| Download Photo 1 | James W. | Awe | KY - Louisville; OH - Covington; OH - Cincinnati; MS - Jackson; FBIHQ | 1948 - 1979 | MIBURN, Wharlest Jackson, Selma March, Hoover Files, Aubrey Lewis, Dahmer firebombing | Civil Rights, Mississippi in the 1960s, Records systems automation at the FBI | For the FBI Oral History Heritage Project sponsored by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc., which holds the copyright to the material.
Special Agent Awe served in the FBI from 1948 to 1972. This interview took place on November 3, 2006. Interviewed by E. Avery Rollins.
SA Awe started as a clerk in the FBI at age 19 in 1948. He took a break for service in the CID of the US Army during the Korean War. He finished college at night school at Georgetown University and became a Special Agent in 1958. His first office was the Louisville Field Office in the Covington KY (RA) and then was transferred across the river to the Cincinnati Field Office.
SA Awe’s next office was the newly opened Jackson Field Office from 1964 to 1969, during the height of the civil rights turmoil and investigations. The Jackson office did not handle the murder of three civil rights workers, known as MIBURN, but SA Awe did the photos, maps and exhibits which were used in the court cases.
SA Awe spoke about the workweek in Jackson, the case load, development of KKK informants, and some of the specific cases he worked. He worked the Dahmer firebombing case which killed Vernon Dahmer. A large squad of agents was sent to Hattiesburg, MS and stayed until it was solved.
The FBI was mandated to attend marches, demonstrations and Klan rallies to observe and photograph. SA Awe also took pictures of the crime scene in the Wharlest Jackson investigation and the Viola Liuzzo murder.
SA Awe has provided his annotated photo collection which is included as an addendum to this interview. It is titled: Mississippi: A Witness to the Turbulent 60s.
After five years, SA Awe was transferred to FBIHQ to the Records Management Division and remained there until he retired. This division of the FBI handled all the files including 60 million index cards. Some areas of controversy surrounded the planned destruction of files, the Freedom of Information Act implementation and the so-called Hoover files.
Of interest is the list of Assistant Directors he worked with early and late in his career and his one on one meeting with J. Edgar Hoover. Another brief anecdote touches on his introduction of first office Agent, Aubrey Lewis, the first black Special Agent in the FBI.
Addenda include:
Addendum 1: Follow-up Memo to Interview re: Civil Rights matters and Bureau Automation;
Addendum 2: “Mississippi: A Witness to the Turbulent 1960’s” Includes overview of Civil Rights cases in Mississippi with photos;
Addendum 3: Washington Post article, June 23, 2005, title “The FBI’s Mississippi Myopia” and a response from Mr. Awe on June 23, 2005;
Addendum 4: Data re: FBI Records Systems as presented to a hearing before a Subcommittee on the Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives, 94th Congress, December 1, 1975 The Honorable Bella S. Abzurg, Chairwoman;
Addendum 5: The Telelift System in the FBI Headquarters;
Addendum 6: Comments on the Headquarters Buildings of the FBI and Photos, The Justice Building, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building;
Addendum 7: Memo of June 7, 1994 from Society President establishing The Oral History Project; October 2, 1994 Historical Survey of Mr. Awe’s Career | Download PDF 1 | Download PDF 2 | Download Photo 2 |