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Much of the Senate opposition to Gray is rooted in his lack of law-enforcement experience. Gray, who became a lawyer while on active duty with the Navy in 1949, retired after 20 years of military service in 1960. He was nominated for a federal judgeship, but because of his meager qualifications, th nomination was withdrawn before the American Bar Association could officially act upon it. He and Nixon had met at a Washington cocktail party in 1947, and the two have been on friendly terms ever since.
As of now, it is impossible to predict the outcome of the hearings. Some Democrats, who could finally go either way have tacitly supported the Gray nomination. Majority Leader Mike Mansfield has indicated he would go along with Nixon's choice, but he adds a qualification: "Pending the hearings." At those hearings, opposition can be expected from liberal Democrats like Teddy Kennedy and Birch Bayh of Indiana But Gray may have a more dangerous foe in West Virginia Conservative Democrat Robert Byrd. "In the nine months that Mr. Gray has held the post of acting director, there has been increasing criticism of that bureau as becoming more and more a political arm of the Administration," Byrd told the Senate. "Under J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI had always been a nonpolitical bureau, and Mr. Hoover meticulously avoided partisanship in campaigns." Confirmation of Gray, the Senator added, "would be damaging to the proficiency and morale of the agency."