2. The difference between personal papers and official files became a point of contention with Congress
Between May 2 and May 12, 1972, Helen Gandy worked on the personal files collected by J. Edgar Hoover, while at the same time she and other FBI officials took steps to preserve what they considered official files. The distinction became important because of Hoover’s longstanding edict to destroy his personal papers upon his death, an instruction confirmed by Gandy, Gray, Tolson, and Felt. By May 12, Gandy was confident that all of the files of a personal nature had been removed from the complex of rooms which comprised Hoover’s office and those of his closest aides. They were taken to a recreation room in Hoover’s home, where Gandy continued to review each document in Hoover’s personal files to ensure that the destruction, as the late director had mandated, did not lead to the inadvertent (and illegal) destruction of official FBI documents, many of which were explosive in nature themselves. The world soon learned the extent by which the FBI had monitored the likes of John Lennon, Johnny Carson, Bob Keeshan (television’s Captain Kangaroo), and Lucy and Desi, to name just a very few.
The personal files, which were designated as such first by Helen Gandy, were confirmed as being personal by John Mohr, the number three man in the FBI under Hoover, who reported directly to Gray. Gray meanwhile informed the public, via the press, that the long-rumored secret files held by the late director were non-existent, and that the only files removed from his (Hoover’s) office had been official files. Hoover’s personal files meanwhile were sorted, then transferred back to FBI Headquarters, by official vehicles driven by agents, for destruction. The files were burned after being shredded. Though Congress later voiced considerable suspicion over the fate of the files, as well as their content and whether they were official or personal, Gandy never wavered from her assertion that she had only destroyed files which were of a personal nature, collected by Hoover, and in no way associated with FBI policy or procedures.