SA Charles Kleinkauf (RIP) entered on duty as a clerical employee in 1931. In 1932, he was assigned to night clerical duties which included having direct contact with J. Edgar Hoover (and other ranking Bureau personnel) regularly on an array of matters. He worked the early teletype system, decoded messages, joked with the Director and Helen Gandy, and took calls from SAC’s like Melvin Purvis. Two of those calls from Purvis alone are memorable. One, that Inspector Cowley had died from his wounds at Barrington, Il and another call that Dillinger was dead. Both, among others, to be relayed to the Director at home.
In 1939, Kleinkauf was appointed special agent.
In 1993, Kleinkauf submitted 5 pages of notes to “Grapevine” Editor Larry Heim regarding his early Bureau days. His notes were sanitized and appeared in a later article in the FBI's internal magazine.
Recently, a family member provided us his original 5 pages of typed notes among other items for inclusion at our website.
Read the Kleinkauf notes of his 1930’s early days at FBIHQ. As Kelinkauf typed, “I had the unique experience of working in a capacity which today woud be unheard of.”