Official and Confidential_ The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover - Anthony Summers [220]
Losing patience, Sullivan began covert contacts with Nixon officials who shared his feelings, and especially with Assistant Attorney General Mardian. Mardian, who knew the Director had called him ‘a goddamned Lebanese Jew,’ thought Edgar ‘garrulous, full of wind. Mean, like a mean old dog.’
To hammer home the criticism, Sullivan supplied Mardian with sheaves of Edgar’s internal correspondence. Mardian sent some of it to John Mitchell and filed the rest nervously in a folder marked ‘Jones.’ The belief that sooner or later Edgar would find out about everything had spread beyond the FBI.
At the height of the Pentagon Papers furor, Sullivan shared with Mardian his conviction that Edgar was ‘not of sound mind.’ ‘He told me,’ Mardian recalled, ‘that he had in his possession documents that were “out of channel,” wiretap information. He said Hoover had used such information against previous Presidents and was liable to use these documents to blackmail Nixon. As long as he had those files, Nixon could not relieve him.’
Sullivan was referring to the Bureau copies of Nixon’s taps on government officials and newsmen, now held under tight security in his office. Mardian passed on the blackmail warning, and the President – then in California – took it in deadly earnest. Mardian was ordered to fly to the Western White House at once, by Air Force jet, for consultations. John Ehrlichman’s handwritten notes of the meeting reflect the mood of urgency. ‘OK … Obtain and destroy all logs … Tell Hoover to destroy … Haig request the FBI (Sullivan) to destroy all special coverage.’
In Washington, Sullivan handed over two battered satchels containing the wiretap summaries. Mardian placed them in a locked vault, then waited for further instructions from the White House.
At the FBI, Edgar and Sullivan were at loggerheads. On August 28, after discussions with twenty-two colleagues, Sullivan sent Edgar a long letter laying out their differences. ‘I would like to convince you,’ he wrote, ‘that those of us who disagree with you are trying to help you and not hurt you … This letter will probably anger you. In view of your absolute power you can fire me … or in some other way work out your displeasure with me. So be it …’
Edgar began the ensuing meeting with Sullivan with a harangue. He said he had given the matter ‘a good deal of prayer.’ Then he began to sputter and stammer. When Sullivan advised him to retire, he said he would not. On the contrary, it was Sullivan who had to go. He was told to take leave due to him and apply for retirement.
Not knowing that the Nixon wiretap transcripts had been passed to Mardian, Edgar ordered other aides to look for them in Sullivan’s office while he was at home in New Hampshire. The aides searched every file cabinet and drawer and found nothing. When Sullivan returned, he refused to say what had become of the transcripts. ‘If you want to know more,’ he said curtly, ‘you’ll have to talk to the Attorney General.’
On October 1, pointedly leaving behind only his autographed photograph of the Director, Sullivan left the FBI for good. Mark Felt, who replaced him as Edgar’s key assistant, briefed Edgar on the fruitless hunt for the wiretap records. Uncharacteristically, Edgar was lost for words. Then he shook his head. ‘The greatest mistake I ever made,’ he murmured, ‘was to promote Sullivan.’ He stood there, lost in thought, as Felt slipped quietly from the room.
Months later, when Edgar was dead and when the full significance of the wiretaps emerged – along with so many other Nixonian secrets – Felt wondered about the Director’s silence. ‘It is very strange,’ he mused, ‘that Hoover did not explain the entire situation to me … He knew the whole story.’
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‘Anyone who opposes us, we’ll destroy. As a matter of fact,