Troutmouth by Borne Ronald F.;

Author:Borne, Ronald F.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2015-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

The Relationship with Hoover

Justice is incidental to law and order.—Edgar Hoover

CLEGG’S UNABASHED LOYALTY TO DIRECTOR HOOVER was an accepted fact in the Bureau. Clegg was well aware that the reputation of the Bureau had deteriorated during the Warren Harding administration under the direction of William J. Burns from 1921 to 1924.1 Burns earned the nickname “America’s Sherlock Holmes” because of his work as a private investigator. He earned a reputation for success when he served in the Secret Service and for operating a detective agency, but he was also notoriously known for appointing anyone a senator or congressman wanted appointed to the Bureau of Investigation, regardless of qualifications. Burns was a close friend of Attorney General Henry Daugherty, who knew Burns continued to run his private investigator firm while serving as Bureau director. The investigation by Daugherty and Burns into the affairs of Montana senator Thomas J. Walsh resulted in what has been called the Daugherty-Burns scandal. The Bureau gained the image of being a scandal-ridden agency.

Burns was forced to resign by Attorney General Harlan Stone for misusing his official position and because of his role in the Daugherty-Burns scandal. J. Edgar Hoover was named interim and then permanent director. Under Burns, the Bureau had dwindled from over 1,100 agents to fewer than 650 when Hoover was appointed. Burns would later also be indirectly involved in the Teapot Dome scandal.

When Hoover served as head of the General Intelligence Division (GID) of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) in the Justice Department and as assistant director of the BOI during the Daugherty-Burns era, he managed to avoid any taint of corruption or abusive conduct, just as he had avoided criticism for his role in dealing with the Red Scare. When Hoover was offered the job as director by Attorney General Harlan F. Stone, he accepted the promotion only on the condition that appointments to the Bureau were to be made free from all political influence. Stone and Hoover were committed to reforming the Bureau’s operations and restoring public support without generating fears of developing a federal police force. Stone abolished the GID, limited Bureau investigations to violations of federal law, and prohibited any investigation of the political beliefs of US citizens. (Hoover obviously later circumvented the new directive). Stone also directed Hoover to remove incompetent agents and abolish the patronage appointment system.2 Hoover’s reputation was a prime motivation for Clegg’s decision to join the Bureau instead of taking the bar examination.

Hoover received criticism for being ruthless and dictatorial, but his actions were necessary to remove the political hacks who did nothing. Clegg complained, “There was one fellow that I knew, he was still in when I was there, that would come into the New York office which had fifty or sixty men in it, that was a big office in those days, and he would come in every payday and get his check but he didn’t do any of the work.”3 Not all political appointees were incompetent, and Hoover kept the

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