Official and Confidential

by Anthony Summers

  2. In 1959, Hoover rebuffed Dr Robert Hutchins, President of the Fund for the Republic, who offered $4 million to help the struggle against organized crime and asked the FBI for advice. Hoover sent William Sullivan to tell Hutchins flatly that none of the mob bosses mentioned by Hutchins – all prominent mafiosi – were known to the FBI. Hoover’s advice was that the fund would do better making a study of why blacks committed such a high percentage of violent crime. (Ints. W. H. Ferry, 1988, 1991, Nation, Apr. 26, 1971, corr. Jan. 27–Mar. 30, 1953, FBI 100–368336, FBI cross-refs. on W. H. Ferry.)

  Chapter 25

  1. Johnson’s biographer Robert Caro concluded in 1990 that it was ‘blindingly clear’ there was ballot-rigging, as did the early exhaustive study by Mary Kahl. (The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent, by Robert Caro, NY, Alfred Knopf, 1990, pp. xxxi, 384, Ballot Box 13, by Mary Kahl, Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1983, pp. 231, 241, int. Madeleine Brown, 1989, People, Aug. 3, 1987.)

  2. The accepted wisdom on why Kennedy picked Johnson has been the reconstruction of events by historian and former Kennedy aide Arthur Schlesinger. Drawing on talks with Robert Kennedy, he established that John at first invited Johnson onto the ticket merely as a ploy to unite the party – not dreaming he would accept. He was chagrined when Johnson did accept, a move Schlesinger surmised was because Johnson felt it was his last chance to become a national figure. Had he been free to do so, Robert recalled, ‘Jack … wanted to get rid of’ Johnson. Yet when he tried to palm Johnson off with the chairmanship of the party, the Texan turned him down flat. ‘I want the vice presidency and intend to get it,’ he was quoted as saying. (See sources for ‘Convention’ for this chapter.)

  3. Lincoln’s diary, covering most of the Kennedy service, remained locked in a deposit box as this book was written.

  4. On August 18, 1960, Hoover sent an FBI report about Kennedy to his Republican opponent, Richard Nixon. Though heavily censored as released, it apparently concerned Kennedy’s womanizing. (SAC Washington to H, Aug. 18, 1960, FBI 94–37374, int. Herve Alphand, 1988, A Hero for Our Time, by Ralph Martin, NY, Macmillan, 1983, p. 342, L’Etonnement d’Etre, by Herve Alphand, Paris, Fayard, 1977, p. 382.)

  Chapter 26

  1. See Chapter 6.

  Chapter 27

  1. Giancana’s half brother, Chuck, offered an equally startling and wholly unsubstantiated explanation. By his account, some of the packages contained copies of FBI reports on organized crime – reports that allowed Giancana to think he was getting vital insights into FBI operations against the mob. Soon, however, the mobster realized that there were great gaps in the intelligence he was sent – that the President was withholding key information. From then on, supposedly, his rage against Kennedy knew no bounds. (Double Cross, by Sam and Chuck Giancana, NY, Warner, 1992, p. 296, and int. Sam Giancana, 1992.)

  2. A communication in Hoover’s Official and Confidential file, dated March 30, 1962, advised him that the dismantling of the alleged marriage involved a Reno divorce, followed by another in New Jersey when the first was invalidated. A papal annulment was granted in 1953, the writer claimed, following pressure from Cardinal Cushing. (OC 13.2.)

  3. See Goddess: The Secret Lives of Marilyn Monroe, by Anthony Summers, NY, New American Library, 1986, for a full account of the surveillance and of the actress’ death.

  4. The phone logs, however, record several calls after August 1962, some with the word ‘No’ by them, and others without it.

  5. The only such photograph ever published was taken by a photographer affiliated with the White House, and it was withheld until 1987, when it appeared in the June issue of Life.

  Chapter 28

  1. Hoover responded by planting press leaks to discredit Yarmolinsky. (See Yarmolinsky entry in sourcing for this chapter.)

  2. Yevgeny Ivanov, the Soviet Naval Attache at the center of the Profumo scandal, was in reality a GRU (military intelligence) agent. He said in 1992 that Moscow advised him it indeed had an interest in Novotny. Ivanov himself talked with her in London. (The Naked Spy, by Yevgeny Ivanov, London, John Blake, 1992, pp. 144ff.)

  3. The FBI used Mollenhoff in the early sixties as a go-between to pass Bureau information to members of Congress. In 1970, when Mollenhoff was an aide to President Nixon, he would write to Hoover to warn that the Los Angeles Times was planning a series critical of the FBI. (Theodore Sorensen, Oral History, JFKL, Transcript, Feb. 27, 1973, p. 5, WHT, corr. Edwin Guthman, Jun. 1991, Mollenhoff to H, Feb. 23, 1970, White House Staff files, NP.)

  Chapter 29

  1. Some theorized that Johnson wanted a ‘lone nut’ version because he feared rumors of Soviet involvement could lead to nuclear war. This may have been a factor.

  2. Hoover tried to discredit citizens who publicly challenged the ‘lone gunman’ thesis. He authorized the mailing of a phony anonymous letter attacking the attorney Mark Lane and ordered circulation of a photograph that allegedly showed Lane engaged in sexual activity. The photograph and memo went to at least one member of the Warren Commission: Congressman Hale Boggs. (Baumgartner to Sullivan, Feb. 24, 1964, IC 6, p. 762, H to SAC NY, Oct. 16, 1964, FBI 100-11844, DeLoach to T, Sept. 26, 1966, Mark Allen FOIA release Civil Action 81–1206, [photo] blind memo, Feb. 29, 1968, Fred Graham Papers, LC, ints. Graham, 1990, and Thomas Boggs, 1988, Mother Jones, Aug. 1979.)

  3. Also excised from the original address book page is a (scoredthrough) name that appears to be ‘Gandy.’ It may be pure coincidence that this was the name of Hoover’s secretary (Helen Gandy). But the record suggests Oswald was so angry with what he saw as FBI harassment before the assassination that he intended to complain to ‘the proper authorities.’ It is possible that, like countless callers over the years, Oswald had tried calling Hoover, was brushed off by Gandy and scrawled her name in his address book. While under arrest he made ‘derogatory remarks’ about Hoover personally. (WC docs. 205, 16.64, WR IV, 466ff.)

  4. Two reporters, Alonzo Hudkins of The Houston Post and Hugh Aynesworth of The Dallas Morning News, later said that the ‘informant number’ published by Hudkins – S–172 – was fabricated, by Aynesworth, according to his own account in 1976. Their different accounts failed to satisfy students of the case. Other concerns aside, the number S–172 is very close to the code by which the FBI did refer to security informants at that time. In 1975, Dallas FBI Agent Joe Pearce told Bureau Inspectors that Oswald had been Hosty’s ‘informant or source.’ (Esquire, Feb. 1976, New Times, Jul. 11, 1975, HSCA Report, pp. 185ff, McNiff to Adams, Dec. 31, 1975, FBI 62–116395.)

  5. The Commission did not even interview Deputy Sheriff Sweatt. It seems that the FBI, for its part, failed to tell the Commission about a similar allegation, by former Army Intelligence Colonel Philip Corso. (DeLoach to Mohr, two memos, Feb. 7, and another, Feb. 10, 1964, FBI 1977 release, no serial, Rosen to Belmont, Feb. 7, 1964, FBI 105–82555, ints. Mary and Julian Sourwine, 1991, int. Corso, 1992.)

  6. Congress’ Assassinations Committee reported that Aleman’s FBI ‘contact’ at that time, ‘denied ever being told such information by Aleman.’ It is not clear whether this refers to Scranton, who refused comment as late as 1992. (HSCA Report p. 175, and int. 1992.)

  7. Congress’ Assassinations Committee quoted Becker as saying he did not report the Marcello threat to the FBI in 1962. In 1992 he insisted that he did report it, and noted that the committee’s questioning of him was merely superficial. Its investigators spoke with him on the phone, but never in person. And he never testified. (HSCA IX, 83, int. Becker, 1992.)

  8. Professor Robert Blakey, former Chief Counsel of Congress’ Assassinations Committee, recalled in 1992 that the mob’s violent talk on the wiretaps was circulated within the Justice Department. Independent research, however, showed no sign that it went to the Secret Service. Failure to circulate reports is sometimes justified on the grounds that it might risk exposure of an agency’s sources and methods. There can be no recourse to that excuse in the case of threats against the President’s life. (Int
l. Robert Blakey, Mark Allen, 1992.)

  9. One of Murchison’s friends, D. H. ‘Dryhole’ Byrd, owned the Texas School Book Depository. He and Paul Raigorodsky, who testified to the Warren Commission about Oswald’s activity in Dallas, had – like Hoover – been guests at Murchison’s California hotel. (Dallas Conspiracy, by Peter Dale Scott, unpub. ms., p. vi, 21, Clint, by Ernestine van Buren, Austin, TX, Eakin Press, 1986, p. 96, Wall Street Journal, Apr. 20, 1970, [Raigorodsky] ints. Allan Witwer, 1990, Crossfire, by Jim Marrs, NY, Carroll & Graf, 1989, p. 282.)

  10. Discussed in the chapter that follows.

  11. See Chapter 8. Gordon Novel, quoted in Chapter 23 as saying he was shown compromising photographs of Hoover by a senior CIA official, also claimed to have had a conversation on the subject years later with Marcello. According to Novel – who, as reported, is a highly controversial figure – Marcello said he too had been shown such a picture – in the course of contacts with those involved in the joint CIAMafia plots to kill Fidel Castro in the early sixties. Marcello said other top Mafia bosses had long since had access to the smear material, and had used it to keep Hoover’s FBI at bay. (Int. Gordon Novel, 1992.)

  Chapter 30

  1. There were subplots to the Jenkins affair. President Johnson was principally concerned that it would lead to the discovery of his affair with the wife of one of his aides, who regularly joined him at social occasions with a homosexual companion as ‘beard.’ In 1964, several Washington officials received copies of what purported to be a compromising letter from Edgar to Jenkins. Edgar responded by having Senator Bourke Hickenlooper denounce the letter as part of a ‘Communist smear campaign.’ Agents who investigated the letter dubbed their probe REPULSE – for ‘Russian Efforts to Publish Unsavory Love Secrets of Edgar.’ (Evans to Belmont, Oct. 17, DeLoach to Mohr, Oct. 30, 1964, FBI 94–4–3830, int. Robert Baker, 1990, [Hickenlooper] H/Hickenlooper corr., Jan. 1966, Hickenlooper Papers, HHL, CR, Jan. 17, 1966, p. 367, NYT, Jan. 15, 1966, [dubbed] Trenton, NJ, Times, Mar. 13, 1980.)

  Chapter 31

  1. While he reacted viscerally against those who promoted racial equality, Hoover did not seek to promote the interests of white supremacists. On the contrary, the Bureau clamped down effectively on the Ku Klux Klan early in his career and – most notably – in the mid-sixties. (P, pp. 140ff, 373ff, 407ff, Athan Theoharis, Secret Files, p. 129, int. Neil Welch, 1988.)

  2. See Chapter 28. In fact, Robert Kennedy granted wiretap permission only subject to review within thirty days. There was no review until 1965, because the assassination of President Kennedy, on November 22, 1963, put Robert virtually out of action for months. Hoover quietly ignored the condition Kennedy had set, and the King wiretapping went on and on. (Athan Theoharis, Secret Files, p. 99.)

  3. FBI records show that Dr King once discussed Rustin’s homosexuality with a colleague, in a warning way. The original FBI surveillance material remained sealed at the National Archives until 2027, and only then will historians learn what it reveals about King’s sex life. (Parting the Waters, by Taylor Branch, NY, Simon & Schuster, 1988, p. 861.)

  4. Joseph Woods, the former agent named by Royko, said in 1968 that the reporter might be ‘mixed up.’ As a serving agent, Woods had been one of those who supplied Hoover with sex information on politicians. (Int. Woods, 1988, and see Chapter 19.)

  5. Although Sullivan’s attempt to minimize his role was selfserving, former Assistant Directors Courtney Evans and Charles Bates totally rejected the notion that he might have sent the tape without Hoover’s approval. Sullivan’s longtime secretary, Ann Barniker, said the entire anti-King operation was ‘Mr Hoover’s thing.’ (Ints. Evans, Bates, Lish Whitsun, Nate Ferris, Ray Wannall, John McGrail, Larry Cohen, Bill Brown, Nicholas Horrock, 1988, Ann Barniker, 1990, S, p. 142, SRIA, p. 160, GF, p. 161, and David Garrow notes of Charles Brennan int.)

  6. While Ray’s claims received little credence, students of the case have cited leads indicating that Ray had contacts with an FBI informant before the assassination and that the FBI received advance intelligence that King would be killed in Memphis, yet failed to alert him. (Ints. Harold Weisberg, James Lesar, 1988, Philip Melanson, 1991.)

  Chapter 32

  1. The Democratic Convention in Chicago turned out to be a week of mayhem in which hundreds of anti-Vietnam demonstrators were injured in battles with the police. Edgar praised the police and said the media had distorted the facts. Later, a presidential commission concluded the police behavior had been gratuitous and malicious, ‘a police riot.’ A Senate probe showed Edgar had urged agents to look not for the facts but for information that would weigh in favor of the police. (IC 6, p. 254, NYT, Sept. 19, Dec. 2, 1968.)

  2. Rose Mary Woods’ brother Joseph was a retired FBI agent. He was one of those who fed Hoover derogatory information on politicians and later – according to one reporter – tried to spread smear material on Martin Luther King. (See index references.)

  3. There was a Hearthside restaurant, and there was such a reservoir. In 1988, Billy Byars, Jr., remembered the two adolescents named by Krebs and agreed that one of them had visited the Del Charro. While he said he knew nothing of the alleged sex activity, three of Krebs’ associates recalled hearing elements of the story at the time.

  Chapter 33

  1. Hoover had declared himself ‘extremely pleased’ with the sending of a phony letter smearing a New York Communist Party worker, William Albertson, as an FBI informant. His widow was paid $170,000 as late as 1989, as compensation for the fact that the operation wrecked Albertson’s career. Hoover personally supervised the thirty-year persecution of Frank Wilkinson, a Los Angeles housing official who had first come to the FBI’s attention for leading protests against plans for segregated housing in 1942. For no offense other than a stubborn commitment to civil rights and the abolition of the House Un-American Activities Committee, Wilkinson was surveilled, his phone tapped and his office burgled. Propaganda against him was mailed from nonexistent organizations, and his meetings were disrupted – on one occasion by American Nazis acting at the instigation of FBI agents. The FBI once learned precise details of a plot to kill Wilkinson and failed to warn him. Hoover’s notes and initials are all over the Wilkinson file, which runs to 132,000 pages. (NYT, Oct. 26, 1989, People, Nov. 20, 1989, [Wilkinson] files of LAT, esp. Oct. 18, 1987, int. Frank Wilkinson, 1989, parts of FBI 100–112434, It Did Happen Here, by Bud and Ruth Schulz, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1989, p. 263, and Athan Theoharis, Secret Files, p. 129.)

  2. There was evidence that the FBI triggered events that led to other Panther deaths. In New Haven, Connecticut, Alex Rackley was executed by his own comrades following the leak of false information that he was a government informant. (In These Times, May 9, 1990.)

  Chapter 34

  1. See Chapter 9.

  2. See Chapter 21.

  3. See Chapter 20.

  4. Mitchell said nothing about a resignation offer in eight hours of conversation with Len Colodny, co-author of Silent Coup, before his death in 1988. (Int. Len Colodny, 1991.)

  Chapter 36

  1. The Soviet KGB, for its part, chalked up numerous confirmed kills with the use of poisoning techniques. (KGB, by John Barron, NY, Bantam, 1974, pp. 423ff).

  2. The FBI claimed in 1991 it had nothing on this subject in its files. Then, confronted with a memo from Prosecution Force files, it produced a document reflecting Akerman’s inquiry arid establishing that his source was independent of the Crimson article. Its author, former Agent Forrest Putman, said he could not remember writing the report. (John Wright [FBI] to James Lesar, Feb. 17, 1989, Kevin O’Brien [FBI] to Lesar, Nov. 20, 1991, Forrest Putman to CENSORED, Nov. 26, 1973, FBI 62–115870, int. Putman, 1991.)

  3. According to the Crimson article, DeDiego suggested that two Cubans, Humberto Lopez and Jaime Ferrer, might supply information on the break-ins. Lopez, who was a Hunt-Liddy operative, said in 1988 that he knew nothing about them. Jaime Ferrer was not traced. In the early sixties, during
the CIA’s secret war against Castro, DeDiego was a member of Operation 40, a group whose members were trained to capture Castro government documents and – in some cases – to commit assassinations. (Int. Humberto Lopez, 1988 and see DeDiego sourcing for this chapter.)

  4. Clyde Tolson’s brother, Hillary, was said to have claimed privately that Hoover in fact died at Clyde’s apartment and that his body was returned to his home by agents in an FBI vehicle – to avoid the obvious embarrassment. While the story is not implausible, it is so indirectly sourced that it can here be treated only as rumor. (Ints. Robert Simmons, 1988, 1991.)

  5. Dr Luke told the press Hoover had been ‘suffering from a heart ailment for some time.’ It is odd that Dr Choisser, Hoover’s longtime GP, denies that there was any such history. (Death Cert. No. 72–03405, HSF 8, NYT, WP, May 3, 1972, but see, too, unattributed ref. to a much earlier heart ailment in J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets, by Curt Gentry, NY, Norton, 1991, p. 461.)

  6. See Chapter 20.

  Epilogue

  1. Realizing that Edgar’s lying-in-state would coincide with antiwar rallies near the Capitol, Nixon’s adviser Charles Colson issued orders to disrupt the demonstrations. Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt brought in a team of Cubans, including some who were to take part in the Watergate breakins, and they provoked fights in the crowd. Afterward, those involved claimed their purpose had been to protect Edgar’s catafalque, which in fact was already perfectly well secured by the police and the military. (Nightmare, by Anthony Lukas, London, Penguin, 1988, p. 194, Undercover, by Howard Hunt, NY, Putnam, 1974, p. 211, Will, by Gordon Liddy, NY, St Martin’s Press, 1980, p. 220, Secret Agent, by Jim Hougan, NY, Morrow, 1978, pp. 133ff, WP, May 26, 1974, Miami Herald, Apr. 22, 1973, NYT, Mar. 9, 1973, ints. Gordon Liddy, Rolando Martinez, Felipe DeDiego, Frank Sturgis, Humberto Lopez, William Kunstler, 1988.)

  2. The grave was well tended in 1992, following a change in management of the cemetery. The Society of Former Agents then contributed to the upkeep, and Washington Masons also helped. (Int. John Hanley, 1992.)