9. According to Helen Gandy, Hoover’s personal files were completely innocuous
Helen Gandy was called to testify before congress regarding the personal files held by J. Edgar Hoover at the time of his death, which should certainly serve as no surprise to anyone. The House Committee on Government Oversight called Gandy to testify in 1975 when both Hoover and Clyde Tolson were of course dead. With no doubt several honorable representatives sitting on pins and needles regarding the whereabouts of Hoover’s personal files asking questions, Gandy was calm and appeared to be forthright. Several congressmen, and newsmen covering the testimony, were skeptical of her statements. One member, a freshman congressman who had not held a Washington office in Hoover’s lifetime, informed Gandy that he found her testimony to be “very difficult to believe”. Gandy responded with a statement which was little more than a verbal shrug of her shoulders, her indifference obvious.
According to Gandy, the files which she identified from the mass of documents which had been in Hoover’s outer offices at the time of his death were personal files, not in the sense that they were files which he decided to hold personally since they were so potentially inflammatory, but because they wer of a personal nature. Gandy told the skeptical and often incredulous congressmen that the files she extracted (and marked for shredding and burning) were of documents such as dog licenses (Hoover was a lifelong dog lover), personal letters, receipts, tax items, and other seemingly harmless detritus of a long life. “I know what there was”, she testified. “Letters to and from friends, personal friends, a lot of letters”, she said, with evident certainty that her testimony was unimpeachable.