j. edgar hoover -- ted kennedy and j. edgar hoover. ted kennedy wanted him to testify in front of a committee, in one memo written by j. edgar hoover calling kennedy a dishonest man who can't be trusted. there are many, many more examples of a schizophrenic relationship. very cordial letters between kennedy and j. edgar hoover because at the same time we know that the fbi is tracking him when he is traveling to central and south america, accusing him of meeting with leftists, of gathering intelligence the same time the fbi director is apparently his best friend. host: how does this process work, the fbi releasing files? does every public official had a file? guest: not every public official necessarily. but many of them do. basically the process worked where the boston globe -- and that understand a lot of other media outlets requested kennedy's file after his death under the freedom of information act. basically over the last six or eight months, the fbi has been reviewing the file, blacking out anything that might impinge on someone's

j. edgar hoover was significantly upset over the idea that america could be so vulnerable and susceptible to damage in this way that the president said, we better move quickly here if at all possible resm solve this issue and signal to the world that we are not weak in this respect. if that's the case and i think it's probably so, i think the president deserves at least the credit for preserving the safety and security of american freedom as a result of moving with december patch and the principle involved there is one, whhther it was abused or not in that setting which ought to be understood by us, that the way in which you deal with individuals will signal and set a standard for and provide either a disincentive to or in some cases perhaps even an invitation to individuals who might think that the way in which things are undertaken for dealing with or otherwise processing these kinds of matters would provide an opportunity to disrupt the freedom of the united states of america. oddly enough, on the commission -- the commission was meeting regarding the innocence or guilt of these indivi

j. edgar hoover was upset over the idea that americans could be so vulnerable and susceptible to damage in this way that the president said, we had better move quickly here if at all possible and signal to the world that we are not week in this respect. i think the president deserves at least the credit for preserving the safety and security of american freedom as a result of moving with dispatch. the principle involved is that the way in which you deal with individuals will signal and set a standard for and provide either a disincentive to or perhaps an invitation to individuals who might think that the way in which things are undertaken for dealing with or otherwise processing these kinds of matters would provide an opportunity to disrupt the freedom of the united states of america. oddly enough, the commission was meeting regarding the innocence or guilt of these individuals whose basic charge was that it operated without uniforms and therefore violated the laws of war. the penalty has been up to and including the death penalty. they were given the death panoply. -- they were given t

j. edgar hoover was upset over the idea that americans could be so susceptible to damage in this way. the president said, "we better move quickly as possible and resolve this issue and signal that we are not week in this respect." if that is the case, i think the president deserves at least the credit for preserving the safety and security of american freedom. the principle involved is that the way in which to deal with individuals will signal and set a standard for and provide either a disincentive to our invitation to individuals who might think that the way they are processing would provide an opportunity to disrupt the freedom of the united states. oddly enough, in the meeting, whose basic charges that they operated without uniforms and violated the laws of war -- the penalty for the violation of the law of war has traditionally been up to and including the death penalty. they were given the death penalty for that. the supreme court that is hearing the case so that these things were on parallel tracks, this is not a sequential operation. this is a multi track. there are times in g