Evening star., 1954-05-02
The Nations Top Policeman
Celebrates 3Oth Anniversary
By Williom' A. ktillen

A week from tomorrow John Ed
gar Hoover rounds out 30 years a.
director Of the famed Federal Bu-
reau Of Investigation.
This lengthy record as q bureau
chief sets Mr.. Hoover apart, for he
has weathered the ebb and flow of
partisan politics. And perhaps
equally important to him. he has
survived threats upon his life by
hardened criminals who have vowed
to get" him.
The past generation has indeed
been an eventful one for Mr.. Hoover
and the Nation he has served so
well. They have been sprinkled
with gang fights, prohibition wars.
kidnapingS, espionage. subversion.
the Red menace and high crimes
and misdemeanors generally. And in
the solving of some of the blacklist
crimes Mr.. Hoover has had a vital
part.
For this man has put crime de-
lection on. a hard, cold, scientific
basis. He has brought the labora-
tory. the microscope. the camera
and all the latest scientific lore to
bear on crime and criminals. He
has devoted himself to youth and
the problems of juvenile delin-
Quency.
Mr.. Hoover's is the success story
that America loves so we'll, that of the
poor boy who achieved the heights.
Called Speed" because of an active
body and mind as boy, Mr.. Hoover
speaks in short, sharp sentences. He
comes to grips with problem direct
ly. And this Federal Bureau of In
vestigation, which he has nurtured
for SO many years. is his very life's
blood.
No-PoIitics Rule
From the outset, when the then
Attorney General Harlan F. Stone,
later to become the Chief Justice of
the United States. offered him the
job as bureau chief, Mr. Hoover was
insistent that it be divorced from
politics. And it has remained so to
themselves on their own merits-not
on the recommendation of some
politician on 1.-The HILL"
Now SO years old, Mr.. Hoover can
look back with intense satisfaction
upon that day in the Coolidge ad-
ministration when he assumed the
post of head of the bureau.
From comparatively few finger
prints of criminals in the old Justice
Department Office at Vermont ave-
nue. and K street NV, Mr.. Hoover
has seen his bureau grow to include
a valuable flngerprint library of 130
million records.
When Mr.. Hoover set about to re-
mold the bureau from top to bottom,
he looked for God-fearlng young
men with high records of academic
and athletic worth, and a capacity
for leadership. These men became
his special agents, and the incom-
petents. the politicos, the do-noth-
ings and the undesirables got the
ak.
Mr.. Hoover was born on Seward
Square Sc. (near Providence Hos
pitaD on January /, 1895. His faith
er was the superintendent of print
ing and engraving in the Coast and
Geodetic Survey "a good enough
Job, but not one to make a man
rich. Consequently, after a public
school education, John Edgar was
unable to study for either the law
or the Presbyterian ministry. BY
the time he was ready for college.
to make matters worse, his father
was seriously i'll, and family finances
were stretched almost to the break
ing point.
Congressional Messenger,
The young Hoover got a job, pay
ing $50 a month, as a messenger at
the Library of Congress. Nights, he
studied at the George Washington
University School of Law and re-
ceived bachelor of laws degree in
1916.
Shortly after his graduation Mr..
Hoover went to the Department of
Justice.
Mr.. Hoover's father died in 1921,
but his mother lived until 1887.
After her death he left the South
east and took up bachelor quarters
in the Rock Creek Park area, where
he now lives.
The FBI director is strictly what
is known as lob man." He lives
for his work and sets a rigid ex-
ample of conduct, on and off duty.
for his agents. Only on social oc-
casions does he drink and he smokes
but rarely. For hobby ne has a
jade collection, by now augmented
with rare pieces brought by friends
from all parts of the world.
On the way up Mr.. Hoover had
many interesting assignments. One
was building the case against Emma
Goldman. the Red Queen" an