Episode 207: Wayne Davis - Director Hoover and FBI Diversity

FBI Retired Case File Review

Jerri Williams

True Crime, Interviews, Fiction, History, Fbi, Government, Truecrime

4.6 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2020

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Retired Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Wayne Davis served 25 years with the FBI and during his career ran the Detroit and Philadelphia Offices. SAC Davis was among the first group of fully qualified African-American agents hired by the FBI and allowed to attend the FBI Academy in 1962 and 1963. In this episode, he provides a fascinating personal and historical account of diversity in the FBI and his private meeting with Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1965, at which time the Director openly expressed his views about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to episode 207 of FBI Retired Case File Review with Jerry Williams.
0:11.7	I'm a retired agent on a mission to show the public who the
0:14.9	FBI is and what the FBI does through my books, my blog, and my podcast case reviews
0:20.8	with former colleagues. Today we get to hear from retired special
0:26.3	agent in charge Wayne Davis who served in the FBI for 25 years. During his career he was the head of the Indianapolis, the Detroit, and the
0:38.1	Philadelphia field offices.
0:40.1	S.A.C. Wayne Davis was among the first group of fully qualified African American agents hired by the FBI and allowed to attend the FBI Academy in 1962 and 1963.
0:56.0	In this episode, Wayne Davis provides a fascinating personal and historical account of diversity in the FBI, including his private meeting
1:08.0	with Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1965. During that meeting, Director Hoover openly expressed his views
1:18.1	about Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. Some of you may remember this episode.
1:24.4	It was previously posted on April 23rd, 2016 as episode 14.
1:31.0	I've updated the intro and outro, the audio quality, and the show notes.
1:37.0	I'm reposting this episode because Wayne Davis passed away on July 10th, 2020.
1:44.8	I'm heartbroken.
1:46.3	Early in my career, he and his wife, Lois,
1:49.6	a former assistant United States attorney,
1:52.4	mentored me.
1:53.9	They helped me find my way as a special agent and as a working mother with a demanding job.
2:00.1	I've talked in interviews about my struggles during the first four years of my career.
2:05.0	During a lowpoint, Wayne Davis called me to his office and asked me to be his applicant
2:11.6	coordinator even though I had less than five years in the Bureau.
2:17.0	Wayne was serious about minority recruiting, and he thought I would do a good job for him.
	...

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