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Attorney General Stone looked at me intently from behind his desk, his eyes penetrating my
innermost being. I had seen this remarkable man before, but this meeting was different.
Family Weekly I January 27,1963
Corruption was rampant
in the Bureau of
Investigation in 1924
when its 29-year-old
assistant director was
summoned to a fateful
interview with
the Attorney General
a slothful, inefficient, corrupt organization a
mockery of all that the administration of Ameri
can justice should stand for. I would want no
part of it.
"What are your conditions?" he asked.
I thought I could detect a fleeting quizzical look
on Mr. Stone's face. But he listened, his keen
analytical mind attuned to every word.
The words came tumbling out of me like ocean
waves: "The Bureau must be divorced from poli
tics. It must no longer be a catchall for political
hacks. We must base every appointment on merit.
We should make promotions on proved ability
only, and the Bureau should be responsible to no
one but the Attorney General."
I hadn't intended to make a speech, but I guess
it came out that way.
With No Strings Attached
Stone scowled again, but only momentarily.
Then a flash of his underlying warmth appeared
as he said: "I wouldn't give it to you under any
other conditions. That's all for now. Good day."
As I returned to my office, I walked with a
buoyancy born of knowing that the Attorney
General had confidence in me a confidence which
I must continue to merit. I resolved then and
there to dedicate my full energies to making the
FBI an organization which was efficient at all
times, where employment was based strictly on
merit, and where political string-pulling could
not exist. I knew that only in this way would the
FBI win and hold the respect of the people.
The moment lives with me still. I feel today, as
on May 10, 1924, the challenge to be a servant of
my fellow man and my God. For behind that
challenge lies a basic truth of the universe: good
will triumph over evil; fidelity, bravery, and in
tegrity will make men great.
family Weekly, January 27, 1963 S