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t bog ¢) . Mr. Tolson _ ‘é ; Mr, Belmont = ; ‘ = Mr. Mohr mo Mr. Callahan —_._. ATE Mr. Conrad INFORMATION COT af Me. DeL GUREIN 15 UBC : Mr. Evan ’ excePT WHERE 52! ft Mr, Malone \e ames T CE, 1 ar. # a Dasan = od ' OTHE ; ; we i . Sullivek” \ September 13, 19 Mr. Tave! Mr? Trotter » {2 ‘| Tele. Room » i Mr. Ingram . Miss Gandy Mr. DeLoach: s ‘>, RE: MENTION OF FBI IN THE BOOK “ NS "THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT" 5 BY JOHN STEINBECK y The above book, a recent Literary Guild selection, is a novel /. “f laid in the fictitious town of New Baytown, New York, and concerns the problems of a young grocery store clerk whose family had at one time been Lt among the leaders of the community. The book is written in the first-person as though being told by the "hero." At the beginning of the book he describes various persons of the town including one Stonewall Jackson Smith, the Chief of Police, whom he characterizes as being of above average intelligence for the town and who “even took the FBI training at Washington, D. C." Later in the story, just a weekend before the local elections,“ '” the Grand Jury indicts the city manager and other high officials for corruption, etc. Immediately prior to the announcement of the indictments, Chief "Stoney" Smith had made a trip to the State Capitol and in a subsequent conversation between the Chief and the grocer clerk, in which the Chief is clearly suffering from a guilty conscience, it becomes evident that he has been excluded from the indictments because he chose to “turn state's evidence, " so to speak, and furnish information against the other town officials. Ab poo —lé Q 62) 7) fom // REC. 39 VATION - 10 OBSERVATION fas 8 C2 SEP 21 1961 While Steinbeck does not belabor the fact that the.Chief of Palice 1 TMT tanta nwt ease a= a P84 a is FBI trained, nevertheless a careful reader cannot fail to recall the reference in the initial introduction to the Chief when his behavior concerning the indict- ments comes up. tes ur EIAs Lar ag oe beck's reabike ences to a Justice Department ‘ast, Stein investigator who appears in the story inve ikalting eg al entry into the United States of one of the townspeople are of the hig hesti¢ fiber. a TA aber RECOMMEN AP Tear Hi fr “pol / , She ws a N DAY AWLY | iia 19614 For information, i ot T/ ; 1K, ULG:kmd Wh, pee Vv: M. A. Jones ~ Ev ute,