Hoover's Secret Files

Blackmail as filing system. When he died, his secretary spent days at the shredder.

Hoover's secret files are documented: the 'Official and Confidential' and 'Personal and Confidential' series, the latter ordered destroyed by Helen Gandy per Hoover's instruction upon his death (1972) — shredding confirmed in congressional testimony; what survived migrated to the O&C series (released, heavily redacted, containing sexual and political material on public figures). William Sullivan's account and multiple biographies document their deterrent use against presidents and legislators. The node is the blackmail thread's confirmed core, linking Epstein-era kompromat theories to their institutional precedent.