◆ SpookStack

At this time, the FBI augmented its Agent force with National: Academy graduates, who took an abbreviated training course. As a result, the total number of FBI employees rose from 7,400 to over 13,000, including approximately 4,000 Agents, by the end of 1943. ; Traditional war-related investigations did not occupy ali the FBI’s time. For example, the Bureau continued to carry out civil rights investigations. Segregation, which was legal at the time, was the rule in the Armed Services and in virtually the entire defense industry in the 1940s. Under pressure from African- American organizations, the President appointed a Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC). The FEPC had no enforcement authority. However, the, FBI could arrest individuals who impeded the war effort. The Bureau assisted the FEPC when a Philadelphia transit workers’ union went out on strike against an FEPC Gesegregation order. The strike ended when it appeared that the FEI was about to arrest its leaders. The most serious discrimination during World War II was the decision to evacuate Japanese nationals and American citizens cf Japanese descent from the West Coast and send them to internment camps. Because the FBI had arrested the. individuals whom it considered security threats, FBI Director Hoover took the position that confining others was unnecessary. The President and Attorney General, however, chose to support the military assessment that evacuation and internment were imperative. Ultimately, the FEI became responsible for arresting curfew and evacuation violators. While most FBI personnel during the war worked traditional war-related or criminal cases, one contingent of Acents was unique. Separated from Bureau rolls, these Agents, with the help of FBI Legal Attaches, composed the Special Intelligence Service (SIS) in Latin America. Established by President Roosevelt in 1940, the SIS was to provide information on Axis activities in South America and to destroy its intelligence ‘and propaganda networks. Several hundred thousand Germans or German descendants and numerous Japanese lived in South America. They provided pro- ‘Axis pressure and cover for Axis communications facilities. Nevertheless, in every South -American country, the SIS was instrumental in bringing about a@ situation in which, by 1s44, continued support for the Nazis” became intolerable or impractical. In April 1945, President Roosevelt died, and Vice President Harry Truman took office as President. Before the end of the month, Hitler committed suicide and the German commander in Italy surrendered. Although the May 1945 surrender of Germany ended the war in Europe, war continued in the Pacific until August 14, 1945. ; The world that the FBI faced in September 1945 was very cifferent from the world of 1939 when the war began. American 9