◆ SpookStack

The success of the “PI clearly reflects the integrity, - ability, and urive oP Hoover hirself. “nen he took over ag “ire eetor in 192), woen he was only 29, it was a sickly and inept o;era- tion. PpPvulitics Influenced many of its actions. Everything is different now. “e put in the latest de- tection "i: thods, built up tae fingerprint file, hired agents for ce ility, (not tor wom they knew,) and created an unusual esprit de -orps. Yoover has cunstantly warned his men against using third deyree violence methods of ‘getting evidence -~ a charge often leveled against certain city police departments. "The test tube ig mightier than the rubber hose," he says. the Creenlease kidnap brougit the PRI back into the rele in wiich it won its greatest “ame -- breaking up the flurry of child thefts for ransom twenty-years ago. “+he Lindbergh case wes the ~ost notorious example. Qut of it came the Lindbergh Kid- nap Law, -~- the same one under which Hoover's men worked in the recert c:se. ‘ongress broadened the Bureeu's powers to include rursuit 7 bank-robbers and other fangs. "ithin a few years, the number of bank-robberies dropred ‘ -per-ent. In some years, the FRI's rate of convictions hes been above 97-percent. How about Hoover personally? He was born in washington, enly five blocks from the Vapital, -- the son of a government official. >is boyhood nickneme was "speed." Always a sports fan, he wanted to plev football, vut was too small. His flat nose isn't the reault of ¢ run-in with a croox, but from a missed fly-ball in a youthful the J. is tor John-- graducted from veurge washington University, took a Master's Degre» in Law, and went into government service in 117. That ws es a clerk in the Department of Justice, and he's been there ever gince. Those who know him, find that he has a strong religious atrain. As a youth he taught Sunday School, anc once thought about becoming a Protestant Minister. . Coddling crininals isn't the way to cure them, he says. publicly he ‘ws condemned “slobvering sob-sis ters and gushing well- wisherg of the es'vict." No, the suggestions we get from his mn ~ who KnoWs so much about crime is far more fundamental. 1 birth of He says: "Our nation ts sadly in need of a re the simple fife. a return to tne days when “od was & part of each household, -- when families arose in the morning with a prayer on their Kips, and ended the day by placing themselves in His care. ort ere ee eee ap ee ee PT ME TET TERS TE SY meee en re i cr eee]