National Affairs: The Letters of Lakin

In the crowd of spectators at last week's Senate Lobby Committee hearings sat one inconspicuous man intently following every word of testimony, taking many a note. No professional newsgatherer, he was reporting the investigation for a special client. Inmmediately after each day's hearings a comprehensive report of what had transpired swiftly found its way into the White House and upon the President's desk.

What accounted for President Hoover's particular interest in this Congressional investigation was the manner in which his name had been bandied about by the Cuban Sugar Lobby, directed by Herbert...