Chương 134: The Bureau of Investigation's Gaze

Washington, D. C.

Inside the Department of Justice building, Edgar Hoover sat behind his desk.

At this time, he was still the director of the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) and had not yet been ordered to establish the later Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Bureau of Investigation was established in 1908 as a small investigative agency under the Department of Justice, responsible for investigating interstate crimes and cases involving federal law.

Under Edgar Hoover's leadership, the Bureau of Investigation's size and authority expanded year by year, but it was still quite a distance from becoming the omnipotent FBI it would later become.

Edgar Hoover himself is 35 years old and has been the director of the Bureau of Investigation for six years.

In the very center of the desk lay a copy of the New York Herald, which had just been delivered by express mail.

The front-page headline was Arthur Kennedy's "Sixteen Tons".

A senior agent stood ramrod straight in front of the desk, holding a report stamped with "Confidential".

The agent reported: "Sir, the local court and police department in Scranton submitted a briefing on the incident half an hour ago."

"Yesterday morning, Pinkerton security personnel employed by First National Bank went to carry out a legal asset seizure and eviction order."

"Arthur Kennedy deliberately rammed two security company trucks while driving a heavily illegally modified Ford pickup truck and fired a. 45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, obstructing the performance of official duties in an extremely violent manner."

Edgar Hoover did not respond immediately.

He extended his short, stubby fingers and tapped twice on the headline "Sixteen Tons" in the newspaper.

"He's not just violently resisting law enforcement. The social harm of this article is a thousand times greater than simply crashing into two beat-up trucks. Have you even read it carefully?"

He stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in his office, and looked at the gloomy sky over Washington.

"He's inciting the working class across America to question the legitimate debt system. He's portraying legitimate commercial banks and energy companies as bloodsuckers draining the poor. And what's with this talk of 'souls being mortgaged to corporations and stores'?"

"This is a standard, extremely vile left-wing incitement tactic. He is trying to plant seeds of hatred for the government and capital in the minds of unemployed miners and bankrupt farmers."

"If we don't intervene, this article will trigger a series of strikes and riots across the East Coast."

The agent stepped forward and asked, "Do we need to apply for an arrest warrant from a federal judge immediately? On charges of disrupting interstate business or illegal possession of weapons, we can immediately send a special operations team to Pennsylvania to bring him back to Washington for a full interrogation."

Edgar Hoover immediately raised his hand to stop the suggestion.

"Absolutely not. Use your brain."

He turned around and stared at the agent.

"Arthur Kennedy has just single-handedly brought down Jimmy Walker in New York and partially crippled the Tammany Society. He is now the most prominent and prestigious editor on the East Coast, a darling of those self-proclaimed impartial intellectuals."

"The New York newspapers called him the man who killed a giant with his pen," LaGuardia publicly stated that he was the conscience of New York.

"If our Bureau of Investigation were to go across state lines to arrest a prominent journalist at this time, the liberal members of Congress would pounce like sharks smelling blood."

"They will accuse us of establishing a secret police politics and compare us to the Bureau of Investigation agents who abused their power in previous years."

If they raise questions at the budget hearings, they could even cut our entire budget for next year.

Edgar Hoover paced back and forth in his office.

His animosity toward left-wing thought, his thirst for power, and his instinctive wariness of anyone who might threaten the existing order made him exceptionally cautious in this matter.

"We can't let him become a martyr for press freedom. That's exactly what some people want. They want us to take action, they want us to put Arthur Kennedy in court, and they want us to continue promoting that leftist ideology in court."

"Once he's arrested, those who were still hesitant will immediately side with him, and the newspapers that were still observing will start criticizing us. Then we'll have lost."

He stopped, a glint of light flashing in his eyes.

"The best weapon against such arrogant agitators who spout nonsense in the newspapers is not handcuffs, but cutting off their lifeline."

The agent watched him, waiting for him to continue.

Edgar Hoover ordered, "Go, immediately contact those acquaintances in the Treasury," to those we've worked with before, and tell them we need their help.

The agent took out his notebook.

"Have them make an informal call to executives at several major commercial banks in New York, particularly Chase National Bank and Citibank, under the guise of an internal risk alert."

"Tell them that the Bureau of Investigation and the Treasury Department are closely monitoring Arthur Kennedy's accounts and suspect that his funds are involved in the illegal interstate transfers of money to radical riot groups."

He paused to make sure the agent had written down every word.

The document requires banks to immediately initiate the highest level of internal review procedures to "mitigate potential federal compliance risks."

"Until the investigation is complete, suspend all interstate cash withdrawals and transfers from all his personal accounts, checking accounts, and associated business settlement accounts. Remember, do not keep any written records or evidence."

"I want to make this comprehensive financial blockade look like a spontaneous business risk control measure taken by Wall Street banks to protect themselves."

"I want him to be carrying a thick book of dollar checks, unable to buy even a gallon of gasoline or a moldy loaf of bread in the freezing cold of Pennsylvania."

"I want him to look into the eyes of those poor people and be forced to admit that he can't afford a single penny and is a hypocrite. I want him to kneel before reality and watch the poor people he claims he's trying to save starve to death."

The agent closed his notebook and asked, "Sir, what if anyone asks about this later—" Edgar Hoover smiled dismissively.

"Nobody's going to ask. The bank won't admit to receiving the call, and the FBI has no documents. Even if someone investigates, they'll only find the risk control procedures the bank itself initiated. It's not illegal."

He waved his hand, indicating that the agents could leave.

The agent saluted and turned to leave the office.

Edgar Hoover sat back down at his desk, picked up the newspaper, and read "Sixteen Tons" again.

Then he folded the newspaper and threw it into the wastepaper basket next to his desk.

An overconfident young man.

Edgar Hoover thought to himself.

>