May 8, 1964 - President Johnson cleared the way today for J. Edgar Hoover to remain as director of the FBI. Hoover will reach the compulsory retirement age, 70, on Jan. 1.
Minutes before meeting with Hoover in the White House Rose Garden this afternoon, Johnson signed an executive order exempting him from the Federal retirement law for “an indefinite period of time.” Johnson said he signed the order because the nation needed Hoover.
“I know you wouldn’t think of breaking the law,” the President told Hoover, who stood ramrod straight beside him.
The brief ceremony, attended by a few Congressional leaders, was held shortly after Johnson returned from a two-day tour of poverty areas in Appalachia.
The President described Hoover as a “household word, a hero to millions of citizens, and an anathema to evil men.”
Although Hoover did not say he would remain on the job after Jan. 1, he is expected to stay. He has been director of the FBI since May 10, 1924 — for 40 years as of next Sunday.
He has served under nine Presidents, from Calvin Coolidge to Lyndon Johnson, and has built up what some regard as the greatest criminal investigative body in the world.
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