Washington D.C.   1938-1939

In my new job with the Public Works Administration I was given' a number of cases, mainly personnel cases around Washington, for the first.month or two. After a little experience I was assigned to a big case down at Charleston, South Carolina together with a fellow named Jim Cook, a nice fellow and an experienced agent. The Public Works Administration were building a big dam down there which would back the water up so that it would cover a lot of farm land.


YEAR (FILE ) SUBJECT
---- ------- ---------------------------------
1938 (4670) John Griffin and co-workers

Much of this land was owned by black people and a complair had been made that the black people were being taken by some sharp real estate dealers who turned around and sold the land to the government at high prices.

I was down there for about 6 weeks during the summer. I don't believe I have ever spent a more miserable summer as far as the weather was concerned. Charleston is located right on the ocean with water all around it. The humidity was always so high that any kind of exertion made you perspire until your clothes were just soaked. We got the hotel to give us rooms facing the ocean. Every evening a brisk breeze came in from the ocean. I recall that we'd come into the hotel about 5 or 6 in the evening soaking wet. We'd shower and change clothes before going out to eat. I used to take my wet shirt off and hang it on a chair in front of the window where it would flap in the breeze, hoping that it would dry out. By morning it would still be damp, the breeze was so humid. I don't know how they ever dried their clothes.

This trip was the first extended absence from Dorothy since we had been married and I was surely happy to return to Washington when the case was finished. I had many othe assignments in the southern states that lasted usually for a week or two. I received many complements on my investigating work and the cases I was assigned to grew more and more difficult. I recall that I was assigned a case where an employee in the Washington office was making book on the horse races and also furnishing "ladies of the evening" for other employees. We tapped his phone and got a recording machine and made recordings of all his incoming and outgoing telephone calls for a week. We were amazed to find that some of his best customers were executives holding top positions in the administration. As a result of the investigation, he and one or two others were let go and about 20 or 25 other employees received suspensions without pay for periods from a few days to a month.

LETTERS
--------------------------------------------------
(L380121) Dorothy Griffin to Maud Griffin / Washington D.C.
(L380726) John Griffin to Mother / Arlington, VA
(L380909) John Griffin to Mother / Washington D.C.
(L381006) Dorothy Griffin to Maud Griffin / Washington D.C.
(L381022) John Griffin to Mother / Washington D.C.
(L381127) John Griffin to Mother / Arlington, VA
(L381222) John Griffin to Mother / Washington D.C.

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