Lyndon Johnson's grandparents and mother were jewish
" What a family tree ! "
Johnson's Jewish family tree Huffman and Perrin had a daughter, Ruth Ament Huffman ,who married Joseph Baines and together they had a daughter, Rebekah Baines, Lyndon Johnson¡¦s mother. The line of Jewish mothers can be traced back three generations in Lyndon Johnson's family tree. There is little doubt that he was Jewish. To recap, the following is Lyndon Johnson's maternal family tree: Mother: Rebekah Baines - Jewess(married Sam Johnson, Lyndons father) Maternal grandparents: Ruth Ament Huffman a Jewess and Joseph Baines a Jew Maternal great-grandparents (parents of Ruth Huffman): Mary Elizabeth Perrin a Jewess and John S. Huffman, III a jew Maternal great-great grandparents (parents of Mary Perrin): Dicea Kerby and William Perrin Maternal great-great grandparents (parents of John Huffman, III): Suzanne Ament and John S. Huffman, Maternal great-great-great grandparents (parents of John Huffman, II): Cathrine Lyter and John Huffman18 Lady Bird's family tree
Lady Bird Johnson - Sephardic Jewess
This information about Sephardic Jews in southern Texas sheds new light on the ethnicity of Lyndon Johnson's wife, Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson (aka, "Lady Bird"). She is apparently a Sephardic Jew of Mexican origin. Although her facial features are consistent with Semitic origin, that alone is not definitive proof.
Claudias mother, Minnie Lee Pattillo, was likely a Sephardic Jew from Mexico. . Johnson's sponsors 1931: Johnson Came to Washington as Congressman Kleberg's Assistant Lyndon Johnson began his career in 1931 as the legislative assistant of Congressman [red]Richard M. Kleberg, [/red]a wealthy Jewish politician representing the 14th District of Texas. Kleberg was not a serious politician, rather an outwardly friendly man who inherited vast wealth. He inherited twenty percent interest in the King Ranch, the largest ranch in the continental United States;36 a 2,000-square-mile estate with influence extending beyond its borders.37 In fact, Richard Kleberg's father, Robert Kleberg, turned much of South Texas into "Kleberg County."38 Although the ranch dealt in cattle and horses, as well as in sorghum and wheat,39 it also built entire towns, railroads, harbors, colleges, and banks.40 In the 1940s, it contracted oil and gas leases to provide additional income. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/KK/apk1.html http://www.jfkmontreal.com/johnson's_hidden_loyalties.htm#Secret%20Ethnicity [red]I wonder if the jets he recalled drom the USS Liberty attack knew this ? Her mother, Minnie Pattillo Taylor, died when Lady Bird was five, so she was reared by her father, her aunt, and family servants. From her father, Thomas Jefferson Taylor, who had prospered, she learned much about the business world. An excellent student, she also learned to love classical literature. At the University of Texas she earned a bachelor's degree in arts and in journalism.
http://www.jfkmontreal.com/johnson's_hidden_loyalties.htm
PART III: THE SUCCESSORS, JOHNSON & NIXON
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Chapter 9: Johnson’s Hidden Loyalties
Secret Ethnicity
As previously stated, the Johnson administration implemented a dramatic shift
in US-Middle East policy. Every president after Johnson has totally
capitulated to Israel and ignored the plight of Palestinians. But Johnson
marked the turning point.
The reason he was so loyal to Israel
lies within his own ethnicity. It appears that he and his wife were secretly
Jewish. To many, this may seem laughable at first, but in
reality Jews were an integral part of Texas history throughout the nineteenth
century.1 Jacob and Phineas De Cordova sold land and developed Waco. Simon
Mussina founded Brownsville in 1848. Michael Seeligson was elected mayor of
Galveston in 1853. Morris Lasker was elected to the state Senate in 1895.2
The list goes on.
The first Jewish settlers of note in Texas were Samuel Issacks (1821) followed
by N. Adolphus Sterne (1826).3 By 1838, Jews were living in Galveston, San
Antonio, Velasco, Bolivar, Nacogdoches, and Goliad.4 In the early part of the
twentieth century, a large of number of Russian Jews migrated to Texas to
escape persecution from the Russian Czar. Between 1900 and 1920, the Jewish
population in Texas grew from 15,000 to 30,000. Major cities, Dallas, Houston,
Fort Worth, and San Antonio, experienced enormous growth in Jewish
populations.5 The overall number of Jews in Texas has steadily increased ever
since. After World War II, the abundance of Jewish residents grew from an
estimated 50,000 in 1945 to 71,000 in the mid-1970s and 92,000 in 1988.6
Before 1821, Texas was still a Spanish colony where only Catholics could take
up residence. Jews who openly acknowledged their ethnicity could not legally
live there.7 Originally, Jews migrated to Texas to seek fortune and freedom.
The earliest Jews, who arrived with the conquistadors, came from Sephardic (Spanish-North
African-Israel) communities.8 After the Mexican period, Jewry in Texas was
essentially populated by immigrants from Germany, eastern Europe, and the
Americas.9
Lyndon Johnson’s maternal ancestors, the Huffmans, apparently
migrated to Frederick, Maryland from Germany sometime in the mid-eighteenth
century. Later they moved to Bourbon, Kentucky and eventually settled in Texas
in the mid-to-late nineteenth century.10
According to
Jewish law, if a person’s mother is Jewish, then that person is automatically
Jewish, regardless of the father’s ethnicity or religion. The facts indicate
that both of Lyndon Johnson’s great-grandparents, on the maternal side, were
Jewish. These were the grandparents of Lyndon’s mother, Rebecca Baines.11
Their names were John S. Huffman and Mary Elizabeth Perrin.12 John Huffman’s
mother was Suzanne Ament, a common Jewish name. Perrin is also a common Jewish
name.
Huffman and Perrin had a daughter, Ruth Ament Huffman,13 who married
Joseph Baines14 and together they had a daughter, Rebekah Baines,15 Lyndon
Johnson’s mother. The line of Jewish mothers can be traced back three
generations in Lyndon Johnson’s family tree. There is little doubt that he was
Jewish.
To recap, the following is Lyndon Johnson’s maternal family
tree:
Mother: Rebekah Baines (married Sam Johnson, Lyndon’s father)
Maternal grandparents: Ruth Ament Huffman and Joseph Baines
Maternal great-grandparents (parents of Ruth Huffman): Mary Elizabeth Perrin
and John S. Huffman, III
Maternal great-great grandparents (parents of Mary Perrin): Dicea Kerby and
William Perrin16 (Footnote 20)
Maternal great-great grandparents (parents of John Huffman, III): Suzanne
Ament and John S. Huffman, II17
Maternal great-great-great grandparents (parents of John Huffman, II):
Cathrine Lyter and John Huffman18
As previously stated, many Jews migrated to Texas from Germany. A Johnson
family friend, Cynthia Crider, observed that Lyndon’s mother, Rebekah Baines
(Johnson), often boasted of her Baines ancestry, but rarely mentioned the
maternal side, the Huffmans. In fact, Crider recalled that Lyndon’s father,
Sam Johnson, used to tease his wife occasionally about her German heritage.
When she would get stubborn about something, Sam would say, "That’s your
German blood again. German blood! Look at your brother’s name. Huffman!
Probably was Hoffmann once—in Berlin." Rebekah would respond, "Sam, you know
it’s Holland Dutch."19
As far as I can determine, Rebekah’s German ancestors, the Huffmans, came to
America in the mid-1700s and had a son, John Huffman, in about 1767 in
Frederick, Maryland. I cannot find records of John Huffman’s parents. They
were probably German immigrants. Huffman married Catherine Lyter in 1790 in
Frederick, Maryland.20 At some point Huffman and Lyter moved to Bourbon,
Kentucky and had a son, John Huffman, II, who married Suzanne Ament. Huffman,
II and Ament had a son, John S. Huffman, III, born on May 7, 1824 in Bourbon,
Kentucky; and died on June 22, 1865 in Collin, Texas. John Huffman, III was
Rebekah’s great-grandfather. He married Mary Elizabeth Perrin. Huffman and
Perrin had a daughter, Ruth Ament Huffman, who married Joseph Baines. Huffman
and Baines were Rebekah’s parents, Lyndon’s grandparents.
As a young adult, Lyndon Johnson taught school in Cotulla, a poor "Mexican"
community south of San Antonio.21 Many of his former students marvelled at his
spirit, dedication and self-discipline.22 Lyndon strongly encouraged the young
Mexicans to learn English in order to get ahead.23 Possibly he truly had a
yearning to help those in need; however, that does not fit most historical
accounts of Lyndon Johnson the man. From early adulthood, virtually all of his
actions were calculated. Given Lyndon’s Huffman, Perrin, Ament family line, it
is more likely that he was assisting descendants of Sephardic Jews who
migrated to Texas from Spain centuries earlier.
Recently it was disclosed that there are many hispanic Jews living in the San
Antonio area. Richard Santos, a hispanic Jew and native of San Antonio, wrote
a book entitled Silent Heritage: The Sephardim and the Colonization of the
Spanish North American Frontier, 1492-1600.24 Santos spoke of his "crypto-Jewish"
heritage at the Texas Jewish Historical Society’s 22nd conference on May 11,
2001. Crypto-Jews are Sephardic groups of families who secretly retained their
religion and culture after the 15th-century Spanish royal decree deemed it
punishable by death. Santos has spent his entire adult life trying to educate
the masses about the secret history of his bloodline.25
Stan Hordes, a former New Mexico state historian and professor at the
University of New Mexico, described his observations at the same conference.
"One person told me, ‘My family just doesn’t eat pork—we’re allergic to pork,’"
Hordes said, explaining the pockets of crypto-Jews who maintain Jewish
traditions without even realizing it.26
Among the crypto-Jews that Hordes described, some of the women light menorahs
without realizing what they’re doing.27
Given this new information about crypto-Jews, plus Johnson’s heritage; it is
highly plausible that he began his early adult life as a teacher at Cotulla
not merely to help disadvantaged hispanics students, but rather to help
descendants of Sephardic Jews—crypto-Jews—from Spain who migrated to Mexico
and what is now southern Texas. And the reason he felt obliged to help these
crypto-Jews was because of his own secret ethnicity.
This information about Sephardic Jews in southern Texas sheds new light on the
ethnicity of Lyndon Johnson’s wife, Claudia Alta Taylor Johnson (aka, "Lady
Bird"). She is apparently a Sephardic Jew of Mexican origin. Although her
facial features are consistent with Semitic origin, that alone is not
definitive proof. Claudia’s mother, Minnie Lee Pattillo, was likely a
Sephardic Jew from Mexico. Pattillo is a common Spanish/Mexican name; however,
there are no records of Minnie Pattillo’s parents so it is entirely possible
that they were immigrants. It is quite odd that a first lady—one who lived in
the White House less than 40 years ago—has maternal grandparents whose
identity is unknown and undocumented.
Minnie Pattillo died in 1918 when Claudia was only five.28 Minnie was born in
about 1890 in Karnack, Texas (Harrison County);29 however, she apparently
lived in Alabama when Thomas Taylor married her.30 All that is known about
Minnie Pattillo is that she had a "spinster" sister, Effie Pattillo (also from
Alabama), who helped raise Claudia.31
Claudia Taylor’s father was Thomas Jefferson Taylor, II, a prosperous
businessman and philanthropist.32 He was the son of Thomas Jefferson Taylor
and Emma Louisa Bates.33 Historian Robert Caro wrote that Claudia’s father was
the "richest man in [Karnack, Texas]."34 Caro also indicated that Johnson’s
previous two girlfriends—Carol Davis and Kitty Clyde of San Marcos and Johnson
City, respectively—were also daughters of the richest men in town.
 |
|
Richard Kleberg was one of the wealthiest men in Texas. He
inherited twenty percent interest in the King Ranch, the largest ranch in the
continental United States;36 a 2,000-square-mile estate with influence
extending beyond its borders.37 In fact, Richard Kleberg’s father, Robert
Kleberg, turned much of South Texas into "Kleberg County."38 Although the
ranch dealt in cattle and horses, as well as in sorghum and wheat,39 it also
built entire towns, railroads, harbors, colleges, and banks.40 In the 1940s,
it contracted oil and gas leases to provide additional income. By the
mid-1970s, the ranch owned millions of acres of land in such countries as
Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Morocco; but falling market
prices caused them to sell off much of this land in the 1980s.41
The King Ranch was founded in 1852 by Richard King (Richard Kleberg’s
grandfather), and was expanded significantly by King’s son-in-law, Robert
Kleberg (Richard Kleberg’s father).42 In 1922 Robert Kleberg suffered a stroke
and Richard was put in charge of the King Ranch. But Richard’s lack of
business skills soon caused the King empire to fall into serious financial
difficulties. In 1927, the executors of his father’s estate removed Richard
from authority and put his younger brother in charge of managing the Ranch.
Soon the empire was back on its feet. This did not bother Richard because he
did not relish the notion of being a businessman.43
Richard Kleberg ran for an open congressional seat merely as a favor to friend,
Roy Miller, former "boy mayor of Corpus Christi" and lobbyist for the gigantic
Texas Gulf Sulphur Corporation.44 Kleberg replaced Harry Wurchbach who died on
November 6, 1931. At that time, Wurchbach was the only Republican Congressman
from Texas.45 With Kleberg’s election, the Democrats gained control of the
House. The new Speaker of the House of Representative was John Nance
Garner(Footnote 21) of Texas. Miller was a Garner ally, and in Miller’s view,
the main qualification for the Democratic nominee to replace Wurchbach was
electability. And no one was more popular in the 14th District than a member
of the Kleberg family.46
After easily winning the election, Kleberg gave Miller, the
lobbyist, carte blanche permission to use his Capitol Hill office as if it
were his own. Often Kleberg never went to the office at all. In essence,
Miller was the unelected congressman for the 14th District and Kleberg was
merely a figurehead;47 however, the work of the Kleberg’s constituency was
left to his legislative assistant, Lyndon Johnson.48
Under Miller’s tutelage, Johnson learned to play hardball politics. When
Kleberg’s bid for re-election was challenged in the 1932 Democratic primary by
a more liberal candidate, Carl Wright Johnson; Lyndon Johnson, Roy Miller and
another Texas politician, Welly Hopkins, maligned the challenger’s character,
calling him a "communist," guilty of "radicalism" and "similar filth and
slime."49 Carl Johnson didn’t have a chance in a district so thoroughly
controlled by the King Ranch. Newspapers gave him limited coverage.50 Needless
to say, the challenger lost.51
Ironically, Kleberg won ten of eleven counties in his district; but the one he
lost was Lyndon Johnson’s home county of Blanco. Some residents of the county
felt that Kleberg lost in Blanco because many of the voters disliked the
congressman’s legislative assistant. According to Johnson’s aid, Gene Latimer,
"He worked hard—he just broke his back—to get those people to like him, but
they just didn’t."52
Johnson’s Mentor, Senator Alvin Jacob Wirtz
Alvin Jacob Wirtz was a lawyer and legislator, first a state senator from
Texas, then a United States Senator for the same state. In 1935, Wirtz came to
Washington and helped organize the Lower Colorado River Authority. He
specialized in oil and water law and was appointed general counsel to the
newly established LCRA. Working closely with United States Representative
Lyndon Johnson, he helped the river authority secure grants and loans from the
Public Works Administration, the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, and the
Rural Electrification Administration.53
More than any one person, Alvin Wirtz helped pave Lyndon Johnson’s early rise
to power. Ed Clark, a colleague of Wirtz’ for years said of him, "What he
wanted was P-O-W-E-R—power over other men. He wanted power, but he didn’t want
to get it by running for office. He liked to sit quietly, smoke a cigar. He
would sit and work in his library, and plan and scheme, and usually he would
get somebody out in front of him so that nobody knew it was Alvin Wirtz who
was doing it. He would sit and scheme in the dark. He wasn’t an outgoing
person. But he was the kind of person who didn’t want to lose any fights. And
he didn’t lose many."54
As an attorney, Wirtz had a reputation among collegues for being ruthless. A
San Antonio attorney observed that he was "a conniver—a conniver like I never
saw before or since. Sharp, cunning." Another attorney commented that "He
would gut you if he could. But you would probably never know he did it. I mean,
that was a man who would do anything—and he would still be smiling when he
slipped you the knife."55
In 1917 Wirtz moved his family to Seguin, where he continued his law practice
until 1934. From 1922 to 1930 Wirtz served as state senator from Guadalupe
County. During his time in the legislature, Wirtz became involved with a group
of citizens interested in the development of the Guadalupe River as a source
of hydroelectric power.56 As someone driven by a need to obtain power over
men, Wirtz viewed dams as a means of acquiring it.57
In 1934 Wirtz moved to Austin after being run out of Seguin by
disgruntled farmers who believed his dam projects had cheated them out of
their land. This was result of his dealings with businessman Samuel Insull of
Chicago. Insull had retained Wirtz to procure land from farmers along the
Guadalupe River for the purpose of building six small dams for irrigation. The
farmers were unwilling to sell, but through legal maneuvering, Wirtz got the
government to purchase the farmers’ land at low prices. On February 26, 1934,
Tom Hollamon, Sr—a sixty-seven-year-old farmer and former Texas Ranger—walked
into Wirtz’s office, where he was meeting with Insull representatives, and
began shooting. Before being disarmed, one Chicago financier was dead.
Hollamon was arrested for murder, but Wirtz was quickly run out of town by the
locals.58
In Austin Wirtz organized the law firm of Powell, Wirtz, Rauhut, and Gideon.
Things seemed bleak for awhile, but Roosevelt’s New Deal gave him a chance to
revive his dream of becoming a power mogul. During Roosevelt’s "Hundred Days"
portion of the New Deal, $3.3 billion of federal money was slowly released
into the economy for public works which included dams. Eventually a
$10,000,000 dam project, the Marshall Ford Dam, became the vehicle by which
Wirtz could acquire the power he sought. The contract was awarded to one of
Wirtz’ clients, Brown & Root.59
Brown & Root: Johnson’s Primary Financial Supporter
Throughout Lyndon Johnson’s career, Brown & Root was his biggest financial
supporter. Today the company is a huge defense contractor. It was founded by
Herman Brown in the 1920s. The son of a Belton, Texas shopkeeper, Herman’s
career had a humble beginning. But Alvin Wirtz and Lyndon Johnson helped Brown
& Root acquire huge defense contracts from President Roosevelt in the late
1930s. The company prospered a great deal after America’s entry into World War
II. Brown & Root returned the favor by giving Johnson virtually any financial
help he requested.
Brown & Root continued to grow as the primary contractor for building military
bases. When Johnson got America into the Vietnam War, Brown & Root made a
fortune constructing military bases in Southeast Asia. They built the Tan Son
Nhut Air Base and reportedly built many of the infamous tiger cages used to
brutalize and torture suspected enemies of the Saigon regime.60 Tiger Cages
were cells constructed below ground with just enough room to fit one person.
Prisoners were put in these as punishment for various infractions of the rules.
As of this writing (2002) Brown & Root is owned by the Halliburton Company, a
prestigious defense contractor based in Dallas, Texas. Until July 25, 2000,
Vice-President Dick Cheney was CEO and chairman of the board of the
Halliburton Company. The following is a profile of the Halliburton Company
from Yahoo.com stock quotes:
BUSINESS SUMMARY
Halliburton Company provides services and equipment to energy,
industrial and governmental customers. The Company operates in two business
segments: Energy Services Group and Engineering and Construction Group. The
Energy Services Group provides a range of discrete services and products to
customers for the exploration, development and production of oil and gas. The
segment serves independent, integrated and national oil companies. The
Engineering and Construction Group segment, consisting of Kellogg Brown & Root
and Brown & Root Services, provides a range of services to energy and
industrial customers and government entities worldwide. Halliburton operates
in 120 countries.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
Halliburton Company provides a variety of services, equipment,
maintenance, and engineering and construction to energy, industrial and
govermental customers. For the nine months ended 9/30/01, revenues rose 13% to
$9.87 billion. Net income from continuing operations before account. Change
increased 96% to $410 million. Revenues reflect higher rig counts and
increased prices. Earnings also reflect increased utilization of equipment and
personnel.
(Yahoo, ticker: HAL, profile, December 2001)
The Rags to Riches Story of Brown & Root
At the age of sixteen (1909), Herman Brown got a job earning two dollars a day carrying a rod to assist surveyors. For ten years, he lived in a crowded tent for members of the construction crew. In fact, when he got married in 1917, he and his wife, Margaret Root, spent their wedding night in a tent, and a tent was their first home.61
At the age of twenty-one, Herman became a contractor. At that time, successful
contractors had to know how to handle mules and men. Herman quickly gained a
reputation for getting the maximum amount of work from men working on
construction contracts. Later, he took on two partners. As a favor to his wife,
Margaret Root, Herman made her brother, Dan Root, a partner; along with
Herman’s brother George. When Dan Root died, the firm’s name remained
unchanged out of affection to Herman’s wife.62
After the success of the Marshall Ford Dam, Herman Brown was
looking for even bigger projects for his construction company. Something big
was about to happen. In 1938, Congress, at President Roosevelt’s request, had
authorized the expenditure of a billion dollars on a "two-ocean" Navy. By
early 1939 it had become clear that a substantial portion of that billion
would be spent on the construction of naval bases and training stations for a
greatly expanded Navy Air Force. On April 26, 1939, Roosevelt had signed into
law a bill authorizing the expenditure of $66,800,000 for the first of such
bases. Brown’s attention was already focused on the Navy because Lyndon
Johnson was a member of the Naval Affairs Committee. He decided to bid on one
of the bases—in San Juan, Puerto Rico—authorized in the April bill.
Unfortunately, Johnson did not have enough influence within the White House,
and Brown was not awarded the San Juan contract.63
An important political dynamic had developed between President Roosevelt and
his Texan Vice-President John Garner. In 1937 the conservative Garner broke
with liberal Roosevelt over the latter's plan to enlarge the Supreme Court. In
1940 Garner challenged Roosevelt for the Democratic presidential nomination
but lost.64
Meanwhile, there was talk of another naval air base for Texas,
on the Gulf of Corpus Christi. Obviously Brown wanted that contract, but he
had been a Garner supporter for years. So had Corpus Christi’s Congressman,
Richard Kleberg. In fact, Kleberg’s primary handler, Roy Miller, was Garner’s
campaign manager. Lyndon Johnson too, had long supported Garner. All parties
knew that in order to get the Corpus Christi contract, they would have to
unilaterally endorse Roosevelt over Garner. The Texans chose to drop Garner by
sending a subtle political signal to Roosevelt rather than overtly pledging
their support to him.65
In the midst of this turmoil, George Brown wrote a letter to Johnson pledging
his support:
In the past I have not been very timid about asking you to do favors for me
and hope you will not get any timidity if you have anything at all that you
think I can or should do. Remember that I am for you, right or wrong, and it
makes no difference if I think you are right or wrong. If you want it, I am
for it 100%.66
In Houston, where Brown & Root’s headquarters were located, Herman Brown’s
political influence was growing, and the city’s Congressman, Albert Thomas, a
junior Representative with negligible clout in Washington, was known to take
Herman’s orders unquestionably. In August, Congressman Thomas had said, "Of
course every member of the Texas delegation is for Vice President Garner." In
December 1939, Thomas made another statement. He was not for Garner after all,
he said. He was for Roosevelt.67 This was a signal to Roosevelt, sent by
Johnson et al, that they had dumped their longtime political ally, John
Garner.
Roosevelt responded positively with two reciprocal signals.
First, on January 2, 1940, he appointed Alvin J. Wirtz as Under Secretary of
the Interior. Wirtz was the attorney for Brown & Root and had been recommended
by Lyndon Johnson. Wirtz would be second in command only to Harold Ickes.
Second, the White House went out of its way to cite Representative Lyndon
Johnson as the person who "presented Wirtz’s name." Presidential Secretary
Stephen Early stated that "neither Texas Senator was consulted," nor was
Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn or Secretary of Commerce Jesse Jones. To
readers of political signals, it was clear that Lyndon Johnson had become a
key White House ally.68
In addition, the Navy Department was quietly informed by the White House that
Lyndon Johnson was to be consulted—and advice taken—on the awarding of Navy
contracts in Texas.69
Consequently, Brown & Root began obtaining coveted Navy Department contracts.
The Corpus Christi Naval Air Station was awarded to Brown & Root without
competitive bidding. Instead it was awarded on a "negotiated basis." Because
the contract was so big, Brown & Root was directed by the Roosevelt
administration to share the profits with another contractor, Kaiser.70
Friendship With J. Edgar Hoover
It has been well documented that Hoover and Johnson had been friends since 1945 when a young Senator Johnson and his family moved onto the same block of Washington’s Thirtieth Place where Hoover lived.71
John Edgar Hoover (1895 - 1972) was born in Washington, DC—the youngest of
four children—and rarely left the city his entire life. He lived with his
mother at 413 Seward Square until her death in 1938. Afterward he continued
living there with his companion and associate director at the FBI, Clyde
Tolson.72 It is common knowledge that the two were homosexual lovers.
In 1917, Hoover entered the Department of Justice as a file reviewer. Within
two years he became special assistant to Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer
in the Woodrow Wilson administration. In that position, he oversaw the mass
roundups and deportations of suspected Bolsheviks (Communists) after World War
I. In May of 1924, he was named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation
(as it was then called) and confirmed as director seven months later. Finding
the Bureau in disarray because of the scandals of the Harding administration,
he reorganized and rebuilt it, establishing a fingerprint file, which became
the world's largest; a scientific crime-detection laboratory; and the FBI
National Academy, to which selected law enforcement officers from all parts of
the country were sent for special training.73
By the early 1930s, the Bureau was involved in the pursuit of Bonnie and Clyde
and the Ma Barker Gang, the shooting and killing of notorious bank robber John
Dillinger, investigating the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s infant son, and
countless other sensational stories.74
In the summer of 1936, Hoover began to have secret meetings with President
Roosevelt where the FBI was granted executive authority to expand into
intelligence gathering—particularly in areas of subversive activities in
America, including Communism and fascism. With Roosevelt’s support, the FBI
grew from 391 agents in 1933 to nearly 5,000 by the end of World War II.75
After war, the Hoover exploited anticommunist hysteria of the Cold War to
intensify the FBI’s intelligence activities. It is widely known that Hoover
leaked derogatory material on Martin Luther King in the 1960s as part of his
secret counterintelligence (COINTELPRO) program. Former assistant FBI Director
William Sullivan commented on Hoover’s surveillance of Kennedy and King in a
book, The Bureau, published posthumously in 1979.(Footnote 22) The following
is an excerpt from that book:
Hoover was always gathering damaging material on Jack Kennedy, which the
President, with his active social life, seemed more than willing to provide.
We never put any technical surveillance on JFK, but whatever came up was
automatically funneled directly to Hoover. I was sure he was saving everything
he had on Kennedy, and on Martin Luther King, Jr., too, until he could unload
it all and destroy them both. He kept this kind of explosive material in his
personal files, which filled four rooms on the fifth floor of headquarters.
(William Sullivan, The Bureau, p. 5076)
Hoover’s view of organized crime was astonishing, to say the least. As late as
January 1962, Hoover denied its existence in the United States. He stated that
"No single individual or coalition of racketeers dominates organized crime
across the nation." It was not until gangster Joe Valachi was brought to
Washington by Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s Justice Department to testify
before the Senate that Hoover was forced to admit that his opinion about
organized crime in American needed some serious re-thinking.77
In January 1964, shortly after Hoover’s 69th birthday (Jan. 1st) and less than
two months after Kennedy’s assassination, President Johnson signed an
Executive Order exempting Hoover from retiring on his 70th birthday, which was
mandatory at that time. It should be noted that Johnson was also gearing up
the Warren Commission to investigate Kennedy’s death in that timeframe.
Consequently, it is not implausible to think that Johnson’s Executive Order
may have been an incentive to Hoover not to conduct a serious investigation of
the assassination. It might have been a reward as well, since many of the
FBI’s cover-up activities had already been accomplished by January.78
Sullivan also observed that the relationship between Johnson and Hoover
changed after Johnson assumed the presidency. The following is an excerpt from
Sullivan’s posthumous book, The Bureau:
They remained close when Johnson served as Vice President, but there was a
change in their relationship when Johnson became President. The Director was
over 65 by that time, past retirement age for federal employees, and he stayed
in office only because of a special waiver which required the President’s
signature each year. That waiver put Hoover right in Johnson’s pocket. With
that leverage, Johnson began to take advantage of Hoover, using the Bureau as
his personal investigative arm. His never-ending requests were usually
political, and sometimes illegal… And Hoover hot-footed it to Johnson’s
demands… he found himself very much in the back seat, almost a captive of the
President …