G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

by Beverly Gage

Warren made this shift of attitude known in a press conference immediately after the meeting. Speaking from outside the commission’s meeting room, Warren said that the FBI’s much-hyped report had arrived in “skeleton form,” raising more questions than it answered. “In order to evaluate it,” he explained, “we have to see the material on which the report was based.” Without contacting Hoover, he announced that the commission would be demanding the “raw” materials from the FBI investigation. And they wanted such materials immediately.[14] Hoover reacted as if he had been punched in the face. “This statement by the Chief Justice I felt was entirely unwarranted and could certainly have been phrased better so as not to leave the impression, at least by innuendo, that the FBI had not done a thorough job,” he complained to colleagues.