin-ati office told m
e that the trucks were filled w
ith copies of Masters of
)eceit and that every mem
ber of the audience would get a free copy
f the book just for showing up. T
he purchase of the books had been nanced by a m
illionaire named E
van Rhodes, a w
ell-meaning m
an rho w
as being used by Hoover as the com
mittee's figurehead.
On the stage w
ere two A
merican flags blow
ing wildly in the w
ind reated by offstage fans. T
he mayor of C
incinnati. mem
bers of the ouncil and a form
er Miss A
merica w
ere on stage too. The m
ayor got p and thanked everyone for com
ing and then went into a long, prais-
ig speech about how w
onderful it was that one of the greatest citi-
ens of Ohio-had financed at great personal expense the purchase of
le book Masters of D
eceit, written by one of the greatest m
en in the ountry
, J. Edgar H
oover. T
he au
dien
ce jum
ped
to th
eir feet and
pplauded. When the noise died dow
n I gave my required speech on
ational security and was about to leave the platform
when one of the
wners of the S
cripps-How
ard newspapers cam
e up to me, all taken
p by the mom
ent, and said, "I'd like to do something for M
r. Hoo-
ey, too. What should I do?" M
ason, the Cincinnati S
AC
who w
as sanding next to m
e, didn't miss a beat: M
ason said, "If I were you I'd
'rite a personal letter to Mr. H
oover telling him that you w
ere here relay and w
hat a wonderful day it w
as and that you and your tewspa-
n
Flocking for the B
ureau 9]
per w
ant to b
e of assistance to h
im in
every possib
le way." T
he fellow
from S
cripps-How
ard stopped and said. "F
ine. but w
hat do I do—just
send it to
Wash
ingto
n M
ason g
rabbed
the b
all again
. He said
. tell you w
hat to do. Tom
orrow m
orning I'll come over to your office
and dictate a letter for you and all youll have to do is sign it." By G
od. w
hen I got back to Washington I found the letter that M
ason dictated and it w
as signed by the Scripps-H
oward executive. It w
as an incredi-b
le op
eration
and
it too
k p
lace all ov
er the co
un
try.
Natu
rally, w
ith th
e aweso
me p
ow
er of th
e FB
I beh
ind it. M
as-ter! o
f Deceit b
ecam
e a bestseller. T
he F
BI co
uld
mak
e a bestseller
out of a calculus textbook. Being som
ewhat naive at the tim
e. as one of the six m
en who w
orked like hell to put the book together I "rote a m
emo recom
men
din
g that th
e consid
erable p
roceeds go to th
e D
amon
Ru
iyon F
un
d or to th
e Am
erican H
eart Association
or to som
e charity of that nature. In response, I got a call from an agent as-
signed
to Tolson
's office saying th
at my m
emo h
ad n
ot been "favora-bly
received
," and I w
as told
that th
e directo
r alone w
ould
decid
e h
ow b
est to use th
e royalties. I was even m
ore astonished a few years
later when I found out that H
oover had kept most of the book's profits
himself. I also learned that be w
as annoyed when he found him
self in a h
igher tax b
racket b
ecause of th
ose royalties. In its first draft, M
asters of Deceit w
as a serious study of comm
u-nism
. It had
been
watered
dow
n an
d jazzed
up
prior to p
ub
lication,
how
ever, and
I suggested
to Hoover th
at his n
ext book
be m
ore sub
-stan
tial. I suggested
it be called
"A S
tudy of Com
munism
" and that the proceeds of that book go to a J. E
dgar Hoover scholarship fund at
George W
ashington University. B
ut Hoover_ w
ho knew a lot m
ore ab
out royalties an
d th
e tax law b
y then
, set it up
so that all fu
ture
royalties wou
ld go in
to the F
BI R
ecreation F
un
d in
stead. A
lthou
gh
agents w
ere sup
posed
to share th
e mon
ey in th
e Recreation
Fu
nd
, it w
as actually nothing more than a tax dodge. T
he m
on
ey in
the fu
nd
w
as available to H
oover, at all times, an
d h
e used
it. A
ll of these special projects of Hoover's put a severe drain on the
man
pow
er in th
e bu
reau. F
or examp
le, toward
the en
d of 1962. an
-oth
er of Hoover's b
ooks w
ritten b
y the agen
ts was at th
e pu
blish
ers aw
aiting th
e prep
aration of a glossary. A
ssistant D
irector DeL
oach
92
T
he B
ureau
wan
ted to
send tw
o o
f our esp
ionag
e specialists to
New
York
City
to
aid
in th
e ta
sk. I g
ot in
to a
. arg
um
ent w
ith D
eL
oach o
ver th
is and
wro
te to
Cly
de T
olso
n:
Octo
ber 4
, igtiz
Dear M
r. Tolson-
PE
RS
ON
AL
It has b
een called
to m
y atten
tion
that a v
igo
rou
s disag
reemen
t I had
w
ith M
r DeL
oach
early th
is week
over th
e need
to sen
d tw
o m
en to
the
pu
blish
ers in N
ew Y
ork
to p
repare a g
lossary
. etc.. for th
e Directo
r's bo
ok
-A S
tud
. of C
om
mu
nism
.' seems to
hav
e caused
som
e com
men
t. I was
somew
hat more than m
ildly surprised to learn of this. In order that I may be
certain y
ou
has e all th
e facts, I wish
to v
ery resp
ectful]) ad
vise y
ou
as
follows:
j. When I w
as told that both F. C
. Stukenbroeker and A
. W. G
ray were
to spend one or two days in N
ew Y
ork for discussions of a glossary, I stated w
hat I b
elieved
tho
rou
gh
ly to
be tru
e; that th
ere is no
need
for b
oth
go
ing .
As you know
, we are bad]. in need of m
anpower. I told M
r. DeL
oach that in m
y v
iew, eith
er on
e or th
e oth
er sho
uld
go
. z. N
o d
ou
bt th
ere are som
e wh
o b
elieve I sh
ou
ld n
ot g
et inv
olv
ed in
co
ntro
versy
; that su
ch h
arms o
ur o
peratio
ns. In
all sincerity
, I mu
st say,
rightly or wrongly, that I have alw
ays believed most strongly in controversy
as a legitimate m
eans for obtaining legitimate ends. O
n some occasions there
seems to be no other recourse but controversy, and I do think that it should
be sharp. vigorous and penetrating without any consideration as to w
hether one w
ill be liked or disliked for it. 1 cannot help but think that on occasions this B
ureau has suffered from a lack of open, direct controversy. W
henever m
en "scratch
each o
ther's b
acks - and blink at each other's shortcom
ings for self-protective reasons, it im
pairs our efficiency. Life is essentially com
posed of unrelenting com
petition—often rough, bruising, and fierce com
petition. Isn
't it so th
at men
will clash
and, if th
ey h
ave an
y co
nvictio
ns at all, m
ust
clash over ideas, principles, values, means, interests and ends. I cannot help
but think that such competition is good for the B
ureau and it makes for prog-
ress. Whereas the superficial bow
ing, scraping, smiling and nam
by-pamby
self-protective agreements that so often 'exist m
ay result in harm to anything
to w
hich
they
are related.
Sincerely,
[sign
ed] W
. C. S
ulliv
an
Th
e book
was fin
ally comp
leted. A
noth
er bestseller. T
hose of u
s
wh
o wrote it received
letters of comm
end
ation th
at said.
hav
e fol-
lowed
your record
very closely and
arridavorab
ly imp
ressed b
y the su
-
perior w
ork
done b
y y
ou o
ver a lo
ng p
eriod o
f time. I h
ave inclu
ded
Flockin
g for the B
ureau 93
an in
centive rew
ard, to yo
u in
the am
ou
nt o
f $2
50
. oo
. Sin
cerely, J.
Edgar H
oover.
At tim
es Hoover ten
ded
to o
verestim
ate the p
ow
er of p
ublic
relations. In
1965,=
Jetteph-L
. -Rau
h. Jr., vice-p
residen
t of Am
ericans
for Dem
ocratic Action
. a liberal grou
p, m
ade som
e critical remark
s ab
out H
oover in a sp
eech h
e gav
e to a m
eeting
of th
e Natio
nal Stu-
den
ts Association
. Rau
h accu
sed th
e FB
I of not en
forcing th
e law
when it cam
e to the area of civil rights. He w
anted the federal govern
-
men
t to tak
e steps to
protect civil righ
ts work
ers in th
e Sou
th an
d
charged
that H
oover was "th
e wron
g man
" to head
civil rights in
ves-tigation
s becau
se of his disp
araging rem
arks ab
out M
artin L
uth
er K
ing. Faced
with
a real crisis, Hoover tu
rned
to h
is pu
blic relatio
ns
mach
ine to
cov
er it up
instead
of try
ing
to so
lve it. A
Crim
e Reco
rds
mem
o to
Hoover d
ated 25 A
ug
ust 1
96
5 stated
:
Pursu
ant to
Mr. T
olso
n's in
structio
ns. w
e are mak
ing im
med
iate contact
with M
iriam O
ttenberg at the Washington S
tar so that Rauh's charges can be
answered in the press at the earliest possible tim
e. We w
ill prevail on her to get an article out if at all possible this w
eekend. Previously approved m
ate-rial is being furnished her for use in the article to com
bat Rauh's charges in
accordance with the D
irector's instructions. W
e should also utilize other sources.
By th
e time C
rime R
ecords w
rote their n
ext mem
o on th
e fol-
lowin
g day, th
e pu
blic relation
s operation
was in
full sw
ing:
We have been w
orking with M
iss Ottenberg today and have gotten up con-
siderable material in order that w
e can effectively refute Rauh's criticism
s. M
iss Ottenberg says that her story w
ill run either Friday, A
ugust 27. or else on S
unday the 29th, in the Sta
r. A
dditionally, we have sent m
aterial today to a number of colum
nists including F
ulton Lew
is, Jr., Paul H
arvey, Bob A
llen of the H
all Syn
dicate, R
ay Crom
ley of New
spaper Enterprise A
ssociation, Ed M
owry of G
eneral F
eatures an
d th
e New
house ch
ain. E
d O
'Brien
of th
e St. L
ouis G
lobe-
Dem
ocrat, Warren R
ogers of Hearst and R
ay McH
ugh of the Coply P
ress, am
ong others. W
e are continuing to work on this to insure that the w
idest possible cov-erage can be given to our positive accom
plishments in the civil rights field.
94 T
he B
urea
u
Louis B
. Nichols, w
ho was then assistant director of the F
BI, w
as
in ch
arge o
f all public
press m
atters, and
con
tacts with
Congress fo
r Hoover. N
ichols h
ad h
is ow
n so
lutio
n to
the g
row
ing
criticism o
f the F
BI's ro
le in th
e civil rig
hts co
ntro
versy
. Lik
e Hoo-
ver's p
lan, it h
ad n
oth
ing to
do w
ith real p
olicy
chan
ge b
ut w
as pure
public relatio
ns.
In a m
isguid
ed effo
rt to cu
t off th
e criticism o
f the F
BI at its
source, N
ichols talk
ed H
oover in
to h
iring M
orris E
rnst, w
ho w
as at
that tim
e head
of th
e Am
erican C
ivil L
iberties U
nio
n, as th
e direc-
tor's p
ersonal law
yer.
As
the A
merican
Civ
il Lib
erties Unio
n w
as
even
more lib
eral than
Am
ericans fo
r Dem
ocratic A
ction. E
rnst an
d
Hoover w
ere a very
unlik
ely co
mbin
ation. H
ow
ever, sh
ortly
after he
beg
an to
represen
t Ho
ov
er, Ern
st wro
te an article fo
r the R
eader's
Digest p
raising
the F
BI. T
he article w
as reprin
ted an
d w
e mailed
ou
t
copies b
y th
e thousan
ds.
After th
at article app
eared, th
e Ho
ov
er-Ern
st relation
ship
faded
away
, just as th
e relationsh
ip b
etween
Hoover an
d W
alter Win
chell
once d
id. W
inch
ell was p
robab
ly th
e first natio
nally
know
n rad
io
com
men
tator d
evelo
ped
by th
e FB
I. We sen
t Win
chell in
form
ation
regu
larly. H
e was o
ur m
ou
thp
iece. Of co
urse, h
e becam
e so o
bv
iou
s
after a w
hile th
at he fin
ally lo
st his v
alue, an
d H
oover lo
st interest in
him
. Win
chell o
nce h
ad a trem
endous au
dien
ce, though, an
d h
e was
very
valu
able to
Ho
ov
er then
, wh
o u
sed h
im p
ractically ev
ery tim
e he
wan
ted to
leak a sto
ry.
When
I hear p
eople talk
about a - n
ew" F
BI, I k
now
that th
e
chan
ges th
ey talk
about are o
nly
pap
er chan
ges. T
his p
ublic relatio
ns
op
eration
of H
oo
ver's, th
is massiv
e attemp
t to co
ntro
l pu
blic o
pin
ion
.
oontin
ues.to
this d
ay, an
d it is at th
e very
heart o
f what is w
rong w
ith
the b
ureau
: Un
less it is exp
osed
, un
til every
edito
r of ev
ery little
week
ly n
ewsp
aper w
ho ev
er prin
ted an
FB
I press h
andout realizes
how he has been used, the F
BI w
ill do business in the same old w
ay.
A m
assive, p
ervasiv
e public relatio
ns o
peratio
n is n
o su
bstitu
te
for th
e job
of in
vestig
ating
crimes. T
he F
BI sh
ou
ld co
nd
uct its b
usi-
ness q
uietly
and
it sho
uld
earn its resp
ect from
the citizen
s of th
e
United
States b
y th
e results o
f its Mork
, not fro
m th
e results o
f its
pro
pag
anda.
Flocking for the B
ureau 95
-In 19.76, five years after I left th
e FB
I, I go
t a teleph
on
e call at
my h
om
e in N
ew H
ampsh
ire from
Alg
er Hiss. S
till work
ing o
n h
is
case, he w
anted
me to
tell him
wheth
er the ty
pew
riter that h
elped
convict h
im o
f a perju
ry ch
arge w
as a fake w
hich
had
been
put
togeth
er at the F
BI L
aborato
ry.
Although I never w
orked on the Hiss case m
yself, I know that w
e
were g
ivin
g R
ichard
Nix
on, w
ho w
as in ch
arge o
f the in
vestig
ation,
every
possib
le assistance. H
ad N
ixon ask
ed th
e FB
I to m
anufactu
re
evid
ence to
pro
ve h
is case again
st Hiss. H
oo
ver w
ou
ld h
ave b
een
only too glad to oblige. I told Hiss that the typew
riter was not m
ade in
the F
BI L
ab. W
hat I d
idn
't tell him
was th
at even
if we h
ad w
anted
to, w
e simply
would
not h
ave b
een cap
able o
f it.
The lab
orato
ry, d
escribed
in an
FB
I publicity
booklet as "th
e
greatest laW enforcem
ent laboratory in the world," is the highlight of
the p
ublic to
ur o
f FB
I head
quarters in
Wash
ingto
n, D
.C. O
ver th
e
years, m
illions o
f tourists h
ave listen
ed, aw
estruck
, to g
low
ing d
e-
scriptions of the lab's capabilities and activities. Unfortunately, these
descrip
tions are n
oth
ing b
ut a sh
ow
-busin
ess spiel. T
he F
BI L
abora-
tory
is in fact a real-life co
un
terpart o
f the b
usy
wo
rkro
om
of th
e
Wizard
of O
z—all illu
sion. E
ven
the fam
ous lab
orato
ry files w
ere
main
tained
for sh
ow
. Th
ey lo
ok
ed im
pressiv
e, bu
t they
were really
inco
mplete an
d o
utd
ated.
I first heard the truth about the lab at the beginning of my career
with the F
BI w
hen I worked w
ith Charlie W
instead in the Southw
est.
Charlie took m
e with him
one day when he had to get som
e handwrit-
ing sam
ples fro
m a p
risoner, a d
eserter from
the arm
y, b
eing
held
at
an air fo
rce base in
Alb
uq
uerq
ue b
ecause h
e had
been
charg
ed w
ith
assault an
d b
attery an
d attem
pted
murd
er.
Ch
arlie mad
e the m
an w
rite for o
ver h
alf an h
ou
r, a senten
ce or
two each
on tw
enty
or th
irty sep
arate pieces o
f pap
er, befo
re he h
ad
eno
ug
h. W
e mark
ed each
samp
le with
the case n
um
ber, th
e pris-
on
er's nam
e, and
the d
ate, and
then
, befo
re send
ing
the sam
ples o
ut
to headquarters in Washington, he rem
oved ten or twelve of the slips
of paper and put them in his files. I asked C
harlie what he w
as doing,
and th
ough at first h
e was relu
ctant to
tell me, h
e finally
explain
ed.
"If you stay with the bureau," C
harlie started by saying, "this is a
Th
e F
BI I-is
ho
rato
ry w
as th
e h
igh
Ihth
i of th
e p
ub
lic's
lou
r of th
e b
ure
au
's h
ead
qu
arte
rs In
Wa
sh
ing
ton
. B.C
. W
rde
Wo
rld P
ho
ro3
96 T
he B
ureau
trick that will save you all kinds of tim
e and trouble in the future. No
one at th
at lab th
ey rim
in Washington," C
harlie ctintinued,-'-'icnows
what he's doing. A
fter years of sending handwriting sam
ples to them.
I finally learned that no matter how
many I send, they alw
ays call me
a mo
nth
later to ask
for m
ore. W
hen
they
do
, I just p
ull o
ut th
e
samp
les I pu
t aside y
ears ago
. pu
t a fresh d
ate on
them
, and
send
them
in."
In the years that followed I learned that C
harlie's low opinion of
the F
BI L
aborato
ry w
as com
pletely
justified
. When
we ask
ed th
e
boys in the lab to come up w
ith a good wall m
icrophone so that agents
Flocking for the B
ureau 97
--mild hear w
hat was being said in an adjoining room
on an espionage
case we had, they couldn't do it, and w
e finally had to turn to the CIA
for help. When w
e were w
orking on the Pentagon P
apers case. we
wanted to know
whether photocopies w
e were holding as evidence
were copied from
an original document, from
an original photocopy,
or from a photocopy of a photocopy. T
he lab couldn't give us a satis-
factory answer so w
e had to turn to the Xerox C
ompany for help. T
he
FB
I Lab couldn't even com
e up with a sim
ple "peephole"—a device
which, w
hen attached to a car under surveillance, would allow
us to
follow that car electronically w
hen we couldn't follow
it visually—that
would stick to the bottom
of a car. Once again I had to turn to the C
IA
for help. D
eciphering codes was one of the lab's m
ajor functions, but most
of my m
en learned the hard way to take any codes that w
ere giving
them problem
s to the National S
ecurity Agency if they w
anted re-
sults. An old college friend of m
ine, a brilliant scientist who becam
e a
world-fam
ous microbiologist, once told m
e that he could develop an
unbreakable code by using bacteria. When he explained his theory to
me I couldn't understand a w
ord of it, and when he asked m
e to put
him in touch w
ith the head of the FB
I Lab I did so, but I doubted
whether the F
BI scientists could understand m
y friend either. The
men w
ho were w
orking in the FB
I Lab as agent-exam
iners were for
the most part form
er special agents who w
ere chosen for their lab as-
signments after years in the field because they had once m
ajored in
biology or physics in college. Few
of them have continued their edu-
cation or updated their degrees, and therefore very few are aw
are of
recent scientific developments. T
hey are laboratory technicians, not
research scientists. I put m
y friend, the microbiologist, in touch w
ith Donald P
ar-
sons, who headed the lab at the tim
e. After their m
eeting, my friend
told me that he could tell by P
arsons's blank expression and by the
questions he d
idn
't ask th
at Parso
ns h
ad g
otten
as little ou
t of th
e
theory as I had. "Don't you have a scientist up there?" he asked m
e.
My friend finally gave his code concept to the C
IA.
Why w
as the lab such a disaster? Starting from
the top, neither of
the two m
en who held the post of assistant director in charge of the
98
T
he Bureau
lab. D
onald
Parso
ns o
r his su
ccessor Iv
an C
onrad
. had
any field
expe-
rience, w
hich
seriously
affected ■-11,.irilidgm
ent on cases which cam
e in
from
the field
(lab
alsb carrie in from other governm
ent agen- cies an
d fro
m lo
cal police d
epartm
ents), an
d b
oth
men
tried to
mak
e up fo
r their lack
of scien
tific know
ledge an
d ab
ility b
y o
verem
pha-
sizing
clerical and
adm
inistrativ
e pro
cedu
res. Becau
se of th
is, agen
t-ex
amin
ers who w
ork
ed in
the lab
spen
t too m
uch
time fillin
g o
ut
form
s and n
ot en
ough tim
e doin
g scien
tific research.
Th
is is a basic list o
f the F
BI L
ab's sh
ortco
min
gs d
urin
g m
y tim
e th
ere:
• Th
e do
cum
ent sectio
n o
f the lab
con
du
cted n
o research
into
o
ptical scan
ners, p
ho
toelectric read
ing
dev
ices, or au
tom
atic imag
-ery
. Such
research co
uld
hav
e had
significan
t applicatio
n in
the id
en-
tification o
f han
dw
riting.
• No
actual research
was co
nd
ucted
into
ho
log
raph
y, alth
ou
gh
th
ree-dim
ensio
nal h
olo
grap
hic p
hoto
grap
hs o
f the scen
e of a crim
e w
ould
be an
invalu
able aid
to in
vestig
ation.
• To
day
, mo
re than
seven
ty-fiv
e years after th
e disco
very
of d
if-feren
t blo
od g
roups, v
ery little th
at has b
een d
iscovered
since ab
out
blo
od h
as found its w
ay in
to th
e FB
I Lab
orato
ry.
• The b
ank ro
bbery
note file, w
hich
..though it is o
ne o
f the b
usi-
est and m
ost p
roductiv
e files in th
e Lab
, is merely
a card file w
hich
is ted
iou
s to w
ork
with
. Th
e file can o
nly
be u
sed b
y o
ne o
r at mo
st two
peo
ple at o
nce. E
xistin
g tech
nolo
gy sh
ould
hav
e been
utilized
to
impro
ve th
e system
decad
es ago.
• Of th
e 13
6 ag
ent-ex
amin
ers emp
loy
ed b
y th
e lab w
hen
I was
with
the F
BI, 1
36 w
ere Pro
testants o
r Cath
olics an
d 1
36 w
ere white.
Th
ere wasn
't on
e Jewish
, black
, or H
ispan
ic Am
erican.
• Histo
rically, th
e lab h
as main
tained
a black
list of p
olice d
e-partm
ents eu
phem
istically called
the "R
estricted L
ist." A law
en-
forcem
ent ag
ency
placed
on
the R
estricted L
ist may
find itself co
m-
pletely
cut o
ff from
the serv
ices of th
e FB
I Lab
. Th
e qu
ickest an
d
surest w
ay fo
r a local d
epartm
ent to
be p
laced o
n th
e Restricted
list w
as to criticize th
e efficiency
of th
e FB
I t or to encourage the establish-m
ent o
f ind
epen
den
t regio
nal lab
orato
ries. Th
is list still 'existed
in
1976.
Flocking for the B
ureau
99
With
conditio
ns as b
ad as th
ey w
ere at the F
BI L
ab, it w
as no
wonder that w
hen I became a supervisor in the research section of the
Dom
estic Intelligence Division in the early 195os I w
as visited by the few
agen
t-exam
iners w
ho w
ere doin
g g
ood w
ork
and w
ho b
elieved
th
ey co
uld
do b
etter work
if there w
as a shak
eup at th
e lab. T
hese
men
were th
e thin
kin
g, h
onest, in
dustrio
us, an
d co
ncern
ed m
inority
w
ho w
ere responsib
le for w
hatev
er good w
ork
the lab
did
turn
out,
They
asked
me to
take w
hatev
er steps I fo
und n
ecessary to
persu
ade
Directo
r Hoover th
at fundam
ental ch
anges w
ere called fo
r. I agreed
to
do so
, but I to
ld th
em th
at I wan
ted to
wait fo
r the rig
ht m
om
ent,
an occasion which w
ould justify my stirring things up. I didn't have to
wait long.
Donald P
arsons was in charge of the lab at that tim
e. Politically,
Parsons w
as an ultraconservative. Scientifically, he w
as limited
; pro
-fessio
nally
, he w
as a hig
hly
dev
eloped
bureau
crat who co
uld
n't d
o
enough to please Hoover and T
olson. Parsons w
as also a close friend of J. P
. Mohr, o
ne o
f Hoover's clo
sest aides, an
d th
ey h
ad a w
ell-deserv
ed rep
utatio
n fo
r pro
motin
g an
d p
rotectin
g each
oth
er, irre-sp
ective o
f the facts in
volv
ed.
Parsons believed in keeping his agent-exam
iners close to home.
He saw
no n
eed fo
r them
to tak
e outsid
e courses o
r attend scien
tific m
eetings. After all, P
arsons ran "the greatest law enforcem
ent labora-tory in the w
orld." What did the rest of the scientific com
munity have
to teach his men? T
o justify keeping a representative of the FB
I from
attendin
g a co
nven
tion o
f the N
ational A
ssociatio
n fo
r the A
dvan
ce-m
ent of Science, P
arsons wrote a m
emo criticizing the A
ssociation in w
hich
he im
plied
that its m
embers w
ere Com
munists. T
hat w
as my
dep
artmen
t, and I felt p
erfectly ju
stified in
sendin
g M
r. Parso
ns a
mem
o in
which
I took issu
e with
his p
ositio
n. T
he co
ntro
versy
that
ensu
ed w
as to last fo
r week
s. F
irst, Parsons w
rote a mem
o back to me. It w
as characteristically pom
pous, au
thoritarian
, and in
correct. H
e simply
had
not d
one h
is hom
ework
, and I p
roved
it when
I refuted
his claim
s by u
sing m
ate-rial out of his ow
n files. Then P
arsons went to see A
l Belm
ont, my as-
sistant director and at that time m
y direct boss, and asked Belm
ont to "k
eep S
ulliv
an's m
outh
shut ab
out th
e Lab
." Al B
elmont w
as one o
f th
e few w
ho
had
risen to
the to
p ran
ks o
f the F
BI w
itho
ut lo
sing
his
100 T
heB
ureau
integrity alon
g the w
ay, and
he ab
solutely -refu
sed. "
Su
llivan h
as a right to has optniciii, - he told P
arsons. A
fevJ days after P
arsons's m
eeting w
ith B
elmon
t. I got a visit from
Parson
s's friend
j. P. M
ohr, th
en assistan
t director of th
e Ad
-m
inistrative Division. H
e came by, he said, to give m
e some "friendly
advice," and went on to tell m
e that I would hurt m
y career if I con-tinued to speak out and to w
rite rude mem
os. "No supervisor should
ever criticize or attack an assistant director," he said solemnly as he
left. I wrote h
is advice d
own
in m
y diary as soon
as he w
as out th
e door. T
he conflict continued to rage until Director H
oover himself es-
tablished a comm
ittee to resolve the issue. The com
mittee w
as com-
prised of Parsons's m
en, however, and the final outcom
e was not sat-
isfactory either to P
arsons or m
e. It was a typ
ical fence-strad
dlin
g com
prom
ise, the k
ind
Hoover w
as so good at, m
ade to calm
stormy
waters b
ut n
ot to solve the p
roblem
.
SIX
Life in the Circus
DIR
EC
TO
R
the F
ederal B
ureau
of Inve
S
lived like a king, and the bureau was his
ing with this regal self-im
age, his suite of V
isiting H
oover was an
awe-in
spirin
g experien
ce. housed a large glass-topped table, the kind m
useum
hibits. Hoover's display included a hollow
ed-out ni doff A
bel, the Russian spy, to pass coded m
essages, from
famous crim
inals like Dillinger and K
arpis. the closest H
oover ever came to a real gun since he
to use one. He w
as with the F
BI for forty-eight ye
made an arrest or conducted an investigation. In fact
fond
est wish
was to b
e in ch
arge of world
wid
e in
once left the United States.
From
the outer office a visitor walked into a s
where one of H
oover's secretaries was positioned.
past th
e desk
s of two m
ore secretaries, was H
oove w
as an enormous room
, lined with books, furnished
its focal poin
t was th
e oval table, large en
ough
to center of the room
. Naturally, H
oover always sat at
table. Thanks to his loyal subjects at the bureau, H
oov ing his hours aw
ay from the office, too. H
e hated to fl orite form
of transportation and each trip was a
Someone from
the Adm
inistrative Division w
as exp th
e presid
ent o
f the railroad to insure that the tern ver's and T
olson's compartm
ents (they always travel
t at a constant sixty-eight degrees. God forbid it
en or sixty-nine. When H
oover arrived at his des