The Real J. Edgar Hoover: For the Record

By Ray Wannall

Former special agent and assistant director of the FBI, Ray Wannall, writes a comprehensive, insider's commentary regarding one of the most powerful, but enigmatic personalities of our time. Highly revealing and provocative, FOR THE RECORD sheds light on efforts to undermine Hoover's legacy and startling details as to events involving Martin Luther King, the Kennedy family, the Nixon administration, and much much more!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Mar 15, 2000
• ISBN: 9781618585103

Book preview

DISCIPLINARIAN AT THE HELM

In March of 1924, President Calvin Coolidge nominated Harlan Fiske Stone to be his attorney general. Coolige had been nicknamed Silent Cal because he used the very minimum of words when he spoke. However, on the occasion, he sent a loud, clear mandate for Stone to clean up the scandal-ridden Department of Justice. As vice-president, Coolidge, a former classmate of Stone’s at Amherst College, had succeeded to the presidency via the death of President Warren Harding. He inherited a Justice Department that reeked with problems.

Harding, formerly a small town newspaper editor and politician in Ohio, had been the first Republican to capture the White House in eight years. Following his March 4, 1921 inauguration, he began drawing from men who had been his poker-playing pals and his political board of strategy. One of these men, Harry M. Daugherty, was named as his attorney general. Under Daugherty, the Bureau of Investigation (early name of the Federal Bureau of Investigation) was almost wrecked. The Department of Justice was referred to as the Department of Easy Virtue.

One of Daugherty’s early acts was to fire William J. Flynn, director of the Bureau of Investigation, and appoint William J. Burns in his place. Burns was the President of the William J. Burns International Detective Agency. In the Daugherty shake-up of the department, J. Edgar Hoover (an employee since 1917) found himself transferred from his post as special assistant to the attorney general to the position of assistant director of the Bureau of Investigation on August 22, 1921, his first direct connection with the Bureau.

Burns was no friend of labor. A Canadian newspaper expose charged that his Canada-based detective agency had solicited to spy on manufacturers’ workers in their plants or union conventions and report when, where and how labor trouble will break out. His agents were accused of deliberately fomenting labor discord.

Once Burns assumed his position as head of the Bureau, the strong political influences at work in the Harding administration were soon evident in the agency’s files. Burns received a memorandum from a senator which gave a break-down of the party affiliations of the Bureau’s agents in the Chicago office. Republicans were listed without comment but the names of democrats had appended comments such as: Son-in-law of Democratic State Senator; Placed by Congressman A, Democrat; Democrat and active as such.

A shady figure named Gaston B. Means was appointed by Burns as a Bureau agent two months after Hoover became assistant director and soon became Burns’ favorite investigator and close friend. Means and Hoover clashed almost immediately. Hoover asked Burns to order Means to stay out of his office. He didn’t like the man’s spending habits or morals.

Means was charged by the New York Sun of having been an agent of Germany in 1916, and the accused murderer of a wealthy widow. Following his acquittal of the murder, he filed a forged will which would have put her estate practically at his disposal.

Senate hearings disclosed that Bureau agents working under Burns sneaked into senators’ private offices in the capitol, opened their mail, and searched their files in an effort to obtain damaging information that could be used to blackmail legislators into halting a Senate probe of Attorney General Daugherty. Means gave shocking testimony, never settled whether true or false, dovetailing with the general pattern of Harding administration corruption splashed across the front pages in America.¹

In the wake of the blockbuster disclosures against the Department of Justice, Calvin Coolidge fired Daugherty March 28, 1924, and his nominee to succeed him, Harlan Fiske Stone, soon confirmed overwhelmingly by the Senate, began the momentous challenge of returning an aura of integrity to the Department of Justice, and especially to the critically tarnished Bureau of Investigation.

Little wonder, considering the atmosphere in the Department of Justice and the storm warnings it had generated, that Assistant Director J. Edgar Hoover responded to a summons to Stone’s office with some feelings of apprehension. They were not allayed when he stood in front of Stone, described as a large, imposing figure who was seated behind his desk, scowling. Later, all in the Bureau would realize that scowling was a Harlan Stone trademark.

Stone came to the point quickly; he wanted Hoover to be Acting Director of the Bureau. Since Hoover was not yet 30 years old and had only limited investigative experience, the young man was stunned. Nevertheless he had reservations.

Sir, he said, I’ll take the job, but only on certain conditions. The Bureau must be totally divorced from politics, not a catch-all for political hacks. Appointments and promotions must be based on merit and proved ability.

With a lifted, quizzical eyebrow Stone asked, Is that all?

Just one thing more, Mr. Stone. The Bureau will be responsible only to the attorney general.

I wouldn’t give it to you under any other conditions. That’s all, Hoover. Good day.

Noted author William B. Breuer painted a graphic picture of the situation into which the 29-year-old had been launched and how he set about renovating the sullied image of the Bureau:

"No one had ever accused John Edgar Hoover of being a shrinking violet. Within 24 hours, the new acting director began throwing his weight around in an all-out crusade to reconstruct the Bureau from the shambles he had inherited. Hoover knew things were bad, but they were even worse than he had suspected.

Carefully studying the personnel file of each agent, the acting director confirmed what he had long suspected: the Bureau was saturated with hacks who had been given jobs as agents because members of Congress and the executive branch had used the Bureau as a dumping ground to reward the political faithful. Numerous agents had close ties to the underworld, Hoover found, and some were ex-convicts. A few were alcoholics who seldom had bothered to show up for work.

[Attorney General Harry M.] Daugherty’s Department of Justice, Hoover discovered to his dismay, had handed one man an agent’s badge because of his expertise in furnishing friendly chorus girls to a top government official. Another agent had received his job because of his skill in singing risque ditties in front of the Department of Justice Building for the entertainment of federal employees during lunch hours.

Within the first few months as head of the Bureau, J. Edgar Hoover fired more than 100 agents, about two-thirds of the total force. Once he had swept out the flotsam, Hoover set about elevating the standards for the appointment of Bureau agents.²

Upon taking over the reins of the Bureau and finding these deplorable conditions, Hoover’s somewhat late-Victorian morals orientation shifted into high gear. An early chronicler of Hoover’s FBI, Don Whitehead, commented, There can be no understanding of the modern FBI without an understanding of Hoover’s view on discipline.

In May 1925, at the end of his first year as Director, Hoover sent a communication to the ranking official in each Bureau field office, known as the special agent in charge (SAC), to explain why he felt so strongly about agents’ conducting themselves with circumspection:

I want to bring to your personal attention certain conditions existing in the Bureau in the past which I do not intend shall continue in the future... . I do know that some years past the forces of the Bureau of Investigation did not enjoy the best reputation... I am strongly of the opinion that the only way whereby we can again gain public respect and support is through proper conduct on our part... .

I do believe that when a man becomes a part of this Bureau he must so conduct himself, both officially and unofficially, as to eliminate the slightest possibility of criticism as to his conduct or actions... .

This Bureau cannot afford to have a public scandal visited upon it in view of the all too numerous attacks made... during the past few years. I do not want this Bureau to be referred to in terms I have frequently heard used against other government agencies... .

What I am trying to do is to protect the force of the Bureau of Investigation from outside criticism and from bringing the Bureau of Investigation into disrepute because of isolated circumstances of misconduct upon the part of employees who are too strongly addicted to their own personal desires and tastes to properly keep in mind at all times and upon all occasions the honor and integrity of the service of which they are a part.³

This was a theme to which Hoover was dedicated throughout his long years of service in the FBI. In 1956 he declared:

No one person has built the FBI to the organization it is today. It was built by the loyal, sacrificial efforts of the thousands of men and women who have served in its ranks over the years. I tell my associates repeatedly that one man did not build the reputation of the FBI — but one man can pull it down.

To carry the credentials of the FBI is a trust. It always has been and it must remain so through all the years to come The FBI must always be conscious of its trust. A part of that trust is confidence. Without confidence we cannot possibly fulfill our responsibilities.⁴

By the time I became an FBI agent in July 1942, Hoover’s reputation as a strong disciplinarian was well established. He kept us on our toes. We seemed continuously to be going up to the plate against a pitcher noted for his hard, straight fastball who could surprise occasionally with an unexpected curve. Recognizing that the head of a law enforcement and intelligence agency must demand order in the ranks, just about all who served under him accepted this. There were a few agents who caved in and opted out over disciplinary matters. Over the years they have been the source of some of the more disparaging things said about the Director.

Alan H. Belmont made an astute comment about these quitters. If ever there was a legend in his time in the FBI, it was Al. He was admired and respected by agents who worked with him or under his leadership. He became a special agent in 1936 and, after serving in six field offices, being SAC of two of them, he was transferred to Bureau headquarters in 1950 to head its intelligence operations. In 1961 Hoover selected him as assistant to the director, the No. 3 position in the FBI, in charge of all investigations. He dealt with the Director personally on an almost daily basis and knew him well enough to joke with him.

Belmont’s observations about dissident former FBI agents is apropos:

Occasionally an employee will turn sour in the FBI and voice his complaints, real and fancied, to the public. He does this, it seems to me, for one or more of several reasons: (1) He wants to write a book and needs controversial material to make the book sell; (2) He can’t take the pressure, discipline, and hard work of the FBI and wants to justify his departure to himself and others; (3) By attacking a highly regarded organization or its leader he gains the perverse sort of satisfaction that comes to all who seek to destroy something bigger than they are. At any rate, these misfits seldom adhere to the truth. They build up fantastic stories from gossip and rumor and relay them as fact. An examination of the records of the authors of these so-called inside stories shows they have left the Bureau as a result of some disciplinary action. Some have tried desperately to rejoin the FBI and, failing, have loosed their venom on the Bureau. At any rate, I have no use for these persons. They have failed to measure up to the motto of the FBI - Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity.⁵

Although he was strong on discipline and demanded perfection from himself as well as his subordinates, Hoover was known to have a soft spot. An agent found to have committed a grievous error might receive a letter transferring him from the office to which he was assigned to a less desirable office, possibly one in a distant state. If he could meet with the Director, often the transfer would be canceled. This was particularly so if the agent had an acceptable reason for not making the move, such as a health or other personal problem involving his wife, or children, or parents.

Further, Hoover was not vindictive. Neither did he hold a grudge. There were very few FBI officials, either at headquarters or in the 59 field offices, who had not been disciplined somewhere along their career paths for failing to measure up to the high standards set by him. Once an agent had served a sentence meted out and an appropriate time had elapsed, his slate was cleansed. Those agents who held the most responsible positions were frequently the ones who, in Bureau parlance, had broken their picks most often.

The Director was as quick to commend as he was to condemn. Hundreds of personnel files contained a fair sprinkling of letters of appreciation and evidences of meritorious raises or bonuses for outstanding service.

In the Hoover FBI there was no such thing as rank having its privileges. I was told that, in no uncertain terms, when I had a half-hour conversation with the Director in March 1962. At the time, I was within three months of celebrating my twentieth anniversary as a special agent, but this was my first one-on-one meeting with him.

I had requested an appointment to thank him for his promoting me from assistant chief to chief of the section to which I was assigned in the Intelligence Division at FBI headquarters. When I arrived in his outer office, a receptionist conducted me through a large conference room which had a desk at the far end. This was where Hoover posed for pictures with employees celebrating service anniversaries in the Bureau and with visitors. We moved past that desk to a smaller office in which the Director had his work desk and where he was awaiting my visit. He was quite imposing in appearance, having a military bearing and strong facial features. When he rose to greet me and shake hands, I noted that he was about my height, a fraction under 5 feet 10 inches tall. I had heard he was quite short, but I have considered my own height about average — and that’s what I judged him to be. As he welcomed me, he looked me squarely in the eyes, and during our conversation, he continued the eye contact.

After expressing my appreciation for the promotion, I asked whether he had any instructions concerning my new job. It would not be completely truthful to say we talked about this. Whenever he met with any of his personnel, he dominated the conversation, and agents were expected to take copious notes. It took me all of three minutes to speak my piece then sit back prepared to take copious notes. He spent the rest of the 30 minutes talking principally about a problem caused by a top official, and made it clear to me how I was expected to conduct myself as I advanced in the hierarchy.

Don’t get executivitis, he said. Don’t get the idea that you’ll sit behind a big desk and tell other people what to do. I expect you to be a leader, to supervise by example, to lead, not simply order others to do the hard jobs. I will hold you personally responsible for the operations under you. If one of your men makes an error, you as well as he will be accountable.

He cited a specific example to emphasize what he meant: Recently I was being driven in a snow storm in Pennsylvania to a meeting where I was to give a talk and receive an award. The car had a flat tire. When the agent driving opened the trunk to get the spare, he found that it, too, was flat. Someone had failed to check it. When I returned to my office, I called the assistant director in charge of the division responsible for maintenance of our cars and other equipment. He told me that a clerk thirty-second down the line was responsible. While I didn’t expect the assistant director personally to inflate the spare tire, I expected him to assure that it was properly done. I held him responsible and censured him.

The Director didn’t say any more. He didn’t have to. I got the drift of his expectations, and resolved not to have any flat tires in the ranks.

EARLY ENVIRONMENT

J. Edgar Hoover, born January 1, 1895, in Washington DC, entered duty in the Department of Justice as a file reviewer in 1917, after receiving degrees of bachelor of laws and master of laws from George Washington University. Two years after that he was promoted to the position of special assistant to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer before becoming assistant director then director of the Bureau of Investigation.¹

The greatest influence in the life of Hoover was his mother, Annie Hoover. She was the cornerstone of the family, a model homemaker, staunch Presbyterian, and a woman with strong ideals. Patriotic sentiment was vigorously spoken around the home and there was constant emphasis on high moral standards, regular church attendance, and strict sobriety.²

While the place of Hoover’s birth carried the sophisticated name City of Washington, it was, during his early years and certainly at the time of his appointment to head the Bureau of Investigation, simply a series of small neighborhood villages. Often these little villages had identifying names: Foggy Bottom, Georgetown, Swampoodle, Eckington. Brightwood, Petworth, Woodridge. Many of them have clung to these names to the present time. Some areas had no such separate designations. But whether glorified by a name of its own or referred to merely as The Neighborhood, each village usually had its own Main Street where life centered, where villagers met, bantered, bartered, bargained, and formed lasting friendships.

In Georgetown (which, indeed, began as a separate city, not just as a village of the Washington it pre-dated) Main Street was Wisconsin Avenue, centered on M Street. A few blocks north of M Street on the Avenue there was a plowpit beneath the streetcar tracks where each electrically operated car was converted from plow-power to trolley-power before entering the sparsely settled area beyond the village on its stentorian junket to a distant suburban terminal. There were similar plowpits strategically located along the perimeter of the more urban villages.

Families arrived in early 20th-century automobiles to do the weekly Saturday grocery shopping at the Arcade Market located at Park Road on 14th Street, Northwest, which served as Main Street for Petworth and several other neighborhoods. That ultra modern market edifice was so advanced in design as to have a parking area on its one-story-high roof for those of the newly popular automobiles and trucks boasting enough horsepower to climb the steep, zigzagging ramp that originated in an alley off Park Road. To test the climbing ability of the family car beforehand, the man of the house would surely have driven it up the city’s toughest incline, 13th Street NW from Florida Avenue to Clifton Street, beside the tract which years later became Central High School.

Central, at its former locale at 9th Street and Rhode Island Avenue, NW, was Edgar Hoover’s high school alma mater. He was on its debating team, which won 12 decisions in 12 meets, and he went on to become valedictorian of his graduation class.³

This was the Washington of villages that nurtured young Hoover. It fostered a much simpler and less sophisticated sort of existence.

However, the bitterness and hostility which the Civil War had generated was still rampant throughout the country, and this was especially true in the nation’s capital. Despite the fact that it was the seat of the Union Government during the war, the sympathies of a large segment of the city’s population had been with the South, and its defeat certainly did nothing to alleviate a potentially incendiary situation. At the time of Hoover’s birth, some people reacted to the conflict, then three decades removed, as many of today’s Americans now view the disastrous debacle in Vietnam.

Many former slaves had earlier found their way to Washington expecting to find peace and support in their new freedom. The unspoken rancor toward them, which seemed to emanate principally from the former rooters for the South, colored their thinking and influenced their demeanor. Some of them did not experience all the rights and benefits they felt had been assured by their emancipation, and they looked upon themselves as subservient; in what they considered to be a world still dominated by their former oppressors, they often acted as such. This deplorable condition carried over well into the next century. It was 80 years after the Civil War before the U.S. Navy on October 19, 1944, permitted the first black woman, Bessie Garrett, to enter the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service).⁴

e9781618585103_i0003.jpg

Hoover with debate team at Central High. (Charles Summer School Museum and Archives)

Other branches of the military services also practiced segregation in their forces during World War II, and public schools were still segregated in the early 1950s.

Particularly during his formative years, this was the atmosphere in which Hoover attended school, in which he was raised. This may well have given rise to some charges of racism leveled against him later in life, charges which were alleged but never proven. His close friendship with and reliance upon a Black special agent bodyguard, James E. Crawford, and a Jewish refugee from Russia, Harry Viner, certainly give the lie to such allegations.

He also was blessed, or cursed — depending upon one’s point of view — by the strict moral code of the late-Victorian age which prevailed when he first saw the light of day. For example: a man and woman living together without benefit of marriage would, in his view, be intolerable; he would not condone R-rated motion pictures belching forth filthy language from movie screens across the country; neither would he have had any appreciation whatsoever for high-decibel hard rock music, such as composer Richard Berry’s Louie, Louie, which became a rock anthem, especially at fraternity parties. If asked to name his favorite rock group, chances are Hoover would have said something like, Mt. Rushmore. In the minds of many of today’s generation he’d probably be considered a square.

This was Hoover’s Washington, the environment which contributed to his progress through boyhood and into the man he was when he was called upon to head what was then a scandal-racked law enforcement entity, one he proceeded to make into the most respected agency of its type in the entire world. This was the foundation for his lifetime devotion to a campaign against crime, communism, and any ism other than Americanism.

ESCALATING RESPONSIBILITIES

Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte on instructions of President Theodore Roosevelt issued orders on July 26, 1908, creating an investigative agency within the Department of Justice — the beginning of today’s FBI. The early jurisdiction of the agency, known as the Bureau of Investigation, was limited to a few violations involving interstate crimes.¹

With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe in 1914, and this nation’s participation in 1917, a flood of new responsibilities faced the 300 or so agents who were then employed by the Bureau. After its creation, there had been a gradual build-up in the number of criminal violations referred to it for investigation: crimes on Government lands, bank and bankruptcy frauds, forgery matters, and kindred offenses. With the coming of war, concern over potential sabotage activities and alien propaganda grew within the nation, and the Bureau was assigned a new role. No longer were the Bureau’s interests limited to the traditional areas of criminal investigation but were now broadened to encompass matters concerning internal security and national defense. In 1917, congress enacted the Selective Service and Training Act, the Espionage Act, and the Trading with the Enemy Act, followed in 1918 by the Sabotage and Deportation Acts. Enforcement responsibilities for the most part fell on the Bureau of Investigation.

To meet the added burdens, the Bureau agent complement was increased to approximately 400. The additional work generated by this build-up resulted in a corresponding increase in the work in that part of the Department of Justice handling wartime matters. It soon became so heavy that a special assistant to the attorney general for war work was hired in 1917. He added many aides to his staff, including J. Edgar Hoover, whom he hired on July 26, 1917, coincidentally, the ninth anniversary of the creation of the Bureau of Investigation.²

The increase in the number of agents proved to be insufficient to respond to the spiraling problems. In an effort to solve them, Attorney General Thomas W. Gregory and Bureau Chief A. Bruce Bielaski conceived a plan they felt might suffice to alleviate them. The American Protective League (APL), composed of well-meaning private individuals, was formed as a citizens’ auxiliary to assist the Bureau of Investigation. In addition to the authorized auxiliary, ad hoc groups took it upon themselves to investigate what they felt were un-American activities. Although the intentions of both groups were undoubtedly patriotic and in some instances beneficial, the overall result was the denial of constitutional safeguards and administrative confusion. To see the problem, one need only consider the mass deprivation of rights incident to deserter and selective service raids in New York and New Jersey in 1918. Thirty-five Bureau agents assisted by 2,000 APL operatives, 2,350 military personnel, and several hundred police officers rounded up and arrested some 50,000 individuals; approximately 1,500 were inducted into the military service and 15,000 were referred to draft boards.

It became clear that using citizen auxiliary personnel was not the answer to national defense manpower problems.³

The lesson learned from this experience served well at the outbreak of World War II. As soon as the United States began to feel the effects of the conflict which started in Europe in September 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a directive vesting in the FBI responsibility for investigating violations of wartime crimes and subversive activities, and calling on law enforcement officers throughout the country to refer any such matters coming to their attention to the FBI for handling.

When Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone named Hoover head of the FBI in 1924, there was a clear understanding between the two men that the Bureau would function solely as a fact-gathering organization, and its activities would be limited strictly to the investigation of violations of federal laws. Both were determined to prevent any future situation comparable to the so-called Palmer Red Raids.

A controversial post-World War I development was action instituted by then-Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer whereby hundreds of aliens suspected of advocating the overthrow of the U. S. Government were rounded up and considered for deportation.

This great red-radical scare followed closely on the heels of World War I, apparently the social reaction to the aftermath of the war and the Russian Revolution of 1917. The violence and anarchism associated with the activities of such radicals were of concern to the government and the public alike.⁴

Bombs were mailed to government officials in May 1919. The next month a bomb tossed at the home of Attorney General Palmer shattered the library, cracked the ceiling, broke windows, and knocked pictures from the wall. It was so powerful it blew out the windows of the residence across the street of Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt, damaged the house next door, shattered windows in the home of Senator Claude A. Swanson, two doors from the Roosevelts, and damaged houses two blocks away. The following year, on September 16, a dynamite bomb in a horse-drawn wagon exploded on Broad Street in New York City killing 30 in the immediate vicinity and injuring 300. The blast also killed an employee in a nearby business office and severely damaged surrounding financial houses.⁵

In an effort to counter the radicals and anarchists, the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Investigation, in conjunction with the Department of Labor, which had primary jurisdiction over immigration matters, used the provisions of the Deportation Statute as an answer.

The following excerpts are from a confidential letter to all special agents and employees of the Bureau from Director W. J. Flynn, dated August 12, 1919:

The Bureau requires a vigorous and comprehensive investigation of Anarchistic and similar classes, Bolshevism, and kindred agitations advocating change in the present form of Government by force or violence, the promotion of sedition and revolution, bomb throwing, and similar activities. In the present state of the federal law this investigation should be particularly directed to persons not citizens of the United States, with a view of obtaining deportation cases... .

While you are required to investigate particularly with regard to aliens, you should also make full investigation of similar activities of citizens of the United States with a view to securing evidence which may be of use in prosecutions under the present existing state or federal laws or under legislation of that nature which may hereinafter be enacted... .

These investigations resulted in the much-criticized Palmer Red Raids.⁶

In 1919 Hoover was not yet a part of the Bureau of Investigation which conducted the foregoing investigations. As a Department of Justice attorney he was placed in charge of the General Intelligence Division that had the responsibility of correlating information for the purpose of preparing material for deportation proceedings in court. This included not just information developed by the Bureau but also that arising as a result of deportation hearings conducted by the Department of Labor, in which Hoover had no part. There was widespread criticism of the manner in which the investigations and subsequent deportation hearings were handled. Hoover’s later appointment to the FBI position was a clear exoneration of him from any responsibility for the controversial Palmer Red Raids.

For ten years after becoming Bureau director, Hoover adhered without deviation to his commitment that the organization would only gather facts and investigate law violations, eschewing a course of engaging in general domestic security intelligence operations. He held to this despite calls from others that the Bureau become involved. The communist-anarchist problem was ever present and of great concern to the public, Executive Branch officials, and members of Congress. Further, the red radicals and anarchists were no longer alone in the field. In the early 1930s National Socialism, the ideology of the Nazi Party of Adolph Hitler, flourished in Germany, resulting in anti-Semitic and anti-racial propaganda being peddled in the United States by Nazi operatives, aliens, and pro-German Americans.⁷

Various elements of Congress were anxious for Hoover to undertake domestic intelligence investigations against both communist radicals and the Nazi movement. Commencing in 1930, Congressman Hamilton Fish, Jr., then Chairman of a House committee investigating communist and radical activities, corresponded with both the Bureau and the Department of Justice regarding proposed legislation which would authorize and empower the Bureau to investigate the revolutionary propaganda and activities of communists in the United States, and of all entities, groups or individuals who teach or advocate the overthrow by force and violence the republican form of government. ⁸

The Bureau’s position and response to all such inquiries and requests during this period can be summarized in Hoover’s comments on January 19, 1931, when he advised Congressman Fish that he thought it better not to expand the power of the [FBI], since the Bureau has never been established by legislation, but operates solely on an appropriation bill and further, that "it would be better to make it a crime to participate in such activities... . If the Bureau is given special power to investigate [activities not subject to the penal law] it would be in the position of having a mass of material with which nothing could be done, because there is no legislation to take