Prurient Interest

The FBI's Sexual Surveillance of Martin Luther King Jr. and John F. Kennedy

Inga Arvad: I’m going to say “Now look here, Edgar J. [sic], I don’t like everybody listening in on my phone.” You know that somebody is always listening in on this phone.

John F. Kennedy: How do you know?

-FBI wiretap transcript, March 6, 1942

“The boss and I want you to check Senator Kennedy’s files. Handle it personally,” Clyde Tolson, Associate Director of the FBI, instructed his subordinate Deke DeLoach over the phone. John F. Kennedy, then a U.S. Senator in 1956, was being considered as a potential vice-presidential nominee in the upcoming presidential election. When DeLoach reported back what he had found, Tolson was incredulous: “Deke, you’ve got the wrong Kennedy. That must be the older brother you’re talking about,” referring to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., who had died in 1944 during World War II. “No, I’ve got the right one,” DeLoach insisted. “Check again,” Tolson demanded, hanging up the phone. DeLoach could understand their reticence in accepting the facts: “Hoover was a close friend of Ambassador Kennedy and probably did not want to be responsible for a report that would damage the political career of old Joe’s promising son,” DeLoach later wrote. “When I called back to report there had been no mistake, he was shocked.”

In 1960, when Kennedy ran for President, the same scenario played out again, this time Hoover personally directing DeLoach to review Kennedy’s FBI files. DeLoach spoke to Hoover the next day: “I told him Jack had quite a relationship with Inga Arvad and other sexual escapades. And that, frankly, while he was somewhat of a bright individual, he had a very immoral background.” Despite the FBI having bugged Kennedy in the 1940s and DeLoach’s review four years prior, Hoover was adamant DeLoach had the wrong man in mind: “That is not right. You have misinterpreted the files. You’re talking about the older brother of John F. Kennedy. Go back and recheck those files.” Once Hoover called back again to check on this re-review, he was told by DeLoach: “I am not wrong. This is the man who is a candidate for the presidency.”

1941

Born in 1913 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Inga Arvad was an artful writer but it was her beauty that convinced Arthur Krock, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times, to help her find a job in the United States. The blond, blue-eyed Dane had approached Krock looking for work as a journalist in DC after completing a one-year course at the Columbia School of Journalism. Krock agreed to assist her since he “was so stupefied by the beauty of this creature,” he admitted.

Once her qualifications were passed to Cissy Patterson, the editor of the Washington Times-Herald was sufficiently impressed with Arvad’s experience writing for the European press that she was hired as a columnist. She quickly befriended other writers at the paper, including Page Huidekoper and JFK’s sister Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy. Associate editor Frank Waldrop noted that Arvad’s strength was in writing about personalities, rather than in being an “analytical writer....we had a little feature at that time called, ‘Did You Happen To See...?’...I’d send her to talk to somebody and she’d come back and she had a neat little style of doing that interview column...she did the job, she was nice-looking, and she and Page were all whooping it up in Georgetown together.” Huidekoper had been looking for a roommate and Krock suggested Arvad; Huidekoper also found her “very, very attractive...she came to stay with me until she found a place of her own.” Huidekoper had worked at the U.S. Embassy in London for Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and had become friendly with his daughter Kick and sons Joe Jr. and John, known to them as Jack. Kick introduced Arvad to Jack, whom the Dane found to possess “a charm that makes birds come out of their trees.”

Then an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve, JFK the previous year had published a modified version of his thesis from Harvard College as a book, entitled Why England Slept. Patterson suggested to Arvad that she interview the young Kennedy, which she did, extolling what she viewed as his virtues: “Jack hates only one subject—himself. He is the best listener I have come across between Haparanda and Yokohama. Elder men like to hear his views, which are sound and astonishingly objective for so young a man.” The two began a personal relationship that would later become an intense focus of the FBI.

In the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor, rumors began circulating that Arvad was a Nazi spy. In what she described as her “first mistake,” she agreed to walk down with her accuser to the local FBI field office, setting off an investigation into her and all of her known associates. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was informed immediately of the following facts of the situation:

On the afternoon of December 12, 1941, Mr. Frank Waldrop, editor of the Washington Times Herald called at this office with Miss P. Huidekoper, a reporter of that paper, and Inga Arvad, columnist for the Times Herald...Briefly, Miss Huidekoper several days ago stated to Miss Kathleen Kennedy, a reporter on the Times Herald and the daughter of former Ambassador Kennedy, that she would not be surprised if Inga Arvad was a spy for some foreign power. She remarked to Miss Kennedy that one of her friends had been going through some old Berlin newspapers and had noted a picture of Inga Arvad taken with Hitler at the Olympic games in Berlin...Miss Kennedy, a very close friend of Inga Arvad, told her of Miss Huidekoper’s statement.

Miss Arvad then contacted Mrs. Patterson and complained about such rumors. Mrs. Patteron was quite worried about this matter, stating to Miss Arvad that it might reflect unfavorably upon the Times Herald, an isolationist paper, if it became known that they had been employing a person suspected of being a spy; however, Mrs. Patterson professed to have complete faith in Miss Arvad and instructed Mr. Waldrop to take both of the young women to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, so that a complete report might be made.

Waldrop claimed the “friend” who had found the picture of Arvad and Hitler had a job in the paper’s purchasing department, which did not involve going through newspaper clippings. Instead, Waldrop claimed, the purchaser found out this information because he was secretly working for the FBI. Waldrop recalled “he was this agent...as I learned after the war when I got the files. God damn it, see how clever they were! I give Hoover full credit. They planted this thing...to start an embarrassment, harassment, what have you.”

Arvad was already familiar with the FBI’s methods regarding accused spies, which included burglaries of residences and telephone tapping. Afraid that this would would happen to her, she told the FBI she was “enraged” at the allegation of her former roommate: “Arvad states that she detests the German people and their form of government and, if necessary, will bring suit against Miss Huidekoper to clear her name.” Her original articles on Nazi Germany told a different story. Through illegally burglarizing her apartment, the FBI found several newspaper pieces written about her meetings with Joseph Goebbels, Hermann Göring, and Adolf Hitler.

1935

While Arvad was visiting Germany as part of her writing career, Goebbels phoned and told her to visit the Reich Chancellery immediately. Upon arrival, she was ushered into a long room, in which Hitler was sitting at the opposite end. She raised her arm: “Heil Hitler,” she said. Hitler appeared to be baffled and did not respond. She repeated herself and he seemed to be embarrassed. He offered a chair for her to sit in and sat on the edge of one himself. “What happened to Dr. Goebbels?” Hitler asked. Arvad later learned that “Hitler never received anyone alone and the person by whom one has been introduced always accompanies the guest.”

Arvad’s mind was racing with “a million questions” but “not a single intelligent one crossed my mind.” Hitler asked Arvad about her impressions of Germany and eventually the two relaxed and reclined in their chairs. “He became exceedingly human, very kind, very charming, and as if he had nothing more important in this world than to convince me that in National Socialism lay the salvation of the world.” She called him “the world’s greatest actor” as she listened to his monologues. In her naïvely written profile, she commented: “he is not as evil as he is depicted by the enemies of Germany. He is without doubt an idealist; he believes that he is doing the right thing for Germany and his interests do not go any further.” She attempted to end the interview on a few occasions feeling that she had overstayed her welcome, “but Hitler kept me back” and Goebbels later joined them for a meeting that ended up lasting two hours. “I have enjoyed myself so much,” Hitler told her, “that I beg you to visit me every time you return to Berlin.”

Beyond her acquaintance with the Nazi hierarchy, what was even more concerning to the FBI was Arvad’s relationship with Axel Wenner-Gren, who at the time of their investigation employed her estranged second husband, Paul Fejos. One of the wealthiest men in the world at the time, Wenner-Gren was a Swedish entrepreneur who was placed on an economic blacklist by the U.S. and Great Britain, given their suspicions that he was a Nazi agent.

Arvad claimed to have conducted two interviews with Hitler and wrote of him: “You immediately like him. He seems lonely. The eyes, showing a kind heart, stare right at you. They sparkle with force.” Hitler in turn called her “a perfect example of Nordic beauty.” The FBI showed a keen interest in a 1936 International News Service item purporting that Hitler had “made her Chief of Nazi propaganda in Denmark.” Despite the unlikelihood of a 22-year-woman being assigned such a role in a foreign country at the time, the FBI nonetheless took this as further evidence of her potential espionage role in the United States.

The Nazis themselves showed little interest in allowing Arvad to see Hitler again. A September 1936 letter sent to the Germany Embassy from the Ministry of Propaganda expressed surprise that she had published a second interview with Hitler, calling her “a casual journalist without any importance, who knows how to make a business out of occasional interviews and articles.” The Nazis reported on the frustration of the press in this regard and were unable to determine why she had been chosen over other journalists: “For the press, whose requests have repeatedly been turned down, the renewed admission of Mrs. Arvad represents a preferential treatment that seems incomprehensible to them.” The memo continued with disdain, calling her “a journalistically insignificant woman” who had “once again been allowed to give an interview that no other Danish journalists have previously been allowed. A further December 1, 1936 memo sent on behalf of the Presidential Chancellery claimed there had only been one encounter and that there would be no further contact: “Arvad had only been received by the Führer at the end of 1935, but that there was no record of a reception in September 1936 in the files…Precautions had been taken to ensure that Ms. Arvad would not be received again.”

1941-1942

Despite her knowledge of the FBI’s methods, Arvad unwisely requested the Bureau look into her background. She asked for “a letter” from the FBI “stating that she was not a spy.” The special agent shook his head, explaining: “I’m terribly sorry, we couldn’t give you such a diploma because if we did, you might become a spy the next day even if you weren’t today. But if you are not arrested that will prove that you are all right.” She left the meeting with a sinking feeling; her mind wandered with thoughts of innocent people spending years in jail or being sent to the electric chair. “Every man who looked at me twice or followed me for a block, I was convinced must be an FBI agent,” she recalled. Her paranoia turned out to be founded in reality as time went on.

Given the warning signs and his job working in Naval Intelligence at the age of 24, JFK would have been wise to not pursue the 28-year-old Arvad, but he did so anyway. “What was it that enchanted Jack? Oh, sex,” explained John White, reporter for the Times-Herald and friend of Kick Kennedy. “She was adorable, just adorable.” Waldrop added: “We all sort of knew that he was really smitten with her beyond the ordinary.”

In late 1941, the FBI began its investigation of Arvad in earnest, interviewing locals and pursuing illegal surveillance methods, which included wiretapping her phone and burglarizing her residence. The Bureau watched with great interest as her husband Paul Fejos left her DC apartment on December 14, paving the way for Arvad to be joined by a mysterious man wearing “a gray overcoat with raglan sleeves and gray tweed trousers. He does not wear a hat and has blonde curly hair which is always tousled...known only as Jack.” The Bureau intercepted a New York telegram from JFK on January 1, but his identity remained unknown. The same day the Office of Naval Intelligence expressed their concerns “relative to Ambassador Kennedy’s son, who is reported to be going to marry a woman who will divorce her present husband” and with these details, FBI headquarters put together the story for the Washington field office.

By January 9, a request was sent by the Navy to transfer JFK out of Washington, but unaware of the context, the Bureau of Navigation took no immediate action. On January 13, gossip columnist Walter Winchell revealed to the public: “One of Ex-Ambassador Kennedy’s eligible sons is the target of a Washington gal columnist’s affections. So much so she’s consulted her barrister about divorcing her explorer-groom...Pa Kennedy no like.” Reprinted in hundreds of newspapers across the country, Arvad remembered that “the repercussion was quick and furious” since JFK “was transferred in 24 hours. I have never been sure whether his father, who is extremely influential had something to do with it, or whether the ‘G-2’ [military intelligence] was afraid of a scandal and didn’t want a navy officer implicated.”

Arvad was told by Patterson, her editor, that Winchell had obtained this information from FBI Director Hoover: “She, in fact, got so mad that she wrote an editorial on the front page saying something to the effect that it would be better if the FBI used their men for other things than being the informers to a key-hole peeper like Walter Winchell.” Even though the names JFK and Arvad did not appear in the column, “everybody knew who it was, and it was deadly embarrassing for both of us.”

The Office of Naval Intelligence informed the FBI that “Ensign Kennedy had been ‘playing around’ with Inga Arvad and steps had been taken to put an end to this relationship.” On the same day as the column appeared, JFK received a phone call that he was immediately being transferred from Washington to a naval base in Charleston. “They shagged my ass down to South Carolina because I was going around with a Scandinavian blonde, and they thought she was a spy!” he later told a reporter.

From January 16-18, FBI special agent Hardison continued to keep watch outside Arvad’s apartment. Hardison guessed that JFK lived “someplace in the immediate neighborhood and after spending the night with the subject, goes to his own apartment, changes to his uniform and then returns to her apartment for breakfast.” Hoover granted permission to extend the surveillance to JFK but the FBI lost track of him later that month as he had left for Florida to visit his father before going to Charleston: “This surveillance was maintained from January 21, 1942, to January 28...During this period no individual who fitted the description of this Naval Ensign left the apartment.”

Hoover provided an update to the Attorney General of his “current investigation of this woman as an espionage suspect,” claiming that she was potentially “engaged in a most subtle type of espionage activities against the United States,” necessitating surveillance of Arvad and her close associates. On January 29, 1942, the special agent in charge believed the Arvad case to have “more possibilities than anything I have seen in a long time.” Hoover then requested on February 4 from the Alien Enemy Control Unit at the Department of Justice a “report of all information you have in your files” pertaining to Arvad in consideration of “whether a Presidential Warrant of apprehension should be issued.”

The FBI in its investigation had learned that Arvad intended to divorce her husband and that she was having an affair with JFK, but evidence of any wrongdoing on Arvad’s part from a national security perspective was non-existent to date. Rather than proceeding with an arrest, Hoover recommended an expansion of the surveillance on her activities. Arvad continued her work in journalism, requesting interviews with Hoover’s companion Clyde Tolson and his personal secretary, Helen Gandy. She was certain that “everytime I heard the phone click, I was sure that it was the FBI,” she later explained. The Bureau was in fact listening as she and Kennedy discussed their next meeting plans and the chances that the young ensign would be sent to the war’s frontlines:

Arvad: You can do anything you want, darling. If you want to go somewhere else, you’re welcome.

Kennedy: I'm coming to Washington...If I can get away at 1:00, I can get that plane, otherwise, if I have to work, I'll get away at 6:00 Saturday.

Arvad: Good God. Do you have to work Saturday?

Kennedy: Yes.

Arvad: When are you sailing?

Kennedy: I don’t know.

Arvad: Is that going to be soon?

Kennedy: No.

Arvad: I think it is.

Kennedy: No.

Arvad: Are you sure?

Kennedy: I told you, I’ll tell you.

Later in the call, Kennedy referenced a remark Arvad had made to his friend Torbert Macdonald:

Kennedy: Did you say Macdonald was better dressed than I was? Did you say I should go to his tailor?

Arvad: That’s a lie. I don’t care what you wear, darling, I love you as you are. Darling, you look best without anything.

While the FBI transcribed all of their calls in search of proof of her espionage activity, Kennedy began to play with this concept in his letters to Arvad, writing: “I’ve returned from an interesting trip, about which I won’t bore you with the details, as if you are a spy I shouldn’t tell and if you’re not you won’t be interested.”

“How did you like my letter?” the FBI recorded him asking on January 30. “Wonderful, wonderful,” Arvad responded. “We put it in an extra edition with the [title] Why England Slept,” she joked. “We all enjoyed it.” Days later, Kennedy phoned to report that he was now confined to the barracks and would need special permission to visit her:

Kennedy: Why don’t you come here?

Arvad: I may.

Kennedy: Don’t say you may. I know I shouldn’t ask you to come here twice in a row but I’ll be up there as soon as I get permission.

Arvad: Isn’t that sweet. I’ll come maybe.

Kennedy: I hate for you to come all this way just to see me.

Arvad: Darling, I would go around the world three times just to see you.

Kennedy then joked: “I heard you had a big orgy up in New York,” suggesting Arvad had been a participant. “I’ll tell you about it,” Arvad played along. “I’ll tell you about it for a whole weekend if you’d like to hear about it. My husband has his little spies out all over the place...He told me all sorts of things about you, none of which were flattering.” She claimed her husband “knew every word you had said to your father about me. It made me look like shit, it amused me very much.”

Kennedy: What does he mean by “every word I said to my father about you”?

Arvad: Somebody who knows your family very well and also knows my husband but I don’t know who it is. The person has known you since you were a child and I think they live in New York. He said, “Jack Kennedy shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘I wouldn’t dream of marrying her; in fact I don’t care two bits about her. She’s just something I picked up on the road.’” It’s very amusing, darling. Tell me, when are you going away?

Kennedy: I’m not leaving for quite a while yet. What else did your husband say?

Arvad: Why, he said I could do what I wanted. He said he was sad to see me doing things like this. I’ll tell you about it and I swear that he is not bothering us and that you needn’t be afraid of him. He’s not going to sue you though he is aware what he could do by suing you.

Kennedy: He would be a big guy if he doesn’t sue me.

Arvad: He’s a gentleman. I don't care what happens, he wouldn’t do things like that. He’s perfectly alright.

Kennedy: I didn’t intend to make you mad.

Arvad: I’m not mad. Do you want me to come this weekend very much?

Kennedy: I would like for you to.

Arvad: I’ll think it over and let you know. So long, my love.

Kennedy: So long.

The FBI continued transcribing every word the pair spoke to each other over the phone and conducted physical surveillance of Arvad’s trip to Charleston’s Fort Sumter Hotel, where she checked in on February 6 under the alias “Barbara White.” Upping the ante of their monitoring activities, the government began listening to their bedroom for the first time.