J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1924. His 48-year reign ended only with his death on May 2, 1972.
Niccolo Machiavelli advised would-be princes to be both loved and feared. Hoover took this to heart—and ensured that he was both.
To gain love, he shamelessly advertised himself as the Nation’s foremost guardian against crime and espionage–especially the Communist variety.
He did so through
- A relentless series of interviews with favored journalists and book authors;
- “Authoring” several ghostwritten books; and
- Sponsoring comic books, radio programs and even a high-rated TV series to tout the glories of the FBI.
Millions of Americans believed that only Hoover and his ace G-men stood between them and the threat of crime and/or Communist subversion.
J. Edgar Hoover
Members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees supposedly oversee the operations of the Justice Department—of which the FBI is the biggest part. Yet they competed with one another to fawn over Hoover and his agency and to give him even greater appropriations than he asked for.
But it wasn’t just popularity that kept Hoover in power for almost a half-century. While he reveled in feeling loved by the public, he did not rely entirely on this as a guarantee of longevity.
“In large measure, Hoover’s power rested on the information he had squirreled away in his secret files,” wrote investigative journalist David Wise in his 1976 bestseller, The American Police State.
“Put simply, the famous Director of the FBI, the cereal boxtop, G-man hero of generations of American youth, was a blackmailer. Hoover collected and filed away facts, tidbits, gossip, scandal and dark secrets that gave him leverage over members of Congress, the Cabinet, even Presidents.”
“He has a file on everybody,” a terrified President Richard Nixon told White House Counsel John Dean.
It was the major reason why Nixon—and Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson—never dared fire him.
Hoover learned, for example, of the sexual relationship between JFK and “party girl” Judith Campbell. Aside from the politically explosive matter of Kennedy’s adultery, Campbell was also bedding Sam Giancana, the most notorious Mafia boss in Chicago.
Fearing that his superior, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, meant to fire him, Hoover, in 1962, let President Kennedy know that he was in on the secret. Hoover quit worrying about involuntary retirement after that.
John F. Kennedy, J. Edgar Hoover and Robert F. Kennedy
Similarly, LBJ told aides he would never fire Hoover: “It’s better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.”
Now, fast forward to Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s assignment to investigate well-documented links between Russian Intelligence agents and members of Donald Trump’s 2016 Presidential campaign.
On May 9, President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey for doing the same thing. When Mueller was appointed to continue that investigation, Trump made clear his anger at the decision.
Since May, Trump, his shills in Congress and Right-wing Fox News have relentlessly attacked Mueller’s integrity and investigative methods.
This despite the fact that Mueller was appointed by Republican President George W. Bush and served with an impeccable reputation for 12 years as FBI director (2001-2013).
From the outset of Mueller’s investigation, there have been widespread fears that Trump would fire him, just as he did Comey.
On December 15, Rep. Jackie Spier (D-Calif.) said: “The rumor on the Hill when I left yesterday was that the President was going to make a significant speech at the end of next week. And on December 22, when we are out of D.C., he was going to fire Robert Mueller.”
A member of the House Intelligence Committee, Spier said that Trump was trying to shut down Congress’ own investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
So: How should Robert Mueller respond?
Two methods are open to him.
The first is to follow the straight-arrow path he has always traveled: Keep pressing on with his investigation and wait to see what happens. And if Trump fires him, hope that, somehow, the probe goes on.
The second is to summon up the ghost of J. Edgar Hoover.
As described by William C. Sullivan, Hoover’s one-time number-three man and the director of his Intelligence Division:
William C. Sullivan
“The moment he would get something on a Senator, he would send one of his errand boys up and advise the Senator that we’re in the course of an investigation and by chance happened to come up with this data on your daughter.
“But we wanted you to know know—we realize you would want to know it. But don’t have any concern—no one will ever learn about it. Well, Jesus, what does that tell the Senator? From that time on, the Senator’s right in his pocket.”
Reports have circulated that many of those Congress members now demanding Mueller’s firing are recipients of financial (and possibly intelligence) support from the Kremlin.
Perhaps it’s time for Mueller to send one of his own “errand boys” up to Capitol Hill for a quiet exchange with such leaders.
Once they realize how much they stand to lose by backing a Kremlin-owned President, they may well change their tunes.