Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-11-28
THE STORY OF THE FBI
Blocking Of 1914 Plan
For NKVD Office Bored
By REX COLLIER

HOW Fbl Director j. Edgar
Hoover blocked an OSS plan to
permit the Soviet secret police
to establish an Office in Wash
ington during World War II is
one Of the disclosures made by
Don Whitehead, Pulitzer Prize
winning reporter, in his STORY
of the FBI." released today.
The book, with an authenti-
eating foreword by Mr.. Hoover,
was published by Random House,
New York, N. Y. 1t will be serial
lied, in condensed form, in The
Star, beginning January Z.
According to the author, the
FBI chief was tipped of early in
1914 that arrangements were
being made by the Office Of
Strategic Services with Soviet
Foreign Minister Molotov for
IAN exchange Of missions be-
tween the NKVD and the OSS.
This was being done without
prior clearance by the White
House, Secretary Hull or the
Joint Chiefs of Staff. "Presum-
ably" the book says, leach
agency would act only in a liai-
son capacity in the interchange
Of intelligence. But Hoover knew
that each country which had
tried such cooperation with the
Russians had found itself in
trouble trying to curb the
NKVD's efforts at espionage.
Whole Plan Killed
Mr.. Whitehead reports that
when Director Hoover learned
of the plan he sent a special
message Of protest to Harry
Hopkins, presidential aide, term
ing the proposal highly danger
Gus" and "a serious threat to
internal security" And in a
similar protest to Attorney Gen.
eral Biddle the Director asserted
that agents of the NKVD even
then were trying surreptiously
to obtain Army secrets-which
included the atomic bomb. The
Hoover protests prompted the
White House to kill the whole
plan.
This hitherto unpublished in
cident is one of many included
in Mr.. Whitehead's fascinating,
authoritative account of the
growth, tribulations and tri-
umphs of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. 1t is the sort of
book about the FBI and its
famous chief that long has been
needed-a detailed, historical
narrative written effectively by
q competent reporter.
In q large sense. as Mr.. White
head has brought out, the story
Of the FBI as we know it today
is the story of its astute,
energetic Director Southeast
Washington boy who made good
In a big way. Mr.. Hoover is |
q phenomenon among bureau
chiefs. Administrations may
come and go but the FBI chief |
goes on and on, iinnoHed BY
politics or politicians, intent only |
on doing, earnestly and honestly, |
the job first assigned him in
1925 by Harlan Fiske Stone, then
Attorney General but later a |
Justice Of the Supreme Court.
The book, after recounting the
turbulent and often shameful
pre-Hoover days of the Justice
Departments old Bureau of In
vestigation, tells how Mr.. Stone
gave the 29-year-old legal assist
ant the tough job Of cleaning up
the bureau and restoring public /
confidence in it. With young
Hoover's entry, politics went out 7
the window-along with a hordeI
Of incompetent agents, some of
whom had criminal records.
National Police Opposed.
The bureaus growth in size,
responsibility and prestige was
not accomplished overnight. But
as Mr.. Hoover's "college-boy"
special agents began to attract (
public attention with their in
vestigatiye achievements, they
gained the respect of law-abid-
ing citizens and began to be
feared in underworld circles. In
evitably. the President and Con-
gress placed more and heavier
burdens on the growing agency. |
Mr.. Whitehead found it espe-
ctally noteworthy that, with all
the added trust and new acclaim
which came to the FBI, Mr..
Hoover at all times rejected the
idea Of building a great national
police force. Such proposals ac-
tually were made in some Gov |
eminent quarters, the book re-
lates. but the FBI head squelched
them as smacking of police state
m thods. Opportunities were
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