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Mr. Comoander, Distinguished Guests, and Delegates to this Convention; é 6% it Thank you, Mr. Commander, for your complimentary and generous ) introduction, and thenk you for having given me this most pleasant assignment to represent The American Legion in paying its highest compliment to Mr. Jd. Edgar Hoover, Nothing could please me more, for Mr. Hoover has always had ay full admiration, my profound gratitude and my sincere affection. I feel eertein that every member of our organisation shares these sane sentinents. We remember Mr. Hoover first in 1917 as a young lew clerk with the Department of Justice, and then in 1919 as a special assistant to the Attorney General in oharge of the deportation of the revolutionaries of that day -- anarchists Emma Goldman, Ludwig Martins, Alexander Berkman, Gregory Weinstein and others who were calling for the overthrow of our government by ferce and violence. Fror. these experiences he became vitally interested in intelligence work and from that day on has condusted his investigation of Communists and other subwersive group activities throughout our nation. We enthusiastically watohed his progress + his assignment to thé Federal Bureau of Investigation - his appointment as its director in 192). We remember the effective measures he took in eliminating the racketeers and smashing the roving gangs of kidnapers and bandite throughout the land. We came to eppreciate more and more his technique in demanding that his assooiates guard the constitutional rights of persons arrested, and that his agents work harder to establish e man's innocence than his guilt. As & result of such demands, over 97% of those arrested by the Federal Bureau ef Investigation were ultimately found guilty. Deir athe Die et ene