While Hoover’s poison-pen correspondence was almost surely enough to scuttle Wisner by itself, his deviousness didn’t end there; by getting Smith to agree to secrecy, Hoover both concealed his role as dagger-wielder and denied Wisner any chance to defend himself. It was essentially a variation of the FBI-administered loyalty board investigations in which the accused were denied the right to face their accusers—and just as effective.
