Supposidly, Bobby Kennedy, when he became Attorney General, wanted to get rid of Hoover and discussed this with his brother, the President. After a face to face meeting between Hoover and Kennedy, that idea faded away immediately.
They crucified Hoover after his death, but no one had the balls to mess with him when he was alive.
It tells you a lot about Hoover, but it is also telling us about a lot of people he had something on.
So what do the police do with surveillance information?
Speaking about juicy gossip, Ann Coulter’s book, Demonic contains some interesting tidbits, such as the fact that Bill Ayres is only 5’4” tall and has been known to enjoy anal sex with men.
I have some amusing stories he told us in the year before he passed if anyone is interested. He told us about how and why MLK, Jr was bugged, what Black Bag squads do, and how Mr. Hoover got back at Robert Kennedy (and his dumb dog too I heard - Hoover hated that Bobby kept his German with him at the office) and how the rumour that he wore women's clothing was started. I've never shared the stories before because all I have is my word on what he said, and if anyone says “uh uh, that couldn't have happened,” I have no way to prove any thing.
Nothing he told us is classified any longer. He maintained confidentiality protocol to the end.
There is something wrong about one man having so much power.
On the other hand, perhaps he functioned as an "apex predator" and kept more damaging figures, such as communist spies or organized crime, from monopolizing the blackmail business. Perhaps he also kept congressmen themselves from using dirty tactics, so the actual business of the country could be addressed better.
I can think of worse people than Hoover to have had such power.
The pretense of many Hoover critiics is that his blackmail-friendly system was uniquely worthy of condemnation, and that this kind of blackmail doesn't go on today. I doubt that.
One elderly friend's father was a well-connected "Tea Party"-type activist in the Midwest in the 1930s. She told me she once overheard him speaking with his friend, a U.S. Senator I believe to be Michigan's Arthur H. Vandenberg.
Her father asked the senator how FDR got away with his foreign policy. The senator explained that FDR convened a gathering of senators and then "brought in the girls." The senator said he left because he was offended and did not want to betray his wife, and because of that he could vote his conscience.
The story starts with George Zeiss, the only agent to never go through FBI training.
It seems that Zeiss, who was nicknamed Pachyderm due to his size, was a devoted assistant to Hoover, a sort of ‘go-pher’ guy or jack of all trades. Also an incredible expert with self-defense and guns, but that came later.
Zeiss contracted an illness, FIL never explained what it was, and Hoover visited him on his what was expected to be his deathbed. Apparently Hoover showed incredible kindness and tenderness to a man who was dying and asked him if there was anything he could do for George. George told him that he regretted that he had never gone to law school and could never be an agent and told Hoover that his true regret was not being able to serve Hoover as an agent. His heart moved, Hoover took a badge from a pocket and pinned it on George's pillow and said “Son, you are now a full agent of the FBI.”
Then the son-of-a-bitch lived....as the other agents would tell the story with much laughter.
So now, George, an agent who was the only one never allowed to carry a weapon because of his lack of training, but he was still very useful in self-defense, so Hoover placed him in charge of the Quantico gun range/hand combat/self defense training and he literally trained thousands of agents. But since he could not carry his own weapon, Zeiss had to borrow one from an agent for demonstrations of gun shooting trickery. Zeiss’s specialty was shooting at a target with his back to it using a diamond ring from the audience to aim. (Demonstrations were given to the families of graduating agents)
To say that George was devoted to Hoover would be an understatement. He would do anything Hoover asked.
So, onto Bobby Kennedy...
When he was AG, his office was in the FBI building and he made a point of coming to work pretty much every day with his German Shepard and keeping the dog with him throughout the day, which Hoover HATED, but he had no power to tell him not to. Also, Kennedy liked to work out during the day, and the most convenient gym was the FBI gym, which was open only to agents. Hoover got wind of his visiting the gym and decided to step in.
He asked George to stand at the door and request to see the FBI credentials of anyone who wanted to enter. The agents would approach the door guarded by Pachyderm, show their credentials and go on in.
Then came Bobby strutting down the hall with his dog. He approached the door and politely asked George to step aside. George just as politely asked for his credentials. Bobby told him to move aside, George repeated his request. Bobby stood there for a moment, then raised his voice with the question “DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?” to which George replied, “I know that you are not someone with FBI credentials sir and I'm not allowed to let anyone enter who does not possess credentials.” He then moved slightly to the middle of the door with his arms crossed and stared down the AG of the US.
Bobby sputtered and fumed down the hall vowing revenge on George, Hoover, and anyone else who dared to tell him no. George went into the gym to a chorus of cheers and was treated to a few rounds of beers later that week
George remained at the door for a few more weeks, but Bobby never tried to enter again, after all, he wasn't an FBI agent and didn't have credentials.
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This is almost word for word the story my FIL told us, more than once. I have more George Zeiss stories too, as my FIL was an agent at Quantico and worked as a fire-arms instructor during part of his time there.
There are a few pics out there of George demonstrating self-defense moves, I think LIFE did an article on him.
Hope you like the story, it's one of my favorites.