Description:

J. Edgar Hoover
[Washington, D.C.], May 14, 1954
J. Edgar Hoover TLS Re: Army-McCarthy Hearings & Role Played by Ex-FBI Agents: "I do not relish getting involved in such a circus"
TLS
A 1p typed letter signed by J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972), then Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as "Edgar" at lower right. May 14, 1954. [Washington, D.C.] On watermarked paper with "Federal Bureau of Investigation / United States Department of Justice / Washington, D.C." letterhead. Expected light paper folds and isolated smudges. Else near fine. 7.125" x 9.25."

J. Edgar Hoover wrote this letter to his California pen pal, Elizabeth B. Ehrman née Bissinger (1883-1976), a widow and mother of seven sons who lived at the "Oliver Acres" estate in Atherton, California.

Hoover wrote in part:

"Of course, the Army-McCarthy hearing is the most popular subject in Washington at present and as you say I had hoped that this was one controversy in which the FBI would not become embroiled. However, it appears to have turned out otherwise and I do not relish getting involved in such a circus. Everyone, of course, seems to be most free in the naming of ex-Agents but we certainly do not have control over Agents who are no longer employed by us just as a private employer has no control over his ex-employees…"

The letter contains fascinating content related to the Army-McCarthy hearings; Hoover's personal and professional views of Senator from Wisconsin Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957); and Hoover's attitude towards information control, "fixing," and former FBI agents.

The "Army-McCarthy hearing" referred to an ongoing investigation that was being conducted by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). The U.S. Army claimed that Senator McCarthy and his associates unfairly pressured the military to give their crony, a former McCarthy aide named G. David Schine, preferential treatment. McCarthy, in turn, accused the U.S. Army of retaliating against him in the Schine matter because he had exposed Communist sympathizers in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The Senate probe took place over the course of 36 days (April 22 - June 17, 1954), and was televised by major networks, reaching millions of American viewers over the course of the coverage. Historians argue that the Army-McCarthy hearings precipitated McCarthy's political decline.

J. Edgar Hoover was dragged into the "circus" thanks to McCarthy's producing a secret and confidential FBI memorandum from "Army sources" purportedly written by Hoover to Major General Alexander R. Bolling on January 26, 1951, warning the U.S. Army about Communist sympathies at Fort Monmouth. McCarthy dropped the "Hoover memo" bombshell on May 4th, and the letter was immediately investigated by Robert A. Collier (ca. 1917-1984), a former FBI top aide, now a PSI committee lawyer. Collier interviewed Hoover about the letter, which Hoover emphatically denounced as, at best, a cobbled-together forgery. It is likely that in his discussion about his inability to control "ex-Agents" that Hoover is grumbling about Collier, who was once one of his special assistants.

The letter reveals how Hoover's position, some two weeks after the "Hoover memo" debacle, was quite uncomfortable. For, although Hoover was personally friendly with McCarthy, exchanging privileged information and even staff with him, and the two both believed in the dangers of Communism, Hoover was increasingly frustrated by McCarthy's sensational tactics. The FBI Director believed that Communism was a real threat, and that McCarthy's antics downplayed the seriousness of that threat.

The Army-McCarthy hearings determined that Roy Cohn, McCarthy's chief consul, was guilty of undue influence on the Army, but that McCarthy himself was not. The unfavorable optics of the whole investigation tanked McCarthy's public approval ratings and he was officially censured by the U.S. Senate just seven months later, in early December 1954.

J. Edgar Hoover's name is synonymous with the intelligence agency that he helped found in 1935: the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The detective served as Director of the Bureau of Investigation (the FBI's predecessor) from 1924-1935, and as Director of the FBI from its inception until his death in 1972. While Hoover took many liberties with the information he collected, critics agree that he also built up, enlarged, modernized, and legitimized the agency.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 7.125" x 9.25"
  • Medium: TLS

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