Nation: Cooling the Controversy

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In view of the Mississippi arrests, criticism directed against FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover by civil rights groups could be expected to subside. Although Hoover had drawn such fire by an intemperate attack upon the Rev. Martin Luther King, he last week agreed to King's suggestion that the two talk over their differences. The 70-minute meeting in Hoover's Washington office seemed to cool the controversy and, reported King, led to "a much clearer understanding on both sides."

Neither man really retreated. King told Hoover that he still thought that, while "the FBI can arrest on the spot in other cases, it seems slower to act in civil rights cases." After the meeting King told newsmen that he still feels that "justice delayed is justice denied— but I'm not going to criticize the past."

For his part, Hoover contended that the FBI is an investigative agency, which often cannot act without Justice Department instructions. He later expanded on that theme in an interview with former Associated Press Correspondent Don Whitehead, author of The FBI Story. "I don't enjoy a controversy, and I don't go looking for one," said Hoover. "But I cannot let attacks on the FBI go unchallenged when they are unjustified." He complained that civil rights groups "want us to be bodyguards and to give personal protection, but that is impossible. Our agents cannot be used as instruments for social reform. They are law-enforcement agents. After all that has been written, so few people know what we legally can do and can't do."

The FBI's job, said Hoover, "is to gather facts when there is an indication that a federal law has been violated. These facts are presented to the Department of Justice and the department decides whether there will be or will not be a prosecution. An FBI agent is not authorized to pass judgment on the guilt or innocence of a person. He can only gather the facts and let the facts speak for themselves. If he were allowed to become an investigator, judge and jury all in one, then we would have no constitutional law enforcement. We would have a police state."

Hoover said he had no plans for imminent retirement, chuckled at speculation that his fuss with King might force his leavetaking. Said he: "I intend to remain active because I just don't like the rocking-chair life."