White House press secretary James Hagerty said today that President Eisenhower received a second report from FBI director J. Edgar Hoover on the bombing of the Atlanta Jewish temple. Mr. Hagerty told newsmen he could not disclose the contents of the report.
“The President is not only deeply concerned about it, but he wants these reports from the FBI to him continued, “Mr. Hagerty said of the bombing. According to Mr. Hagerty, the President wished to determine what FBI assistance might be possible in the investigation but that this in no way indicated the Justice Department was about to take over jurisdiction in the case. The FBI’s role, it was said, continued to be one of “offering assistance.”
A spokesman for the Justice Department pointed out that the legal restrictions under which the FBI operated remain in force. Attorney General William Rogers has previously stressed that the synagogue bombings were a matter for local authorities and not legally within the jurisdiction of Federal prosecution.
Justice Department sources said there had been no basic change in the FBI’s function as a result of the President’s request to Mr. Hoover. But there was no doubt that within the framework of its operation presently designated by Justice Department interpretation the FBI was doing everything possible.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
