Clyde Tolson

Clyde Tolson suffered a stroke in 1964 and thereafter his health continued to deteriorate, making him too frail and weak for FBI duty. However, in 1970, despite reaching the mandatory retirement age, Clyde Tolson was kept on the job by the then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

On May 3, 1972, one day after Hoover's death, Tolson instructed Mark Felt, who was the third-ranking official in the Bureau at the time, to write his letter of resignation. He finally resigned from the Bureau on May 4, 1972, the day of Hoover's funeral, citing ill health as the cause of his resignation.

His health further deteriorated after leaving his job, and he had to be admitted to Doctors Community Hospital in Washington, D.C., for renal failure on April 10, 1975. Four days later, on April 14, 1975, he died of heart failure at the age of 74 and was buried in the Congressional Cemetery, near Hoover's grave.

Clyde Anderson Tolson was born on May 22, 1900, in Laredo, Missouri, to James William and Joaquin Miller Anderson Tolson. He had an elder brother, Hillory A. Tolson, who later became the executive director of the White House Historical Association.

He attended Laredo High School, from where he graduated in 1915. He then enrolled into Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Business College, but in 1917, entered Government service as a clerk in the War Department.

While working for the government, he took night classes at George Washington University to further his formal education. After completing his graduation in 1925, he studied law there and earned his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1927. While there, he was a member of the Delta Pi Chapter of Sigma Nu.

Clyde Tolson served as the confidential secretary to three Secretaries of War — Newton D. Baker, John W. Weeks, and Dwight F. Davis — between 1919 and 1928. In 1928, he reportedly applied for the FBI to use his position as a stepping stone toward a private law practice in Cedar Rapids, and was hired as a Special Agent within a month.

After working at FBI field offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., he was promoted to chief FBI clerk. According to his biographical sketch in Who's Who in America, he was appointed assistant director in 1930.

In 1936, he helped FBI director J. Edgar Hoover in arresting gangster and bank robber Alvin Karpis. Later that year, he was involved in a gunfight with gangster Harry Brunette, which he survived.

He was part of the FBI team that captured Nazi saboteurs on Long Island and Florida in 1942. He became the FBI Associate Director in 1947 and performed duties in budget and administration.

Soon after Hoover's death on May 2, 1972, he served as the acting head of the FBI for brief period of time. He was relieved from the post the following day after L. Patrick Gray took over responsibilities as the acting director.

Throughout his career, Clyde Tolson was primarily responsible for personnel and discipline. He was lauded for his contributions “in raising the proficiency of law enforcement at all levels and in guiding the Federal Bureau of Investigation to new heights of accomplishment through periods of great National challenge”.