Book Review: 3 Treasure Boxes
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc., Listening Length: 16 hours and 3o minutes (440 pages), ASIN: B0000545GP
Deke DeLoach gives a thorough account of his experience working for J. Edgar Hoover. Deke was Hoover’s number three man and he gives his version of life with Hoover. He includes all of the big cases the FBI was involved in during this time and gives his inside view on some of the more controversial aspects of life with Hoover.
Cartha DeLoach, known also as Deke, was the deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and the third most senior official in charge of the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover. “Hoover’s FBI: The Inside Story”, is a memoir of Deke’s experiences working under Hoover for nearly 29 years.
Deke starts out telling us about the mandate of the FBI, which sets the ground work for the balance of the story. He also describes in detail, specific aspects about Hoover. I thought it was interesting to learn about Hoover’s style and how he dealt with people. Deke also addresses Hoover’s sexual orientation, cross-dressing, the secret files, and how Hoover managed to stay on as director until the day he died. The story did not flow in a chronological order, instead it bounced around covering all the main historical events, including the assassination of J.F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, as well as the subsequent chase for the culprits. Some of the other items Deke talks about include: communist spies, working with President Lyndon Johnson, civil rights violations, McCarthy, COINTELPRO and the gruesome kidnapping of Barbara Mackle. All of the stories were captivating and fascinating.
I felt the story was well told, and it seemed to be well supported as well as believable. I recommend this book as a very good read. It is an interesting view of a controversial man and it sheds light on a misunderstood organization.
Favourite Quote:
The FBI is an investigative not an operational agency. We are not a national police force.
We do not do crowd control, we are not available for guard duty, we do not make decisions to prosecute nor in most cases to arrest. In fact we make few arrests compared to our volume of investigations. We are investigators.