Female Feds
Jane Mason, March 1, 2021
janemasonxfbi@gmail.com
@janexfbi
In honor of Women’s History Month, I am posting this article about the first female FBI Special Agents. I think it’s fascinating and I hope you enjoy reading it.
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LENORE Houston is the first, last, and only female Special Agent hired by
famed FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1924. If you find that hard to believe,
look at the signature on her credentials that I got through an FBI FOIA request.
(Most of the information for this document is from FOIA.)
Credentials of Lenore Houston – signed by J. Edgar Hoover
Courtesy of of fbi.gov
The first female Special Agents of the FBI are true trailblazers in the world of federal law enforcement. I stopped at three; they were the only female FBI
Special Agents in the 1920’s. J. Edgar Hoover created the leading federal law enforcement agency in the country, but he was resolute in his views on females as Special Agents.
The first two female Special Agents of the FBI, Alaska Donovan and Jesse Duckstein, were hired by Hoover’s predecessor, Director William Burns, in the early 1920’s. They both retired two weeks after Hoover was appointed FBI Director in 1924.
A mystery occurred in late 1924, when Hoover appointed Lenore Houston as a Special Agent. She was the first, last, and only female Special Agent Hoover ever hired.
I say this is a mystery because my research has not revealed any actual reasons for Hoover to make this single appointment. As with Donovan and Duckstein, Hoover asked for Houston’s resignation. Houston resigned on November 7, 1928.
In 1971, Hoover received a letter from Colorado State University which accused the FBI of violating equal employment opportunity laws in excluding females from the ranks of FBI agents. Due to this, Colorado State University said it would ban all future FBI recruitment on their campus.
Hoover’s response includes a vigorous explanation of his “inalterable” policy prohibiting females as agents.
The next female FBI agent to be sworn in took place forty-eight years later, in 1972, shortly after Hoover’s death.
Although Hoover slowed the hiring of female FBI agents, he created the premiere federal law enforcement agency in the world. Like Yogi Berra, many quotes are attributed to Hoover. One of my favorite Hoover quotes is: “The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the highchair.”
Alaska Packard Davidson (1869-1934)
FBI Special Agent
October 11, 1922 to June 10, 1924
Alaska, a native of Ohio, was well-educated, married with one child, and 54 years old when she became an FBI agent. She was appointed a Special Agent by Director William Burns on October 11, 1922.
Photo courtesy of fbi.gov
After training in New York City, Alaska was assigned as a Special Agent in the Washington FBI Office. She was assigned to prohibition matters and to white-slave traffic cases which involved crossing state lines for the purpose of prostitution.
She retired two weeks after Hoover was appointed FBI Director in 1924.
Stenographer in the1920s
–Photo of Jessie unavailable
Photo courtesy of fbi.gov
Jessie B. Duckstein (born circa 1886)
FBI Special Agent
November 20, 1923 to May 26, 1924
Jessie started working at the FBI on August 11, 1921 as a stenographer and typist. She was a high school graduate in her early thirties at the time. Jessie was appointed a Special Agent by Director William Burns on November 20, 1923.
She and Alaska Packard Davidson had similar career tracks. Jessie also trained for the job in New York City. She was then assigned as a Special Agent in the Washington FBI Office working prohibition matters and white-slave traffic cases. She retired two weeks after Hoover was appointed FBI Director in 1924.
Lenore Houston (born August 12, 1878)
FBI Special Agent
November 6, 1924 to November 7, 1928
What was it about Lenore Houston that caused Hoover to hire her as a Special Agent?
Houston was born on August 12, 1878 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Joseph and Esther (nee Rakemore) Houston. Joseph was a doctor and Esther was a housewife from a large German family that had been settled in the area since the early 1700’s. Lenore was one of four children and was well-educated having spent three years studying at Swarthmore College. Although Lenore came from some degree of privilege, the amount of land her eldest brother inherited was not enough to entice him to stay in Pennsylvania. There is not much information about her middle brother and her youngest brother died when he was a toddler.
Perhaps the source of her recommendations to the position of Special Agent of the FBI holds a clue.
In June of 1922, at the age of 44, Lenore applied for the position of Special Agent. Both Pennsylvania Governor William Cameron Sproul and Beaver County, Pennsylvania District Attorney Louis E. Graham recommended her for this position on several occasions. She was initially hired as a Special Employee of the FBI hired by Director Burns on January 14th of 1924. She was assigned to investigate Mann Act (white slave trafficking) violations in the Philadelphia FBI office.
William Cameron Sproul served as the 27th Governor of Pennsylvania from January 21, 1919 to January 16, 1923. Governor Sproul was born and spent much of his life in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. In addition to the geographical connection, Governor Sproul also attended Swarthmore College, Lenore's alma mater.
Louis E. Graham was the District Attorney of Beaver County from 1912 through 1924. Although District Attorney Graham’s connection to Lenore in unknown, Graham seemed to be the more ardent advocate for Lenore later in her career.
Graham continued to recommend Lenore to Hoover until, finally, on November 6, 1924, Hoover changed Lenore’s designation to Special Agent.
The next female FBI agent to be sworn in took place forty-eight years later, in 1972, shortly after Hoover’s death.
AFTER the demise of Jessie B. Duckstein, Alaska Packard Davidson, and
Lenore Houston, Hoover ended the possibility of hiring female FBI agents for
the next several decades. But, there is no doubt that he created the premier law
enforcement agency in the world. Like Yogi Berra, many quotes are attributed
to Hoover. In an endearing moment of self-deprecation during a speech for the
American Newspaper Women’s Club Dinner in Honor of Mrs. Martha Mitchell
on May 24, 1971, Hoover wrote, “As you know, it has been alleged that I sleep
with a night-light….This is absolute nonsense…. The fact of the matter is, I have
been sitting up night after night waiting for one of those famed late-evening
telephone calls from the lovely cabinet wife whom you are honoring tonight.”1
1 https://vault.fbi.gov/j.-edgar-hoover-official-and-confidential-o-cfiles/
J.%20Edgar%20Hoover%20Official%20and%20Confidential%20%28OC%29%20Files%20Part%2007%2
0of%2009/view See below for copy of the remarks/
