Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
(800) 937-3880
SELL

Lot #8
J. Edgar Hoover

FBI memo on bombings in Miami amidst escalating mob violence in 1951, initialed by J. Edgar Hoover

This lot has closed

Estimate: $500+
Sell a Similar Item?
Share:  

Description

FBI memo on bombings in Miami amidst escalating mob violence in 1951, initialed by J. Edgar Hoover

DS, signed “J.E.H.,” four pages, 8 x 7, December 13, 1951. Official United States Government office memorandum from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to Attorney General J. Howard McGrath, on the subject of "Dynamiting of Jewish Temples, Schools and Centers; Dynamiting of Carver Village, Miami, Florida, Civil Rights." Hoover attaches a two-page resolution adopted by Miami's City Council condemning the attacks as "vicious, inhuman, and un-American," urging the FBI to intervene in the investigation, and asking the state to adopt a permit policy for the purchase of explosives. Also stapled into the packet is a carbon copy of the memo. In fine condition.

Though no connection was ever found between the synagogue bombings and that of Carver Village—a black housing project that suffered three separate attacks between September and December—it was clear that ethnic minorities were being targeted in South Florida, and the FBI suspected Ku Klux Klan involvement. Although thousands of dollars of property damage had been done, there had not yet been any human casualties. The violence peaked on Christmas night—just twelve days after Hoover sent this memo—when a bomb went off at the home of NAACP official Harry T. Moore, killing him and his wife. Their murder was the first assassination of any activist to occur during the Civil Rights Movement. In spite of FBI involvement, no arrests were ever made in the case.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autograph and Artifacts
  • Dates: #600 - Ended January 13, 2021





This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
Buy a third-party letter of authenticity for $35.00

*This item has been pre-certified by a trusted third-party authentication service, and by placing a bid on this item, you agree to accept the opinion of this authentication service. If you wish to have an opinion rendered by a different authenticator of your choosing, you must do so prior to your placing of any bid. RR Auction is not responsible for differing opinions submitted 30 days after the date of the sale.