Free J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets by Curt Gentry

Mohr’s memo until after his return.
    Mohr also stated, “I have absolutely no knowledge of any files taken to Mr. Tolson’s residence and according to my conversation with Miss Gandy this allegation is absolutely false.”
    Here again the pair had their semantic differences: to Gray, like most people, the word “file” was a general catchall term, meaning a bunch of documents in a folder; to FBI personnel it meant something quite specific, a grouping of materials linked by classification, case, and serial numbers, usually bound in one or more volumes, as were most of the General Files.
    But much, much more important, except for this denial, there was no other indication in Mohr’s memo that anything had been taken to Tolson’s residence.
    Considering the inordinate amount of interest Gray had shown in Hoover’s secret files even before he was named acting director, it was one hell of a bluff, even for an old poker player like John Mohr. To call him, Gray need only have sent a couple of men he trusted to Tolson’s residence to check out the report.
    But Mohr also had at least two aces in the hole. One, nowhere in his memo had he actually lied; he’d simply not told the whole truth. And, two, the men from the Exhibits Section who’d packed the boxes for Miss Gandy, as well as the truck drivers and their helpers who’d hauled them, worked under him.
    Still, Mohr’s self-confidence was awesome. He concluded his memo, “As an added thought, I want you to know that as far as I am personally concerned, there was no bitterness in my heart when you were appointed Acting Director of the FBI. Before your appointment, and I realize that this may sound like sour grapes, I had said on numerous occasions that I had no aspirations for the position of Director of the FBI. That still goes.” 10
    Gray read Mohr’s memo on his return to Washington on the thirteenth. He responded by returning it with a handwritten notation on the lower left-hand corner. For emphasis he underlined it and added an exclamation point:
    “ I believe you! ” 11
    Apparently during his long hitch in the Navy, L. Patrick Gray III had never learned to play poker. Or maybe he wasn’t aware that he was playing a game.
    The anonymous letter, lab report, and memos were filed and—for a time—forgotten. *
    Less than three weeks after J. Edgar Hoover’s death, John Mohr obtained Clyde Tolson’s power of attorney. As a result, he spent considerable time at 4936 Thirtieth Place NW, helping Tolson manage the details of Hoover’s estate and handling such matters as assisting Tolson in revising his own will. During this period—which lasted until July 17, when the Washington field office made its last pickup of those materials which were to be shredded—Helen Gandy continued her work in the basement, on at least one occasion, and probably others, consulting with Tolson and Mohr as to the disposition of particular files.
    Sometime during this period a neighbor noticed Crawford helping John Mohr load some boxes in his car. Questioned about the incident in a legal deposition some time later, Mohr identified the boxes and their contents as four cases of “spoiled wine,” which he said he’d moved to his own home. Unfortunately no one thought to ask him why, if the wine was spoiled, he’d decided to save it.
    Hoover’s neighbors were not the snoopy kind. But over the years they’d learned to keep their eyes open (who knew when you’d see a president slipping in and out of the director’s home?), and one day some weeks after Hoover’s death, a neighbor, who knew his way around Langley, noticed an unfamiliar station wagon in the alley behind 4936. At first he couldn’t get a good look at its driver, who was hunched over, loading boxes in the back, but when he straightened up he saw he was tall, middle-aged, and cadaverously thin, had thick glasses, and, even though it was a warm day for such work, was wearing a rather formal-looking black suit. He also