Word: hoover
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These are among the questions that L. Patrick Gray III should be prepared to answer when he goes before the Senate Judiciary Committee, probably this week for hearings on his nomination to succeed J. Edgar Hoover as director of the FBI. Most presidential nominees start out with the odds for congressional approval about 95% in their favor Gray's case is different. A number of Senators are worried at the prospect of giving so much power to so partisan an official...
Enraged. His use of wiretapping is an example. About three years ago, according to four different sources in the Government, the White House was concerned by a series of leaks, so it asked Hoover to tap the phones of suspected reporters and even suspected White House officials. Hoover balked, and demanded authorization from John Mitchell, then the U.S. Attorney General Mitchell sanctioned the surveillance, according to the sources, on the grounds of domestic "security," which sidestepped the necessity of getting a court order for each tap. The operation started with only one tap, but soon expanded to include surveillance...
...opinions. These views infuriated many and often puzzled even his admirers. He called himself a Wilsonian liberal. That brand, he said, was "true liberalism." His positions on domestic affairs generally reflected the right wing of the Republican Party. Though an enrolled Democrat, Lawrence supported the re-election of Hoover in 1932 (because it was "dangerous to change parties in mid-Depression") and stayed with every subsequent Republican candidate...
...have had close social relationships with numerous FBI agents over the years who now collectively believe that the hardline disciplinary measures of Mr. Hoover have either been rescinded or, when necessary, are being applied with compassion and common sense...
...personal pronouncements were sometimes eccentric ("Never trust a man whose eyes are too close to his nose") and sometimes pungent (he would keep J. Edgar Hoover, said Johnson, because "I'd rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in"). His storytelling was legendary. One of his own favorites: "I decided to appoint Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court, and so I called him into my office. I told him, Thurgood, I know this will surprise you and please you, but you're the best I can think of, and I'm also delighted...