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

too. lidaAkr..411- Owtovt. " tde6

twift