Hoover gay

In public, Hoover waged a vendetta against homosexuals and kept "confidential and secret" files on the sex lives of congressmen and s. But privately, according to some biographers, he had numerous trysts with men, including a lifelong affair with Tolson. WASHINGTON — A new book contends that former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover was a homosexual who was blackmailed by the Mafia into denying the existence of organized crime for decades.

One of Hoover's biographers, Richard Hack, does not believe the director was gay.

j edgar hoover movie

Hack notes that Hoover was romantically linked to actress Dorothy Lamour in the late s and early s and that after Hoover's death, Lamour did not deny rumors that she had had an affair with him. [97]. It’s also clear that Hoover was deeply homophobic, in addition to his other prejudices: “He didn’t like Jews, he didn’t like blacks, he didn’t like homosexuals,” says Hack.

J. Edgar Hoover - head of the FBI - hammer of gangsters, communists, and LGBT people. Strange, given he was in a lifelong gay relationship. But in a remarkable feat of investigative research, synthesis, and scholarly detective work, Douglas M. For much of the twentieth century, when exposure might mean nothing short of ruin, gay American men and women had much to fear from law enforcement of every kind—but none so much as the FBI, with its inexhaustible federal resources, connections, and its carefully crafted reputation for ethical, by-the-book operations.

With its painstaking recovery of a dark chapter in American history and its new insights into seemingly familiar episodes of that story—involving noted journalists, politicians, and celebrities—this thorough and deeply engaging book reveals the perils of authority run amok and stands as a reminder of damage done in the name of decency. Douglas M. He is the author of J.

Charles has demonstrated amply how intricate documentary histories based on deep and hidden bureaucratic paper trails provide uniquely illuminating details of key episodes of state power and grassroots resistance to it. The author is remarkably objective about a time when a prude, and possible hypocrite, lumped gays in with authentic traitors. Charles managed to obtain related files and follow the threads in those accounts which, in turn, led him to others.

A groundbreaking book, covering a topic in FBI history that has not been previously explored in any significant way. Skip to content Home Hoover's War on Gays. Acknowledgments Prologue 1. Was J. Edgar Hoover Gay? Does It Matter? Related Books. Enable All Save Settings.