Helen Gandy

Helen W. Gandy (April 8, 1897 – July 7, 1988) was an American civil servant. She was the secretary to Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover for 54 years. Hoover called her "indispensable" and she exercised great behind-the-scenes influence on Hoover and the workings of the Bureau. Following Hoover's death in 1972, she spent weeks destroying his "Personal File," thought to be where the most incriminating material he used to manipulate and control the most powerful figures in Washington was kept.

Early life

Gandy was born in Rockville, New Jersey, one of three children (two daughters and a son) born to Franklin Dallas and Annie (née Williams) Gandy. She grew up in New Jersey in Fairton or the Port Norris section of Commercial Township (sources differ) and graduated from Bridgeton High School in Bridgeton New Jersey. In 1918, aged 21, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she later took classes at Strayer Business College and George Washington University Law School.