◆ SpookStack

NEW YORK POST, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1963 — it ee have ict z= jiow Sy Rowe Te Ee for reviow ¥ SYS bis ; ‘Missing G-Men wucrewommaceeg JAMES Av WECHSLER. It became the bleak duty of Senate Majority Leader Mans- field to assure the Senate on Monday that FBE Director J. Edgar Hoover and his men are very: much on the job in Birmingham. Contrary to “reports in the press" about. the “lack of interest of the FBI" in racist crime, Mr.-Mansfleld sald, he personally had “no doubt” that the FBI and its director were ““doing every- thing in their power to see that the culprits are found and - punished.” ’ : [am sure he is right. There must, after alt, be a limit to the immunity from criticism that Mr. Hoover can claim. A distin- guished performance is overdue. . In the past eight years, Birmingham homes and churches have been bombed 21 times, according to official tabulation. If one goes back to 1947, the number of blasts is 40. The figures are probably an understatement. The crucial fact is that not one ‘of those cases has been solved. Time and again it has been reported that FBI agents were diligently cooperating with local police in an effort to find the criminals. The record has. been total failure. * + * . Perhaps this tlme things will be different; Mr. Mansfield's plaintive defense reflects the degree to which Mr. Hoover is on t the spot. One can only pray that the assassins of these innocent ‘This ts children will be caught. But one must add that, regardicss of fhe outcome of this search, the FBI's Southern performance has Statistical been _a disgrace, "any lesser mortal than Mr. Hoover would Jong ago have * been damned by press and politicians alike for the continuous story of failure. The FBI's ability to escape such condemnation 5 is an. almost unplausible triumph of. public relations in which even the faintest harsh word, about J. Edgar Hoover has been loosely equated with treason. . . . Ee ‘The bomb that destroyed four children.in Birmingiam shouid ave finally sha{tered the Hoover myth. But. Mr. Mansfield's testimonial was a reminder that such legends die hard. The question, of course, Is. not whether the FBI will finatly break its scoreless streak. The children are dead. ms . ye The question is why the FBI has so systematically failed ‘<0 infiltrate the racist mobs and thereby anticipate—and’ prevent —at least some of the terrorist frenzy that reachéd its mon- ~ gstreus climax in Birmingham on Suhday- ; ween . That issue was. bluntly raised this week*in a telegram from - “ADA's Josebh Rauty to President Kentiedy—a communication ,