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fe ayn big GS OPC Sm AOE i la ee lS eae ee aa i SS We re ER a A Ee c~ y ie . #4 (Rew 15-86) bined . Hoover vs. RFK: ; ‘7 \ Behind the Battle = JAMES L, WECHSLER ce ee oe ¢ {G weon FBI dircetor J. FArar Hoover sand Sen. Robert FoKennedy climaxes a bebined the scenes battle thas began aT thé ou a Kennedy cra in 14#2, : Tt is a clash with deep political as well as persanal overtones, ebscured by complicated details of the wiretapping debate. : ; * * - . $ Why Hoover chose to provoke an open conflict at this- jurciure is an unresolved mystery, The crudest explanation ia, that, with another extension of his over-age tenure up for review in January, the Tl-year-okl G-man feared he might finally be. dcomed expendable after a serics of unusual and embarrassing: Glisclosure's about the FBI's eavesdropping operations. * According te this theory nothing cnuld be more calculated to: (fortify Hoover's White House status than an assault on Kennedy! eee eee) os evens + —<¢specially on an issueihat might downgrade the dissident Sena- tor in the eyes of civil libertarians, . . | ‘E. Amid the conjecture, it Is plain that Hoover deliberately in- " vited the conflict. The language of his exchange with Rep. Gross, an Iowa Republican, is so palpably rehearsed that no one in Wash | ington can doubt that the script was conceived by the FBL ‘ * a «& : , Hoover learned swiftly after John F. Kennedy's election that . vife would be diffcrent, The young Attorney General wag both the’ + Droiher and intimate adviser of the new President: for the first ; ftimé in many long years the director of the FBI was reminded ‘hat he was a subordinate to the head of the Justice Dept., not, the leader of an autonomous empire who dealt as a sovereign: : with the President. ‘ : . & = An early rebuff came when the FBI sent over a “loyalty” dossier on Pierre Salinger, one of JFK's closest assnelates; it Scems that a member of Salinger's family had once been linked: with an alleged Communist front. The Kennedys, who knew Sal- gnger well, were unimpressed by such FBI extremism in the Practice of vigilance; Salinger kept his job. . einai a ee 7 a promising New York officer named Lloyd Sealy be permitted to take the course. He did; he ls now the highly-respected Assist- - ant Chief Inspector on New York's police force. * * * . In the realm of civil liberties Kennedy publicly argued that: the U.S. Communist Party was disintegrating and that “the prob-: (em we have is overseas.” Hoover continued to magnify the domes-- i tic Communist threat and cement his role as the hero of right-! j Wing fanatics. ' 74 . One of the sharpest confrontations Involved the case of Junius: F {i Seaics, an admitted former Communist: and Smith Act prisoner, Jvhase break wis attested ta by a long raster of sophiaticates,. sinclusins Norman ‘Thomas and Davi Dubinsky, Hoover dltterly., . aos ‘rented pleas for parade an the ground that Seales had “refused | 1 fhe conpecate™ with the FUL by naming these he had known many: syeacs Carlier, Kennedy averruled Hoover (as well as the Eastland cominittee) and nrdered Seales freed. Finally here were recurmgnt reports In Washington ! ele yn ee EE OS ere ete ei eee eee te Seeremnep ee ee eat, ‘ a + a “toover's refignation would be graciously accepted alice fe. FY ,f ernedy’s récicction toa second term, ai J. Edgar Jioover, so long the capital's leading sacred cow,, a JE . begun to feel like a paper tiger, i /. Zhen came the assassination In Dallas. hoe | M t Gr Hage recall Dobby describing how quickly Hoover's voice! "' Gehaltrclax Soon as he knew the Aitorney General no longer_hgd' i e hretheh ly ie White House,” a close friend sald altGarani™ j ‘There were frictions on civil rights. No Negro had ever been) 4, 77! 4. widmitted to study at the FBI's national academy; at the urging} “Y ***8 | The Washington Evening Star of Mike Murphy, Attorney General Kennedy insisted in 1962 that! aw ape Patiala taal NOT RECORDE 46 JANL? 67 _— —es SS 6 N16 1957 The Washington Post and Times" Herald The Washington Daily News ML dournal The Baltimore Sun The Worker The New Leader The Wail Street Journal The National Observer Peopte’a World Date ewe bNew York Daily News ; Al New York Post __ 4 The New York Times New York World tos oes + “ 5” - ch ar * &s so ‘st Cali —_——— Conrad Felt i—— ul van . ~avel Trotter Tele. Room Holmes Gandy - re | s ——me a 7 7 _ORIGINAL FILED IN Tribune