FBI Watched McCarthy Anti-Hoover Effort

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WASHINGTON — When Eugene McCarthy ran for president in 1968, he pledged to fire J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI director who had outlasted presidents from Calvin Coolidge to John F. Kennedy.

Before long, McCarthy's calls for new FBI leadership were cataloged and commented upon by FBI officials in a nearly 500-page file, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act. The file became available after McCarthy's death in December 2005.

Much of McCarthy's file focuses on law enforcement duties surrounding the 1968 campaign, when McCarthy helped galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War by challenging President Lyndon B. Johnson for the 1968 Democratic nomination. The Minnesota senator's strong showing in the New Hampshire primary led to Johnson's withdrawal from the race.

According to McCarthy's file, FBI agents looked into death threats against the candidate, and kept records of his public travel and demonstrations. In the process, they also paid close attention to McCarthy's calls to replace Hoover, collecting several news clippings, letters and memos on the subject.

For example, the FBI's Special Agent in Charge in Indianapolis wrote to Hoover on April 22, 1968 to inform him of a speech at Indiana University in which McCarthy said the U.S. should "re-examine the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and even reflect on who its director is."

"I think this man is misguided and irresponsible and in my opinion does not deserve the status of a presidential candidate," wrote the agent, James T. Neagle. "I am certainly setting the record straight as to your ability and tremendous record as director of the FBI over the years," added Neagle, who included a newspaper clipping with the memo.

Although Vietnam was the driving force behind McCarthy's campaign, the calls for Hoover's ouster fit with the campaign's general themes. (Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey, a fellow Minnesotan, wound up winning the Democratic nomination, but lost the presidential election to Richard Nixon.)

Hoover had been running the FBI since 1924, and would hold the position until his death in 1972 — nearly a half-century at the helm.

McCarthy's son, Michael McCarthy, said that their father warned about the "personalization of power," seeing that in both Hoover and Johnson.

"Dad felt very strongly about the danger of having the head of the FBI so unaccountable, so permanent," recalled his daughter, Ellen McCarthy. "In the late '60s and early '70s, we had a wonderful family dog, Eric the Red. He who would go crazy at the mention of J. Edgar's name — growling and carrying on. It was one of Eric's tricks most appreciated by Dad."

The file includes several other letters from people defending Hoover from McCarthy's criticism — with copies sent to Hoover. One Hoover admirer wrote to McCarthy, calling the criticism "in very bad taste, to say the very least, and without reason, logic or merit. I am certain that there are millions of Americans who feel as I do!"

Once, Hoover took note of a memo circulated by the mayor of Jackson, Mich., which defended the FBI director from criticism by McCarthy. A newspaper story in the Jackson Citizen Patriot about the initiative is included in the file.

"I have learned of your expression of support of my administration of the FBI and want to extend my thanks," Hoover wrote to the mayor, Maurice B. Townsend, Jr. At the bottom of the letter, the FBI adds this note: "There is no record of Mayor Townsend in Bufiles (Bureau files). We have had cordial relations with the Jackson Citizen Patriot and its editor, Honorable Herbert W. Spendlove, is on the Special Correspondents' List."

That list referred to reporters the FBI had identified as friendly, said Athan Theoharis, a retired Marquette University history professor who has written several books on the FBI and Hoover. Another list had reporters who were not to be contacted, Theoharis said.

The FBI even took note of the state of McCarthy's campaign hotel bills. In August 1968, Joseph D. Purvis, Special Agent in Charge in the Washington, D.C. Field Office, wrote to Hoover to tell him about a conversation he had with "one of our good friends at the Mayflower," a famous Washington hotel. The person's name is redacted from the file.

Purvis wrote that the campaign had four rooms booked since June, and hadn't made any payments — with the hotel bill exceeding $20,000 by the end of July. He also noted that his Mayflower source was not aware of the nature of the campaign business in those rooms, "but he has observed those who use them are primarily young people, both white and colored."

"By and large, he said, 'they are a pretty crummy bunch.' They seem to enjoy room service immensely," Purvis wrote.

The FBI's interest in McCarthy's activities extended to the senator's family as well.

Once, when she was 20 years old, McCarthy's daughter Ellen took a tour of the FBI. The FBI file includes a memo from August 1968 that is almost certainly a report of that trip, although the names are redacted.

The memo, titled "SPECIAL TOUR OF BUREAU," reports that a man waiting for a special tour appointment asked if the person who had just left the room was the (redacted) of McCarthy.

When told that was the case, he said "that he thought it was quite ironic that the individual who had stated he would force Mr. Hoover to retire if elected president was now sending his (redacted) down to the FBI ..." the memo states. "All in the room appeared to be quite amused by this aside, and their laughter plainly indicated on which side their sympathies were in the J. Edgar Hoover-McCarthy matter."

When shown a copy of the memo, Ellen McCarthy said she and a friend toured the FBI around that time.

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