Unsung partner against crime: Harry J. Anslinger and the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 1930-1962.
Harry J. Anslinger and the Federal Bureau of Narcoticsy 1930-1962 IF A CROSS-SECTION of American people were surveyed to determine the federal law enforcement personality with whom they most frequently identified, a large majority of them likely would name J. Edgar Hoover. This determination would not be without justification. Involved in law enforcement since 1917 and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1924 until his death in 1972, Hoover claimed the title of the nation's top crimefighter. Although his fifty-year tenure as Director of the FBI has never been equalled. Hoover was not the only head of a federal law enforcement agency, nor was the FBI the only "domestic" agency operating on that level. The Internal Revenue Service maintains an intelligence division whose meticulous investigations have resulted in nabbing many "white-collar" criminals; the Secret Service often comes in contact with organized crime in its enforcement of counterfeiting laws; and U.S. Customs agents uncover literally tons of illicit drugs through their searches and seizures at border patrol points. Another law enforcement agency that has not received the media attention comparable to that of the FBI, yet maintained a comparable record of arrests with less than half the staff and operating budget of the FBI, was the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN). Its first commissioner, Harry J. Anslinger, a native Pennsylvanian, might not have been as flamboyant or dynamic as Hoover, but Anslinger was certainly more than the one-dimensional "drug buster" his critics have alleged. An examination of his career reveals an administrator of an agency of extraordinary versatility involved in apprehending international criminals, infiltrating drug-smuggling rings, and participating in various clandestine operations.