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Director
Hoover greets Jackson Police Department Chief W.D.
Rayfield (left) and Jackson
Mayor Allen C. Thompson (right) in the
newly opened Jackson FBI Field Office on July 10, 1964
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Federal Bureau of Investigation
A Byte Out of
History: 50th Anniversary of the FBI’s Jackson Field Office
07/15/14
Fifty years ago this summer, Mississippi was at the front and center of
our country’s civil rights struggles, with cases such as the June 21,
1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers becoming issues of
national concern. Less than two weeks later—and in response to that
tragic event—the FBI opened its Jackson Field Office.
On June 10, 2014, FBI employees joined state officials, law enforcement
partners, and civil rights era figures, including Myrlie
Evers-Williams—widow of civil rights leader Medgar Evers, who was slain
in Mississippi in 1963—in celebrating the 50th anniversary of our
Jackson Division and the vital role the office has played since then in
the Bureau’s civil rights program.
Evers-Williams noted the long evolution of the fights and passions that
led to the opening of the Jackson Field Office and the scars that those
directly involved bore. “We saw the FBI only as an institution set to
keep people of color down,” she said. “One that was not a friend, but
one that was a foe. And I stand before you today saying that I am proud
to say I see the FBI as playing the role they did, and finally in my
mind, and my heart reaching the point where I can say, friend.”
This turning of foe to friend was set in motion 50 years ago under
unique circumstances. Usually when an FBI field office is opened, the
Bureau spends a significant amount of time analyzing the caseloads of
nearby offices, comparing the geographic distribution of those cases,
and evaluating where the most efficient place would be to put a new
office.
Taped 1964 conversation between President Lyndon B. Johnson and J.
Edgar Hoover regarding the increased presence of the FBI in Jackson,
Mississippi.
The violence in Mississippi, though, demanded an immediate and strong
response. In late June, an aide to President Lyndon Johnson called the
FBI’s White House liaison, Assistant Director “Deke” DeLoach, and told
him that the president wanted the FBI’s presence in Mississippi greatly
increased. The president himself was telling FBI Director J. Edgar
Hoover the same thing as Hoover reported in regularly on the case of
the missing civil rights workers. On June 29, 1964, Hoover reported to
Johnson, “I am opening a main office at Jackson, Mississippi ... [but]
it won’t be able to be effective for three or four days.”
Memphis SAC Karl Dissly
Memphis SAC Karl Dissly was charged with finding suitable space for the
new Jackson Division.
FBI Memphis Special Agent in Charge Karl Dissly—at that time
responsible for investigations in the northern part of Mississippi—was
sent to Jackson to hunt for office space, but he faced some challenges.
The Bureau needed suitable space, and quickly. And local prejudices
meant that it might be hard to find a landlord willing to rent to an
integrated agency—the FBI employed not only African-American support
staff but also agents.
But these problems were worked out, and on July 10, 1964, Hoover
arrived in Mississippi for the office’s dedication. When speaking of
the reasons for the office, Hoover said he knew that there were “strong
feeling we were coming in to take over” and he wanted to allay those
fears, explaining that the FBI would keep within bounds of the law and
its mandate.
The creation of the Jackson Field Office, recognized last week, was a
product of need, tragedy, politics, and especially passion—passion to
oppose the violence and cruelty encouraged by the Jim Crow laws.
”Liberty and justice for all,” said FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano,
who also spoke at last week’s ceremony, “that is what Jackson office
stands for. It is what the FBI stands for.”
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