1953 FBI Photo Shoot

1953 FBI Photo Shoot. My mom, in front, was a young woman of 19 living in Washington, D.C. having been recruited out of airline school to work for the FBI. My mom was not only an amazing typist, she was also very, very smart. When tested for placement in a secretarial pool, she tested so high she was assigned to J. Edgar Hoover's office -- the Director of the FBI. The room in the picture is the Teletype room, which was located directly across from J. Edgar's office. My mom frequently worked out of this room, but this particular picture is from a photo shoot for FBI purposes. The women who worked in this room were highly skilled, highly intelligent, and held higher than average security clearance. Their job was to monitor conversations, interpret what was being said, and determine what needed to be delivered immediately to J. Edgar. My mom shared that those that worked most closely to J. Edgar, like my mom and other women in this picture, always called him J. Edgar. He did not like them to call him Mr. Hoover or Director Hoover. To them, he was J. Edgar.