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{{Short description|American law enforcement administrator (1895–1972)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}} {{About|the person|the headquarters building for the FBI|J. Edgar Hoover Building}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = J. Edgar Hoover | image = Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg | caption = Official portrait, 1961 | office = 1st [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]] | president = {{plainlist| * [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] * [[Harry S. Truman]] * [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] * [[John F. Kennedy]] * [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] * [[Richard Nixon]]}} | deputy = [[Clyde Tolson]] | term_start = June 30, 1935 | term_end = May 2, 1972 | predecessor = Position established | successor = Clyde Tolson (acting) | office1 = 5th [[Director of the Bureau of Investigation]] | president1 = {{plainlist| * [[Calvin Coolidge]] * [[Herbert Hoover]] * Franklin D. Roosevelt }} | deputy1 = Clyde Tolson | term_start1 = May 10, 1924 | term_end1 = June 30, 1935 | predecessor1 = [[William J. Burns]] | successor1 = Position dissolved | office2 = [[Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|Assistant Director of the Bureau of Investigation]] | president2 = {{plainlist| * [[Warren G. Harding]] * Calvin Coolidge }} | term_start2 = August 22, 1921 | term_end2 = May 9, 1924 | predecessor2 = | successor2 = Clyde Tolson | birth_name = John Edgar Hoover | birth_date = {{birth date|1895|1|1|}} | birth_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1972|5|2|1895|1|1}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | resting_place = [[Congressional Cemetery]] | party = [[Independent politician|Independent]]<ref>{{cite news|last=Summers |first=Anthony |title=The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi |access-date=April 21, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date= January 1, 2012 |quote= Hoover never joined a political party and claimed he was 'not political'. In fact, he admitted privately, he was a staunch, lifelong supporter of the Republican Party.}}</ref> | education = [[George Washington University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]], [[Master of Laws|LLM]]) | signature = J Edgar Hoover Signature.svg }} <!-- Note: Please don't add the postnominal letters "KBE" to Hoover's name. Doing so is against the guideline discussed at [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (biographies)#Postnominal initials]] --> '''John Edgar Hoover''' (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American attorney and [[law enforcement]] administrator who served as the fifth and final [[director of the Bureau of Investigation]] (BOI) and the first [[director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI). President [[Calvin Coolidge]] first appointed Hoover as director of the BOI, the predecessor to the [[FBI]], in 1924. After 11 years in the post, Hoover became instrumental in founding the FBI in June 1935, where he remained as director for an additional 37 years until his death in May 1972 – serving a total of 48 years leading both the BOI and the FBI under eight Presidents. Hoover expanded the FBI into a larger crime-fighting agency and instituted a number of modernizations to policing technology, such as a centralized [[fingerprint]] file and [[forensic]] laboratories. Hoover also established and expanded a national [[blacklist]], referred to as the [[FBI Index]] or Index List. Later in life and after his death, Hoover became a controversial figure as evidence of his secretive [[abuse of power|abuses of power]] began to surface. He was also found to have routinely violated both the FBI's own policies and the very laws which the FBI was charged with enforcing, to have used the FBI to harass and sabotage political dissidents, and to have extensively collected information on officials and private citizens using illegal surveillance, wiretapping, and burglaries.<ref name="CoxTheo"> {{cite book |author1= Cox, John Stuart |author2= Theoharis, Athan G. |year= 1988 |title= The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition |publisher= Temple University Press |isbn= 978-0-87722-532-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo }} </ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gruberg |first=Martin |title=J. Edgar Hoover |url=https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/1271/j-edgar-hoover |access-date=February 20, 2023 |website=www.mtsu.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The FBI's War on King {{!}} King's Last March {{!}} APM Reports |url=https://features.apmreports.org/arw/king/d1.html#:~:text=Beginning%20in%201962,%20the%20FBI,and%20those%20of%20his%20associates. |access-date=July 21, 2024 |website=features.apmreports.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=A Huey P. Newton Story - Actions - COINTELPRO {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_cointelpro.html#:~:text=The%20Black%20Panther%20Party%20was,brunt%20of%20the%20most%20damage.&text=According%20to%20FBI%20documents,%20one,activities%20of%20the%20Black%20nationalists%22. |access-date=July 21, 2024 |website=www.pbs.org}}</ref> Hoover consequently amassed a great deal of power and was able to intimidate and threaten high-ranking political figures.<ref name=":2"> {{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia= Britannica Concise Encyclopedia |title= J. Edgar Hoover |date= April 28, 2023 |url= https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-Edgar-Hoover}} </ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=HOOVER'S ABUSE OF POWER |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1991-09-08-9103070622-story.html |access-date=February 20, 2023 |website=Chicago Tribune|date=September 8, 1991 }}</ref> ==Early life and education== [[File:Hoovers_Father.jpg|thumb|upright|Dickerson Naylor Hoover]] Hoover was born on New Year's Day 1895 in Washington, D.C., to [[German American]] Anna Marie (''née'' Scheitlin; 1860–1938) and Dickerson Naylor Hoover (1856–1921), chief of the printing division of the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey]], formerly a plate maker for the same organization.<ref>Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History since 1945, Blaine T. Browne and Robert C. Cottrell, M. E. Sharpe (New York and London), 2008, p. 44</ref> Dickerson Hoover was of English and German ancestry. Hoover's maternal great-uncle, John Hitz, was a [[Swiss people|Swiss]] honorary [[consul general]] to the United States.{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=8-9}} Among his family, he was the closest to his mother, who despite being "inclined to instruction", showed great affection towards her son.{{sfn|Gage|2022|p=17}} Hoover was born in a house on the present site of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, located on [[Seward Square]] near [[Eastern Market, Washington, D.C.|Eastern Market]] in Washington's [[Capitol Hill]] neighborhood.<ref>{{cite news|author= D'au Vin, Constance |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1977/12/09/church-celebrates-anniversary/6d49c94b-1fd8-4bdc-b6bc-bf463704e025/ |title=Church Celebrates Anniversary|newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 9, 1977 |access-date=December 28, 2018}}</ref> A stained glass window in the church is dedicated to him. Hoover did not have a birth certificate filed upon his birth, although it was required in 1895 in Washington. Two of his siblings did have certificates, but Hoover's was not filed until 1938 when he was 43.<ref name="Spannaus, Edward">Hoover had 7 Children {{cite news |url= http://american_almanac.tripod.com/hoover.htm |author= Spannaus, Edward |title= The Mysterious Origins of J. Edgar Hoover |work= American Almanac |date= August 2000}} </ref> Hoover lived his entire life in Washington, D.C. He attended [[Cardozo Senior High School|Central High School]], where he sang in the school choir, participated in the [[Reserve Officers' Training Corps]] program, and competed on the debate team.<ref name="CoxTheo"/> During debates, he argued against women getting the right to vote and against the abolition of the death penalty.<ref> {{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi |title= The secret life of J. Edgar Hoover |newspaper= The Guardian |location= London, UK |date= January 1, 2012}} </ref> The school newspaper applauded his "cool, relentless logic".<ref name=Weiner-ch1/> Hoover [[stutter]]ed as a boy, which he later learned to manage by teaching himself to talk quickly—a style that he carried through his adult career. He eventually spoke with such ferocious speed that stenographers had a hard time following him.<ref> {{cite book |last= Burrough |first= Bryan |title= Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34 |year= 2009 |publisher= Penguin Books}} </ref> Hoover was 18 years old when he accepted his first job, an entry-level position as messenger in the orders department at the [[Library of Congress]]. The library was a half mile from his house. The experience shaped both Hoover and the creation of the FBI profiles; as Hoover observed in a 1951 letter, "This job ... trained me in the value of collating material. It gave me an excellent foundation for my work in the FBI where it has been necessary to collate information and evidence."<ref> {{cite web |author= J. Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/june/j-edgar-hoovers-first-job-and-the-fbi-files/j.-edgar-hoovers-first-job-and-the-fbi-files |publisher= FBI |date= June 28, 2012 |title= The Hoover Legacy, 40 Years After |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160314092138/https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2012/june/j-edgar-hoovers-first-job-and-the-fbi-files/j.-edgar-hoovers-first-job-and-the-fbi-files/ |archive-date= March 14, 2016 |df= dmy-all }} </ref> In 1916, Hoover obtained a [[Bachelor of Laws]] from the [[George Washington University Law School]],<ref> {{cite web |url= https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/directors/hoover |title= FBI — John Edgar Hoover |publisher= Fbi.gov |access-date= May 10, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140701131916/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/directors/hoover |archive-date= July 1, 2014}} </ref> where he was a member of the Alpha Nu Chapter of the [[Kappa Alpha Order]], a [[Southern United States|Southern]] fraternity that was born out of a desire to "carry on the legacy of the 'incomparable flower of Southern Knighthood{{' "}} after the defeat of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] in 1865.{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=43-45}} Some prominent Kappa Alpha alumni, who had an influence on Hoover's future beliefs, included author [[Thomas Dixon Jr.|Thomas Dixon]] and [[John Temple Graves]]. Hoover graduated with an [[Master of Laws|LL.M.]] in 1917 from the same university.<ref> {{cite journal |url= https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/j-edgar-hoovers-gw-years |title= J. Edgar Hoover's GW Years |journal= GW Today }} </ref><ref> {{cite web |title= Prominent Alumni |url= http://alumni.gwu.edu/prominent/classyear/1880s30s.html |publisher=[[George Washington University]] |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100611173014/http://alumni.gwu.edu/prominent/classyear/1880s30s.html |archive-date= June 11, 2010 |url-status=dead}} </ref> While a law student, Hoover became interested in the career of [[Anthony Comstock]], the New York City [[U.S. Postal Inspector]], who waged prolonged campaigns against fraud, [[vice]], pornography, and [[birth control]].<ref name=Weiner-ch1> {{cite book |last= Weiner |first= Tim |author-link= Tim Weiner |title= Enemies – A history of the FBI |year= 2012 |publisher= Random House |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-679-64389-0 |edition= 1 |chapter= Anarchy}} </ref> ==Department of Justice== [[File:J. Edgar Hoover cph.3b10753.jpg|thumb|Hoover in 1932]] ===War Emergency Division=== Immediately after getting his [[LL.M.]] degree, Hoover was hired by the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] to work in the War Emergency Division.<ref name="Gentry p. 68"> {{harvnb |Gentry |2001 |p=68}} </ref> He accepted the clerkship on July 27, 1917, aged 22. The job paid $990 a year (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|990|1917|r=-2}}}} in {{CURRENTYEAR}} dollars) and was exempt from the draft.<ref name="Gentry p. 68" /> Hoover soon became the head of the Division's Alien Enemy Bureau, authorized by President [[Woodrow Wilson]] at the beginning of [[World War I]] to arrest and jail allegedly disloyal foreigners without trial.<ref name="Weiner-ch1" /> He received additional authority from the [[Espionage Act of 1917|1917 Espionage Act]]. Out of a list of 1,400 suspicious Germans living in the U.S., the Bureau arrested 98 and designated 1,172 as arrestable.<ref name="Weiner-ch3" /> ===Bureau of Investigation=== ====Head of the Radical Division==== In August 1919, the 24-year-old Hoover became head of the Bureau of Investigation's new General Intelligence Division, also known as the Radical Division because its goal was to monitor and disrupt the work of domestic radicals.<ref name=Weiner-ch3> {{cite book |last= Weiner |first= Tim |author-link= Tim Weiner |title= Enemies – A history of the FBI |year= 2012 |publisher= Random House |location= New York, NY |isbn= 978-0-679-64389-0 |edition= 1 |chapter= Traitors}} </ref> America's [[First Red Scare]] was beginning, and one of Hoover's first assignments was to carry out the [[Palmer Raids]].<ref name="murray"> {{cite book |title= Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919–1920 |url= https://archive.org/details/redscarestudyinn00murr |url-access= registration |last= Murray |first= Robert K. |year= 1955 |publisher= University of Minnesota Press |location= Minneapolis, MN |isbn= 978-0-8166-5833-6 |page= [https://archive.org/details/redscarestudyinn00murr/page/193 193]}} </ref> Hoover and his chosen assistant, George Ruch,<ref> Ruch was one of two people to name their own sons J. Edgar, and complained of the idea that radicals should "be allowed to speak and write as they like." (Summers, 2011) </ref> monitored a variety of U.S. radicals. Targets during this period included [[Marcus Garvey]];<ref name=Ellis1994> {{cite journal |last= Ellis |first= Mark |title= J. Edgar Hoover and the 'Red Summer' of 1919 |journal= Journal of American Studies |date= April 1994 |volume= 28 |issue= 1 |pages= 39–59 |jstor= 27555783 |quote=Hoover asked Anthony Caminetti, the Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, to consider deporting Garvey, forwarding an anonymous letter from New York about Garvey's alleged crookedness. Meanwhile, George Ruch placed Garvey at the top of a new central list of deportable radicals. ... Hoover ordered a new investigation of Garvey's "aggressive activities" and the preparation of a deportation case. ... eventually, in 1923, when Hoover was Assistant Director and Chief of the [[Bureau of Investigation|BI]], he nailed Garvey for mail fraud. Garvey was imprisoned in February 1925 and deported to Jamaica in November 1927. |doi= 10.1017/S0021875800026554 |s2cid= 145343194 }} </ref> [[Rose Pastor Stokes]] and [[Cyril Briggs]];<ref name=Kornweibel1998> {{cite book|last= Kornweibel Jr. |first= Theodore |title= Seeing Red: Federal Campaigns Against Black Militancy, 1919–1925 |year= 1998 |publisher= Indiana University Press |location= Bloomington |isbn= 9780253333377 |chapter-url= {{Google books|7Br3bZZzcv8C|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |page= [https://archive.org/details/seeingredfederal00korn/page/145 145] |chapter= The Most Colossal Conspiracy against the United States |quote= Convinced that the ''crusader'' was 'financed by the Communist Party,' agents described Briggs as one of Rose Pastor Stokes' 'able assistants in this work.' |url= https://archive.org/details/seeingredfederal00korn/page/145 }} </ref> [[Emma Goldman]] and [[Alexander Berkman]];<ref name=HooverMemo23Aug1919> {{cite web |last= Hoover |first= J. Edgar |title= Memorandum for Mr. Creighton |url= http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/goldman/Exhibition/deportation.html |work= Berkeley Digital Library: War Resistance, Anti-Militarism, and Deportation, 1917–1919 |publisher= Department of Justice |access-date= August 15, 2012 |location= Washington, D.C. |date= August 23, 1919 |quote=Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman are, beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country and if permitted to return to the community will result in undue harm. }} </ref> and future Supreme Court justice [[Felix Frankfurter]], who, Hoover maintained, was "the most dangerous man in the United States".<ref name=Summers2011> {{cite news |last= Summers |first= Anthony |title= The secret life of J Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi |access-date= August 15, 2012 |newspaper= The Observer |date= December 31, 2011 |location= London, UK}} </ref> In 1920, at D.C.'s Federal Lodge No. 1 in Washington, D.C., the 25-year-old Hoover was initiated as a [[Freemason]].<ref>{{cite web|title= A few famous freemasons |website=Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon |url=http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180926124632/http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/textfiles/famous.html|archive-date=September 26, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Famous Masons in History |website=Matawan Lodge No. 192 F&AM |url=http://www.matawanlodge.org/famous.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080510153526/http://www.matawanlodge.org/famous.htm|archive-date=May 10, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title= Famous Masons |website=Penrhyn Gold Hill #32 |publisher=Mastermason.com |url=http://mastermason.com/PGH32/famousmasons.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104173702/http://mastermason.com/PGH32/famousmasons.html|archive-date=January 4, 2016}}</ref> He went on to join the [[Scottish Rite]] in which he was made a 33rd Degree Inspector General Honorary in 1955.<ref>{{cite web|title=17 Of The Most Influential Freemasons Ever|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-influential-freemasons-2014-3?IR=T#earl-warren--sequoia-lodge-no-349-oakland-1919-12 |first1=Christina |last1=Sterbenz |first2=Robert |last2=Johnson |date=March 20, 2014|website=Business Insider|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122015117/https://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-influential-freemasons-2014-3?IR=T|archive-date=November 22, 2015|access-date=September 30, 2018}}</ref> ====Head of the Bureau of Investigation==== In 1921, Hoover rose in the [[Bureau of Investigation]] to deputy head, and in 1924 the Attorney General made him the acting director. On May 10, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge appointed Hoover as the fifth Director of the Bureau of Investigation, partly in response to allegations that the prior director, [[William J. Burns]], was involved in the [[Teapot Dome|Teapot Dome scandal]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/04/president-seeks-to-retain-hoover.html|title=President Seeks to Retain Hoover|last=Lewis|first=Anthony|date=May 4, 1964|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314042939/https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/04/president-seeks-to-retain-hoover.html|archive-date=March 14, 2018|url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref> {{cite web |url= https://www.fbi.gov/history/directors/william-j-burns |title= William J. Burns, August 22, 1921 – June 14, 1924 |website= Federal Bureau of Investigation |access-date= January 19, 2017}}</ref> When Hoover took over the Bureau of Investigation, it had approximately 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents.<ref> {{cite book |title= Encyclopedia of United States National Security |last= Samuels |first= Richard J. |date= December 21, 2005 |publisher= SAGE |isbn= 9780761929277 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FmI5DQAAQBAJ&pg=PT292 |language= en}}</ref> Hoover fired all female agents and banned the future hiring of them.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Poster|first1=Winifred R.|title=Cybersecurity needs women|issue=7698|journal=Nature|volume=555|pages=577–580|doi=10.1038/d41586-018-03327-w|pmid=29595805|date=March 26, 2018|bibcode=2018Natur.555..577P|doi-access=free}}</ref>[[File:Director_Hoover_1940_Office.jpg|thumb|upright|Hoover in 1940]] Hoover was sometimes unpredictable in his leadership. He frequently fired Bureau agents, singling out those he thought "looked stupid like truck drivers," or whom he considered "pinheads".<ref> {{cite book |last= Schott |first= Joseph L. |title= No Left Turns: The FBI in Peace & War |url= https://archive.org/details/noleftturns0000scho |url-access= registration |publisher= Praeger |year= 1975|isbn= 978-0-275-33630-1}}</ref> He also relocated agents who had displeased him to career-ending assignments and locations. [[Melvin Purvis]] was a prime example: Purvis was one of the most effective agents in capturing and breaking up 1930s gangs, and it is alleged that Hoover maneuvered him out of the Bureau because he was envious of the substantial public recognition Purvis received.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Purvis|first1= Alston|last2= Tresinowski|first2= Alex|title= The Vendetta: FBI Hero Melvin Purvis's War against Crime and J. Edgar Hoover's War Against Him|url= https://archive.org/details/vendettafbiherom00purv/page/183|url-access= registration|publisher= Public Affairs|year= 2005|pages= [https://archive.org/details/vendettafbiherom00purv/page/183 183+]|isbn= 978-1-58648-301-2}}</ref> In December 1929, Hoover oversaw the protection detail for the Japanese Naval Delegation who were visiting Washington, D.C., on their way to attend negotiations for the [[London Naval Treaty|1930 London Naval Treaty]] (officially called Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament). The Japanese delegation was greeted at [[Washington Union Station|Washington Union (train) Station]] by U.S. Secretary of State [[Henry L. Stimson]] and the Japanese Ambassador [[Katsuji Debuchi]]. The Japanese delegation then visited the White House to meet with President [[Herbert Hoover]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dec. 23, 1929 – J. Edgar Hoover oversees the protection detail for the visiting Japanese Naval Delegation in Washington, D.C. – U.S. Secretary of State Stimson and the Japanese Ambassador Debuchi greet the visitors and escort them to the White House to meet with President Hoover|url=https://theemperorandthespy.com/2020/07/dec-23-1929-j-edgar-hoover-oversees-the-protection-detail-for-the-visiting-japanese-naval-delegation-in-washington-d-c-u-s-secretary-of-state-stimson-and-the-japanese-ambassador-debuchi-gree/|website=TheEmperorAndTheSpy.com|date=July 8, 2019}}</ref> ===Depression-era gangsters=== In the early 1930s, criminal gangs carried out large numbers of bank robberies in the [[Midwest]]. They used their superior firepower and fast getaway cars to elude local law enforcement agencies and avoid arrest. Many of these criminals frequently made newspaper headlines across the United States, particularly [[John Dillinger]], who became famous for leaping over bank cages, and repeatedly escaping from [[jails]] and police traps.{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=154–157}} The robbers operated across state lines, and Hoover pressed to have their crimes recognized as federal offenses so that he and his men would have the authority to pursue them and get the credit for capturing them. Initially, the Bureau suffered some embarrassing foul-ups, in particular with Dillinger and his conspirators. A raid on a summer lodge in [[Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin]], called "[[Little Bohemia Lodge|Little Bohemia]]", left a Bureau agent and a civilian bystander dead and others wounded; all the gangsters escaped.{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=159-160}} [[File:Depression era gangsters.ogg|thumb|left|Video clips of famous [[Depression Era]] gangsters, including [[Pretty Boy Floyd]], [[Baby Face Nelson]], and [[Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)|Machine Gun Kelly]].]] Hoover realized that his job was then on the line, and he pulled out all stops to capture the culprits. In late July 1934, Special Agent Melvin Purvis, the Director of Operations in the Chicago office, received a tip on Dillinger's whereabouts that paid off when Dillinger was located, ambushed, and killed by Bureau agents outside the [[Biograph Theater]].<ref name="John Dillinger">{{cite news |last= Leroux |first= Charles |title= John Dillinger's death |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-johndillinger-story-story.html |access-date= October 26, 2013 |newspaper= Chicago Tribune |date= July 22, 1934 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140812225137/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-johndillinger-story-story.html |archive-date= August 12, 2014 |url-status= dead }}</ref> Hoover was credited for overseeing several highly publicized captures or shootings of outlaws and [[bank robbers]]. These included those of [[Machine Gun Kelly (gangster)|Machine Gun Kelly]] in 1933,{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=153–154}} of Dillinger in 1934,<ref name="John Dillinger"/> and of [[Alvin Karpis]] in 1936,{{sfn|Gage|2022|p=201}} which led to the Bureau's powers being broadened. In 1935, the Bureau of Investigation was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). It was not simply a name change. A great deal of restructuring was done. In fact, Hoover visited the lab of Canadian forensic scientist [[Wilfrid Derome]] twice – in 1929 and 1932 – to plan the foundation of his own FBI laboratory in the United States.<ref name="Beaudoin2011">{{cite journal | vauthors = Beaudoin F | title = Wilfrid Derome, ''terreur de la classe criminelle'' [Wilfrid Derome, terror of the criminal class] | journal = Journal de la Criminalistique | volume = 1 | issue = 3 | pages = 98–100 | date = 2011}}</ref> In 1939, the FBI became pre-eminent in domestic intelligence, thanks in large part to changes made by Hoover, such as expanding and combining fingerprint files in the Identification Division, to compiling the largest collection of fingerprints to date,<ref> {{cite news |title= More Fingerprints Called Necessary ... Hoover Urges Criminologists at Rochester to File Records in the Capital Bureau |url= https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0612FD385F11738DDDAA0A94DF405B818FF1D3 |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= July 23, 1931 |access-date= April 17, 2008}} </ref><ref> {{cite news |title= Washington Develops a World Clearing House For Identifying Criminals by Fingerprints |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1932/08/10/archives/washington-develops-a-world-clearing-house-for-identifying.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= August 10, 1932 |access-date= April 17, 2008 |quote=Through the medium of the fingerprint, the Department of Justice is developing an international clearinghouse for the identification of criminals. }} </ref> and Hoover's help to expand the FBI's recruitment and create the [[FBI Laboratory]], a division established in 1932 to examine and analyze [[evidence]] found by the FBI.{{sfn|Gage|2022|pp=126, 135}} ===American Mafia=== During the 1930s, Hoover persistently denied the existence of [[organized crime]], despite numerous organized crime shootings as [[American Mafia|Mafia]] groups struggled for control of the lucrative profits deriving from illegal alcohol sales during [[Prohibition in the United States|Prohibition]], and later for control of prostitution, [[illegal drugs]] and other criminal enterprises.<ref> {{cite news |author= Sifakis, Carl |title= The Mafia Encyclopedia |location= New York |publisher= Facts on File |year= 1999 |page= 127}} </ref> Hoover was reluctant to pursue the Mafia as he knew that organized crime investigations typically required excessive man hours while resulting in a relatively small number of arrests. He also feared that placing underpaid FBI agents—who had a starting annual salary $5,500 in the mid 1950s—in close contact with wealthy mobsters could undermine the FBI's reputation of incorruptibility.<ref name="FBI in Boston">[https://www.crimemagazine.com/fbi-boston-hoover-lies-and-murder The FBI in Boston: Hoover, Lies and Murder] George Hassett, ''Crime Magazine'' (May 13, 2013) {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20250416033311/https://www.crimemagazine.com/fbi-boston-hoover-lies-and-murder |date=April 16, 2025 }}</ref> Many writers believe Hoover's denial of the Mafia's existence and his failure to use the full force of the FBI to investigate it were due to Mafia gangsters [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Frank Costello]]'s possession of embarrassing photographs of Hoover in the company of his ''protégé'', FBI Deputy Director [[Clyde Tolson]].<ref name="Summers1993"/>{{page needed|date=April 2019}} Other writers believe Costello corrupted Hoover by providing him with horseracing tips, passed through a mutual friend, gossip columnist [[Walter Winchell]].<ref name="Giancana"> {{cite news |author= Giancana, Charles |title= Double Cross |location= New York |publisher= Time Warner Books |year= 1992 |page= 280 approximate}} </ref> Hoover had a reputation as "an inveterate horseplayer" and was known to send Special Agents to place $100 bets for him.<ref name="Sifakis, p.127">Sifakis, p.127.</ref> Hoover once said the Bureau had "much more important functions" than arresting bookmakers and gamblers.<ref name="Sifakis, p.127"/> Although Hoover built the reputation of the FBI arresting bank robbers in the 1930s, his main interest had always been [[Anti-communism in the United States|Communist subversion]], and during the [[Cold War]] he was able to focus the FBI's attention on these investigations. From the mid-1940s through the mid-1950s, he paid little attention to criminal [[vice]] rackets such as illegal drugs, prostitution, [[extortion]], and flatly denied the existence of the Mafia in the United States. In the 1950s, evidence of the FBI's unwillingness to investigate the Mafia became a topic of public criticism. After the [[Apalachin meeting]] of crime bosses in 1957, Hoover could no longer deny the existence of a nationwide crime syndicate. In fact, [[American Mafia|Cosa Nostra]]'s control of the Syndicate's many branches operating criminal activities throughout North America prevailed and was heavily reported in popular newspapers and magazines.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Anti-Mobster Weapons Sought |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=fplSAAAAIBAJ&pg=3325,3403826 |access-date=May 28, 2012 |newspaper=St. Petersburg Times |date=January 28, 1961 }}</ref> Hoover created the "Top Hoodlum Program" and went after the syndicate's top bosses throughout the country.<ref>{{cite news |last=Adams |first=Jack |title=Hoodlums Run Into Black Days Since Federal Drive Started |newspaper=The Tuscaloosa News |pages=11 |agency=Associated Press |date=March 8, 1959 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6fkcAAAAIBAJ&pg=7406,1014250 |access-date=May 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-19-mn-54360-story.html|title=Busted Hoodlum Conclave Made N.Y. Hamlet a 'Crime Shrine|date=November 19, 2000|work=Los Angeles Times}}</ref> ===Investigation of subversion and radicals=== [[File:Lennon FBI Files Before HQ-11p1.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.15|alt=Document with some text blacked out. |Hoover investigated ex-Beatle [[John Lennon]] by putting the singer under surveillance, and Hoover wrote this letter to [[Richard Kleindienst]], the [[US Attorney General]] in 1972. A 25-year battle by historian [[Jon Wiener]] under the [[Freedom of Information Act (United States)|Freedom of Information Act]] eventually resulted in the release of documents related to John Lennon, such as this one.]] Hoover was concerned about what he claimed was [[subversion]], and under his leadership the FBI investigated tens of thousands of suspected subversives and radicals. According to critics, Hoover tended to exaggerate the dangers of these alleged [[subversives]] and many times overstepped his bounds in his pursuit of eliminating that perceived threat.<ref name="CoxTheo" /> [[William G. Hundley]], a Justice Department prosecutor, joked that Hoover's investigations had actually helped the American communist movement survive, as Hoover's "informants were nearly the only ones that paid the party dues."<ref> {{cite news |title= Lawyer William G. Hundley, 80 [obituary] |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |author= Adam Bernstein |date= June 14, 2006 |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061301681.html |access-date= June 21, 2015}} </ref> Due to the FBI's aggressive targeting, by 1957 the membership of the [[Communist Party USA]] (CPUSA) had dwindled to less than 10,000, of whom some 1,500 were informants for the FBI.<ref>Gentry, Kurt, ''J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets''. W. W. Norton & Company 1991. P. 442. {{ISBN|0-393-02404-0}}.</ref> ====Florida and Long Island U-boat landings==== {{main|Operation Pastorius}} The FBI investigated rings of German saboteurs and spies starting in the late 1930s and had primary responsibility for counterespionage. The first arrests of German agents were made in 1938 and continued throughout World War II.<ref> {{cite book|author= [[William Breuer|Breuer, William]] |title= Hitler's Undercover War |location= Florida & New York |publisher= St. Martin's Press |date= 1989 |isbn= 978-0-312-02620-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/hitlersundercove00breu }} </ref> In the [[Ex parte Quirin|Quirin]] affair during World War II, German [[U-boat]]s set two small groups of Nazi agents ashore in Florida and on [[Long Island]] to cause acts of [[sabotage]] within the country. The two teams were apprehended after one of the agents contacted the FBI and told them everything – he was also charged and convicted.<ref> {{cite journal |last= Ardman |first= Harvey |title= German Saboteurs Invade America in 1942 |journal= World War II Magazine |date= February 1997 |url= https://www.historynet.com/world-war-ii-german-saboteurs-invade-america-in-1942.htm}} </ref> ====Wiretapping==== During this time period, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], out of concern over Nazi agents in the United States, gave "qualified permission" to [[wiretap]] persons "suspected ... [of] subversive activities". He went on to add in 1941 that the [[U.S. Attorney General]] had to be informed of its use in each case.<ref> {{cite book |author= Schlesinger, Arthur M. |date= 2002 |title= Robert Kennedy and His Times |page= 252}} </ref> Attorney General [[Robert H. Jackson]] left it to Hoover to decide how and when to use wiretaps, as he found the "whole business" distasteful. Jackson's successor at the post of Attorney General, [[Francis Biddle]], did turn down Hoover's requests on occasion.<ref> {{cite book |author= Schlesinger, Arthur M. |date= 2002 |title= Robert Kennedy and His Times |page= 253}} </ref> An example of J. Edgar Hoover approving wiretaps is the [[Nixon wiretaps]]. ====Concealed espionage discoveries==== In the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Hoover the task to investigate both foreign espionage in the United States and the activities of domestic communists and fascists. When the [[Cold War]] began in the late 1940s, the FBI under Hoover undertook the intensive surveillance of communists and other left-wing activists in the United States.<ref name=":2" /> The FBI also participated in the [[Venona project]], a pre-World War II joint project with the British to eavesdrop on Soviet spies in the UK and the United States. They did not initially realize that espionage was being committed, but the Soviets' multiple use of [[one-time pad]] ciphers (which with single use are unbreakable) created redundancies that allowed some intercepts to be decoded. These established that espionage was being carried out. Hoover kept the intercepts – America's greatest [[counterintelligence]] secret – in a locked safe in his office. He chose not to inform President [[Harry S. Truman]], Attorney General [[J. Howard McGrath]], or Secretaries of State [[Dean Acheson]] and General [[George Marshall]] while they held office. He informed the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) of the Venona Project in 1952.<ref>{{cite book|url={{Google books|w_fiIQ20AIQC|page=PR40|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |title=Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy|last=Secrecy|first=United States Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=1997|isbn=9780160541193|location=Government Printing Office|pages=XL}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://johnedgarhoover.com/j-edgar-files/538/|title=J Edgar Files – Private Files Of J Edgar Hoover {{!}} J Edgar Hoover|last=King|first=Laurel|date=November 6, 2013|website=johnedgarhoover.com|access-date=December 31, 2017}}</ref> ====Plans for expanding the FBI to do global intelligence==== After World War II, Hoover advanced plans to create a "World-Wide Intelligence Service". These plans were shot down by the Truman administration. Truman objected to the plan, emerging bureaucratic competitors opposed the centralization of power inherent in the plans, and there was a considerable aversion to creating an American version of the "Gestapo".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Blain|first=Harry|date=2021|title=No Gestapo: J. Edgar Hoover's world-wide intelligence service and the limits of bureaucratic autonomy in the national security state|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/studies-in-american-political-development/article/abs/no-gestapo-j-edgar-hoovers-worldwide-intelligence-service-and-the-limits-of-bureaucratic-autonomy-in-the-national-security-state/1F85A76BD7AD0C809AA7ADE9D556CA9D|journal=Studies in American Political Development|volume=35|issue=2|pages=214–222|language=en|doi=10.1017/S0898588X21000031|s2cid=235522738|issn=0898-588X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> ====Plans for suspending ''habeas corpus''==== In 1946, Attorney General [[Tom C. Clark]] authorized Hoover to compile a list of potentially disloyal Americans who might be detained during a wartime national emergency. In 1950, at the outbreak of the [[Korean War]], Hoover submitted a plan to President Truman to suspend the writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'' and detain 12,000 Americans suspected of disloyalty. Truman did not act on the plan.<ref> {{cite news |first= Tim |last= Weiner |title= Hoover Planned Mass Jailing in 1950. |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/23/washington/23habeas.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= December 23, 2007 |access-date= April 15, 2008}} </ref> ====COINTELPRO and the 1950s==== [[File:FBIHoover.jpg|thumb|Hoover photographed in 1959]] {{Main|COINTELPRO}} In 1956, Hoover was becoming increasingly frustrated by [[U.S. Supreme Court]] decisions that limited the Justice Department's ability to prosecute people for their political opinions, most notably communists. Some of his aides reported that he purposely exaggerated the threat of communism to "ensure financial and public support for the FBI."<ref> {{cite magazine |url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879566,00.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070603001132/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879566,00.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= June 3, 2007 |title= From '''Time''''s Archives: The Truth About J. Edgar Hoover |magazine= Time |date= December 22, 1975}} </ref> At this time he formalized a covert "dirty tricks" program under the name COINTELPRO.<ref>{{cite book|author1= Cox, John Stuart|author2= Theoharis, Athan G.|year= 1988|title= The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition|publisher= Temple University Press|page= [https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/312 312]|isbn= 978-0-87722-532-4|url=https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/312}}</ref> COINTELPRO was first used to disrupt the CPUSA, where Hoover ordered observation and pursuit of targets that ranged from suspected citizen spies to larger celebrity figures, such as [[Charlie Chaplin]], whom he saw as spreading [[Communist propaganda]].<ref> {{cite book |author1= John Sbardellati |author2= Tony Shaw |title= Booting a Tramp: Charlie Chaplin, the FBI, and the Construction of the Subversive Image in Red Scare America }} </ref> COINTELPRO's methods included infiltration, burglaries, setting up illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents, and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations.<ref> {{cite book |last= Kessler |first= Ronald |author-link= Ronald Kessler |title= The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI |url= https://archive.org/details/bureau00rona |url-access= registration |publisher= St. Martin's Paperbacks |year= 2002 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/bureau00rona/page/107 107], 174, 184, 215 |isbn= 978-0-312-98977-4}} </ref> Some authors have charged that COINTELPRO methods also included inciting violence and arranging murders.<ref> {{cite book|last= James |first= Joy |title= States of Confinement: Policing, Detention, and Prisons |publisher= Palgrave Macmillan |year= 2000 |page= [https://archive.org/details/statesofconfinem0000unse/page/335 335] |isbn= 978-0-312-21777-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/statesofconfinem0000unse/page/335 }} </ref><ref> {{cite book |last= Williams |first= Kristian |title= Our Enemies In Blue: Police and Power in America |publisher= Soft Skull Press |year= 2004 |page= 183 |isbn= 978-1-887128-85-8}} </ref> This program remained in place until it was exposed to the public in 1971, after the burglary by a group of [[Citizens' Commission to Investigate the FBI|eight activists]] of many internal documents from an office in [[Media, Pennsylvania]], whereupon COINTELPRO became the cause of some of the harshest criticism of Hoover and the FBI. COINTELPRO's activities were investigated in 1975 by the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, called the "[[Church Committee]]" after its chairman, Senator [[Frank Church]] (D-Idaho); the committee declared COINTELPRO's activities were illegal and contrary to the Constitution.<ref> {{cite web |title= Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans |year= 1976 |url= http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIa.htm |access-date= October 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20061019170937/http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIa.htm |archive-date= October 19, 2006}} </ref> Hoover amassed significant power by collecting files containing large amounts of compromising and potentially embarrassing information on many powerful people, especially politicians. According to [[Laurence Silberman]], appointed [[United States Deputy Attorney General|Deputy Attorney General]] in early 1974, FBI Director [[Clarence M. Kelley]] thought such files either did not exist or had been destroyed. After ''[[The Washington Post]]'' broke a story in January 1975, Kelley searched and found them in his outer office. The [[House Judiciary Committee]] then demanded that Silberman testify about them. ===Reaction to civil rights groups=== [[File:Meeting on Detroit riots Oval Office.jpg|thumb|right|July 24, 1967. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] (seated, foreground) confers with (background L-R): [[Marvin Watson]], J. Edgar Hoover, Sec. [[Robert McNamara]], Gen. [[Harold Keith Johnson]], [[Joe Califano]], Sec. of the Army [[Stanley Rogers Resor]], on responding to the [[1967 Detroit riot|Detroit riots]]]] In 1956, several years before he targeted [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], Hoover had a public showdown with [[T. R. M. Howard]], a [[civil rights]] leader from [[Mound Bayou, Mississippi]]. During a national speaking tour, Howard had criticized the FBI's failure to investigate thoroughly the racially motivated murders of [[George W. Lee]], [[Lamar Smith (activist)|Lamar Smith]], and [[Emmett Till]]. Hoover wrote an open letter to the press singling out these statements as "irresponsible".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-aug-28-oe-beito28-story.html|title=T.R.M. Howard, an unlikely civil rights hero|last1=Beito|first1=David T.|date=August 28, 2009|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=January 31, 2018|last2=Beito|first2=Linda Royster|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> In the 1960s, Hoover's FBI monitored [[John Lennon]], [[Malcolm X]], and [[Muhammad Ali]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/muhammad-ali-fbi-monitoring-1.3899580 |title=Details of FBI monitoring of Muhammad Ali become public |agency=Thomson Reuters |date=December 16, 2016}}</ref> The COINTELPRO tactics were later extended to organizations such as the [[Nation of Islam]], the [[Black Panther Party]], King's [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] and others. Hoover's moves against people who maintained contacts with subversive elements, some of whom were members of the [[civil rights movement]], also led to accusations of trying to undermine their reputations.<ref> {{cite book |author1= Churchill, Ward |author2= Wall, Jim Vander |title= Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement |publisher= South End Press |year= 2001 |pages= 53+ |isbn= 978-0-89608-646-3}} </ref>[[File:John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and J. Edgar Hoover.jpg|thumb|Hoover meeting with President [[John F. Kennedy]] and Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]] in the Oval Office at White House.]] The treatment of Martin Luther King Jr. and actress [[Jean Seberg]] are two examples: [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] recalled that Hoover told President [[John F. Kennedy]] that King had tried to arrange a sex party while in the capital for the [[March on Washington]] and that Hoover told [[Robert F. Kennedy]] that King had made derogatory comments during the President's funeral.<ref> {{cite web |last= Klein |first= Rick |title= Jacqueline Kennedy on Rev. Martin Luther King Jr |publisher= ABC News |year= 2011 |url= https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Jacqueline_Kennedy/jacqueline-kennedys-feelings-martin-luther-king-jr-revealed/story?id=14478321 |access-date= September 9, 2011}} </ref> Under Hoover's leadership, the FBI sent an [[FBI–King letter|anonymous blackmail letter]] to King shortly before he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, indicating "There is only one thing left for you to do", which King interpreted as an exhortation for him to commit suicide;<ref name="Gage">{{cite news |last=Gage |first=Beverly |date=November 11, 2014 |title=What an Uncensored Letter to M.L.K. Reveals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141203175227/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/16/magazine/what-an-uncensored-letter-to-mlk-reveals.html |archive-date=December 3, 2014 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |work=The New York Times Magazine |access-date=July 21, 2024 }}</ref> however, King's interpretation of the letter has not been proven, with more portions of the letter being made public in 2014 which revealed that it also praised "older leaders" in the civil right movement such as [[Roy Wilkins]] and urged King to step aside and let other men lead the movement.<ref name="Gage" /> [[File:LBJ Civil Rights Act crowd.jpg|thumb|President Lyndon B. Johnson at the signing of the [[Civil Rights Act of 1964]]. [[East Room|White House East Room]]. People watching include Attorney General [[Robert F. Kennedy]], Senate Minority Leader [[Everett M. Dirksen]], Senator [[Hubert Humphrey]], First Lady [[Lady Bird Johnson|"Lady Bird" Johnson]], Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., F.B.I. Director J. Edgar Hoover, Speaker of the House [[John William McCormack|John McCormack]]. Television cameras are broadcasting the ceremony.]] The [[Church Committee]], a U.S. Senate subcommittee led by U.S. Senator [[Frank Church]] which investigated numerous controversial FBI activities, found in 1976 that the FBI's intent was to push King out of SCLC leadership.<ref>{{citation|last=Church|first= Frank|author-link= Frank Church|title= Church Committee Book III| work =Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Case Study| publisher= [[Church Committee]]| date=April 23, 1976}}</ref><ref name="Gage" /> King's aide [[Andrew Young]] claimed in a 2013 interview with the [[Academy of Achievement]] that the main source of tension between the SCLC and FBI was the government agency's lack of black agents, and that both parties were willing to co-operate with each other by the time the [[Selma to Montgomery marches]] had taken place.<ref> {{cite web |url= http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/you0int-1 |access-date= September 19, 2016 |url-status=dead |title= Andrew Young Interview – Academy of Achievement: Print Preview |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161011045322/http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/printmember/you0int-1 |archive-date= October 11, 2016}} </ref> In one 1965 incident, white civil rights worker [[Viola Liuzzo]] was murdered by [[Ku Klux Klan]]smen, who had given chase and fired shots into her car after noticing that her passenger was a young black man; one of the Klansmen was [[Gary Thomas Rowe]], an acknowledged FBI informant.<ref name="The Informant">Gary May, The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Luzzo, Yale University Press, 2005.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063001422_pf.html |newspaper=The [[Washington Post]] |title=Jonathan Yardley |access-date=April 30, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504041637/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/30/AR2005063001422_pf.html |archive-date=May 4, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> The FBI spread rumors that Liuzzo was a member of the CPUSA and had abandoned her children to have sexual relationships with African Americans involved in the civil rights movement.<ref name="uua">{{cite web |url=http://www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/violaliuzzo.html |title=Viola Liuzzo |author=Joanne Giannino |work=Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography |access-date=September 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081227131648/http://www25-temp.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/violaliuzzo.html |archive-date=December 27, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="urlRearview Mirror">{{cite web |url=http://www.detroitnews.com/history/viola/viola.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990427180231/http://www.detroitnews.com/history/viola/viola.htm |archive-date=April 27, 1999 |title=The Detroit housewife who moved a nation toward racial justice |author=Kay Houston |work= [[The Detroit News]], Rearview Mirror}}</ref> FBI records show that Hoover personally communicated these insinuations to President Lyndon B. Johnson.<ref name="plantingseeds">{{cite web |url=http://www.plantingseedsmedia.com/violaliuzzo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223045502/http://www.plantingseedsmedia.com/violaliuzzo.html |archive-date=February 23, 2006 |title=Uncommon Courage: The Viola Liuzzo Story}}</ref><ref name="Stanton">{{cite book |author=Mary Stanton |title=From Selma to Sorrow: The Life and Death of Viola Liuzzo |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year= 2000 |page=190}}</ref> Nevertheless, three Klansmen would be convicted in a federal trial for Liuzzo's murder in December 1965.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/on-this-day-in-1965-kkk-members-are-convicted-of-killing-civil-rights-activist/|title=On this day in 1965: KKK members are convicted of killing civil rights activist|first=Ken|last=Coleman|publisher=Michigan Advance|date=December 3, 2021|accessdate=July 24, 2024}}</ref> Hoover also personally ordered to cease the Federal inquiry into the 1963 [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing]] by members of the Ku Klux Klan that killed four girls. By May 1965, local investigators and the FBI had identified suspects in the bombing and witnesses,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://blackhistorycollection.org/2014/09/30/murderer-of-4-birmingham-girls-found-guilty-38-yrs-later/ |access-date=May 28, 2019 |work=blackhistorycollection.org |first=Chris |last=Preitauer |title=Murderer Of 4 Birmingham Girls Found Guilty (38 yrs later) |date=September 30, 2014 }}</ref> and this information was relayed to Hoover.<ref name="wsws.org May 5, 2001">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/05/birm-m05.html |work=[[World Socialist Web Site]] |date=May 5, 2001 |access-date=May 27, 2019 |title=Former Klansman convicted in deadly 1963 bombing of Birmingham, Alabama church |first=Kate |last=Randall }}</ref> No prosecutions of the four suspects ensued even though the evidence was reportedly "so strong that even a white Alabama jury would convict".<ref name=rounding>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/13/opinion/rounding-up-the-16th-street-suspects.html |title=Rounding Up the 16th Street Suspects |first=Howell |last=Raines |date=July 13, 1997 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=September 8, 2019 }}</ref> There had been a history of mistrust between local and federal investigators.<ref name="Al.com May 23, 2002">{{Cite web |work=[[Al.com]] |first=Chanda |last=Temple |url=http://www.al.com/specialreport/index.ssf?bombing%2Fbhm_cherry.html |title=Cherry convicted: Jury verdict in bombing hailed as 'justice finally' |access-date=February 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150921001131/http://www.al.com/specialreport/index.ssf?bombing%2Fbhm_cherry.html |archive-date=September 21, 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hoover wrote in a memo that the chances of a conviction were remote and told his agents not to share their results with federal or state prosecutors. In 1968, the FBI formally closed their investigation into the bombing without filing charges against any of their named suspects. The files were [[Record sealing|sealed]] by order of Hoover.<ref name=waddell>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/that-which-might-have-bee_b_3927505 |title="That Which Might Have Been, Birmingham, 1963": 50 Year Anniversary |work=[[HuffPost]] |date=September 15, 2013 |first=Amy |last=Waddell |access-date=May 27, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/magazine/the-birmingham-bombing.html |title=The Birmingham Bombing |first=Howell |last=Raines |author-link=Howell Raines |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 24, 1983 }}</ref> Hoover in 1970 personally authorized [[Black bag operation|"black-bag" jobs]] against the [[Weather Underground]] per testimony from [[William C. Sullivan]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Robinson |first=Timothy S. |date=July 13, 1978 |title=Testimony Cites Hoover Approval of Black-Bag Jobs |language=en-US |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/07/13/testimony-cites-hoover-approval-of-black-bag-jobs/6aada29d-5984-4ed8-adae-4f730cd2584e/ |access-date=September 12, 2022 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> ===Late career and death=== One of his biographers, Kenneth Ackerman, wrote that the allegation that Hoover's secret files kept presidents from firing him "is a myth".<ref name="Ackerman"> {{cite news |last= Ackerman |first= Kenneth |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-j-edgar-hoover/2011/11/07/gIQASLlo5M_story.html |title= Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover |newspaper= The Washington Post |date= November 9, 2011}} </ref> President [[Richard Nixon]] was recorded in 1971 as stating that one of the reasons he would not fire Hoover was that he was afraid of Hoover's reprisals against him.<ref> {{cite news |first= Michael |last= Wines |title= Tape Shows Nixon Feared Hoover |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/05/us/tape-shows-nixon-feared-hoover.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= June 5, 1991}} </ref> Similarly, Presidents Harry S. Truman and John F. Kennedy considered dismissing Hoover as FBI Director, but ultimately concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great.<ref name="Hack2007">{{Harvard citation no brackets|Hack|2007}}</ref> In 1964, Hoover's FBI investigated [[Jack Valenti]], a special assistant and confidant of President Lyndon Johnson, married to Johnson's personal secretary, but who allegedly maintained a gay relationship with a commercial photographer friend.<ref> {{cite news |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803819.html |title= Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI |first= Joe |last= Stephens |location= Washington, D.C. |newspaper= The Washington Post |date= February 19, 2009}} </ref> Hoover personally directed the FBI investigation of the [[assassination of President John F. Kennedy]]. In 1964, just days before Hoover testified in the earliest stages of the [[Warren Commission]] hearings, President Lyndon B. Johnson waived the then mandatory U.S. Government Service Retirement Age of 70, allowing Hoover to remain the FBI Director "for an indefinite period of time".<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=106266 |title= Lyndon B. Johnson: Executive Order 11154 – Exemption of J. Edgar Hoover from Compulsory Retirement for Age |website= www.presidency.ucsb.edu |access-date= September 19, 2016 |archive-date= September 19, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160919230405/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=106266 |url-status= dead }}</ref> The [[House Select Committee on Assassinations]] issued a report in 1979 critical of the performance by the FBI, the Warren Commission, and other agencies. The report criticized the FBI's (Hoover's) reluctance to investigate thoroughly the possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the President.<ref> {{cite web |title= Report of the Select Committee on Assassinations of the U.S. House of Representatives |publisher= The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration |year= 1979 |url= https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/ |access-date= October 25, 2006}} </ref><ref> {{cite web |title= HCSA Conclusions, 1979 |publisher= The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration |url= https://www.archives.gov/research/jfk/select-committee-report/summary.html |access-date= January 1, 2012}} </ref> When Nixon took office in January 1969, Hoover had just turned 74. There was a growing sentiment in Washington, D.C., that the aging FBI chief should retire, but Hoover's power and friends in Congress remained too strong for him to be forced to do so.<ref>''[[J. Edgar]]'' (2011)</ref> Hoover remained director of the FBI until he died of a heart attack in his Washington home, on May 2, 1972,<ref name="nytobit"> {{cite news |first= Fred P. |last= Graham |title= J. Edgar Hoover, 77, Dies; Will Lie in State in Capitol; J. Edgar Hoover is Dead at 77; to Lie in State in Capitol [obituary] |url= https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0910FC3F5F117B93C1A9178ED85F468785F9 |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= May 3, 1972 |access-date= March 15, 2011}} </ref> whereupon operational command of the Bureau was passed onto Associate Director [[Clyde Tolson]]. On May 3, 1972, Nixon appointed [[L. Patrick Gray]] – a Justice Department official with no FBI experience – as acting director of the FBI, with [[W. Mark Felt]] becoming associate director.<ref> {{cite news |title= Nixon Names Aide as Chief of FBI until Elections; Gray, an Assistant Attorney General, Chosen in a Move to Bar 'Partisan' Fight |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/04/archives/nixon-names-aide-as-chief-of-fbi-until-elections-gray-an-assistant.html |date= May 4, 1972 |access-date= February 15, 2011}} </ref> Hoover's body [[Lying in state#United States|lay in state]] in the [[U.S. Capitol rotunda]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aoc.gov/nations-stage/lying-state-honor |title= Lying in State or in Honor |publisher=US Architect of the Capitol (AOC) |access-date=September 1, 2018}}</ref> where Chief Justice [[Warren E. Burger|Warren Burger]] eulogized him.<ref> {{cite news |title= Hoover Lies in State in Capitol; Eulogy Is Delivered by Chief Justice in Crowded Rotunda |author= Robertson, Nan |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= May 4, 1972 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/04/archives/hoover-lies-in-state-in-capitol-eulogy-is-delivered-by-chief.html |access-date= February 15, 2011}} </ref> Up to that time, Hoover was the only civil servant to have lain in state according to [[New York Daily News|''The New York Daily News'']].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jerry |first1=Greene |title=J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's first director, dies at 77 in 1972 |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/edgar-hoover-fbi-director-dies-77-1972-article-1.2616499 |access-date=December 28, 2018 |work=Daily News|location=New York |date=May 3, 1972 }}</ref> At the time, ''[[The New York Times]]'' observed that this was "an honor accorded to only 21 persons before, of whom eight were Presidents or former Presidents."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Times|first=Fred P. Graham Special to The New York|date=May 3, 1972|title=J. Edgar Hoover, 77, Dies; Will Lie in State in Capitol|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/03/archives/j-edgar-hoover-77-dies-will-lie-in-state-in-capitol-j-edgar-hoover.html|access-date=January 29, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> President Nixon delivered another eulogy at the funeral service in The [[National Presbyterian Church]], and called Hoover "one of the Giants, [whose] long life brimmed over with magnificent achievement and dedicated service to this country which he loved so well".<ref> {{cite news |author= Richard Nixon |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi |title= Richard Nixon: Eulogy Delivered at Funeral Services for J. Edgar Hoover |publisher= American Presidency Project |date= May 4, 1972 |access-date= June 1, 2012 |location= London}} {{verify source |date=October 2013}} </ref> Hoover was buried in the [[Congressional Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C., next to the graves of his parents and a sister who had died in infancy.<ref> {{cite news |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1972/05/05/archives/president-lauds-hoover-nixon-terms-hoover-a-giant-of-america.html |title= President Lauds Hoover; Nixon Terms Hoover a Giant of America |author= Robertson, Nan |date= May 5, 1972 |access-date= February 15, 2011}} </ref> ==Legacy== [[File:Fbi headquarters.jpg|thumb|right|[[J. Edgar Hoover Building|FBI Headquarters]] in Washington, D.C.]] === FBI === Biographer Kenneth D. Ackerman summarizes Hoover's legacy thus:<blockquote> For better or worse, he built the FBI into a modern, national organization stressing professionalism and scientific crime-fighting. For most of his life, Americans considered him a hero. He made the G-Man brand so popular that, at its height, it was harder to become an FBI agent than to be accepted into an Ivy League college.<ref name="Ackerman"/></blockquote> Hoover worked to groom the image of the FBI in American media; he was a consultant to [[Warner Brothers]] for a theatrical film about the FBI, ''[[The FBI Story]]'' (1959), and in 1965 on Warner's long-running spin-off television series, ''[[The F.B.I. (TV series)|The F.B.I.]]''<ref>{{Cite web|title=J. Edgar Hoover|url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0393890/|access-date=August 30, 2020|website=IMDb}}</ref> President Harry S. Truman said that Hoover transformed the FBI into his private [[secret police]] force: <blockquote>... we want no [[Gestapo]] or secret police. The FBI is tending in that direction. They are dabbling in sex-life scandals and plain blackmail. J. Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over, and all congressmen and senators are afraid of him.<ref> {{cite news |last= Summers |first= Anthony |title= The secret life of J. Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi |newspaper= The Guardian |location= London, UK |date= January 1, 2012 |quote= (quoting former president [[Harry S Truman]]) }} </ref></blockquote> Because Hoover's actions came to be seen as [[abuse of power|abuses of power]], FBI directors are now limited to one 10-year term,<ref>{{USStatute|94|503|90|2427}}, {{UnitedStatesCode2|28|532|In note: Confirmation and Compensation of Director; Term of Service}}</ref> subject to extension by the [[U.S. Senate]].<ref> {{cite news |publisher= CNN |title= Obama signs 2 year extension to Mueller's FBI tenure |date= July 26, 2011 |url= http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/26/obama.mueller.term/index.html |access-date= November 10, 2011 }} </ref> Jacob Heilbrunn, journalist and senior editor at [[The National Interest|''The'' ''National Interest'']], gives a mixed assessment of Hoover's legacy:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Preston |first=John |author-link=John Preston (English author) |date=January 21, 2012 |title=In defence of J. Edgar Hoover |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/9028522/In-defence-of-J-Edgar-Hoover.html |access-date=June 26, 2022 |website=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]}}</ref> {{Blockquote|text=There's no question that Hoover's record is a mixed one, but I don't think he was a demon. He's constantly being decried as being virulently anti-communist as if this was just a symptom of his paranoia. But if anything, he wasn't vigilant enough in ferreting out communist infiltration in the Roosevelt administration – we now know from KGB archives that there were dozens if not hundreds of KGB informants working inside the government. He's also regularly accused of broaching people's civil liberties - but in fact, Hoover resisted the wire-tapping activities that President Nixon wanted to perpetuate.}} The FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. is named the [[J. Edgar Hoover Building]], after Hoover. Because of the controversial nature of Hoover's legacy, both Republicans and Democrats have periodically introduced legislation in the House and Senate to rename it. The first such proposal came just two months after the building's inauguration. On December 12, 1979, [[Gilbert Gude]] – a Republican congressman from Maryland – introduced H.R. 11137, which would have changed the name of the edifice from the "J. Edgar Hoover F.B.I. Building" to simply the "F.B.I. Building";<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI|last=Olmsted|first=Kathryn S.|publisher=[[University of North Carolina Press|The University of North Carolina Press]]|year=1996|isbn=978-0807845622|location=[[Chapel Hill, North Carolina|Chapel Hill]]|pages=101|quote=Many Americans were so disgusted by the revelations about the bureau and its late director that they demanded a new name for the J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters... A week later, Gilbert Gude, a Republican congressman from Maryland, introduced a bill to change the building's name. The Post editorial board, op-ed columnists, and other citizens urged Congress to pass the bill... Although Gude's bill attracted twenty-five cosponsors, it died in the Public Works and Transportation Committee. The bill was reintroduced in two subsequent sessions but never made it out of committee.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/94th-congress/house-bill/11137?r=37&s=3|title=H.R. 11137 – A bill to amend the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Bicentennial Civic Center Act|date=December 12, 1975|website=[[Congress.gov]]|access-date=December 20, 2018}}</ref> however, that bill never made it out of committee, nor did two subsequent attempts by Gude.<ref name=":0"/> Another notable attempt came in 1993 when Democratic Senator [[Howard Metzenbaum]] pushed for a name change following a new report about Hoover's ordered "loyalty investigation" of future Senator [[Quentin Burdick]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/26/us/senator-wants-hoover-s-name-off-fbi-building.html|title=Senator Wants Hoover's Name Off F.B.I. Building|last=Johnston|first=David|date=September 26, 1993|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 20, 2018|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1998, Democratic Senator [[Harry Reid]] sponsored an amendment to strip Hoover's name from the building, stating that "J. Edgar Hoover's name on the FBI building is a stain on the building."<ref name=":1">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/2001/05/05/no-thanks-to-hoover/4fdbbadb-c7d7-4ed5-aa65-cd3a45c1ed20/|title=No Thanks to Hoover|last=[[Colbert I. King|King, Colbert I.]]|date=May 5, 2001|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=December 20, 2018|quote=Three years ago, the Senate was given the chance to delete Hoover's name from the FBI building. Hoover was denounced on the floor for his longstanding secret investigation of one of the Senate's own, Quentin Burdick from North Dakota. Hoover was slammed for his secret files, his trampling upon civil liberties and his disrespect for civil rights. "J. Edgar Hoover's name on the FBI building is a stain on the building," said Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), sponsor of the amendment to strip Hoover's name. When the roll was called on February 4, 1998, the vote to keep Hoover's name aloft was 62 to 36.}}</ref> The Senate did not adopt the amendment.<ref name=":1"/> The building is "aging" and "deteriorating",<ref name="OKeefe">[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/fbi-j-edgar-hoover-building-deterioriating-report-says/2011/11/08/gIQAo7Fm2M_blog.html O'Keefe, Ed. "FBI J. Edgar Hoover Building 'Deteriorating,' Report Says." ''Washington Post.'' November 9, 2011.] Accessed September 29, 2012.</ref> and its naming might eventually be made moot by the FBI moving its headquarters to a new suburban site. Hoover's practice of violating civil liberties for the stated sake of national security has been questioned in reference to recent national surveillance programs. An example is a lecture titled ''Civil Liberties and National Security: Did Hoover Get it Right?'', given at [[The Institute of World Politics]] on April 21, 2015.<ref> {{cite web |title= Civil Liberties and National Security: Did Hoover Get it Right? |date= April 21, 2015 |url= https://www.iwp.edu/events/detail/civil-liberties-and-national-security-did-hoover-get-it-right |publisher=The Institute of World Politics |access-date= June 18, 2015}} </ref> Some qualified praise for Hoover came from the Soviet double agent [[Kim Philby]], who spent time in Washington. Philby respected the way Hoover had built the FBI as a serious intelligence agency from virtually nothing, but [[Joseph McCarthy]] was a fake; and Hoover knew that McCarthy was a fake, but found it useful to manipulate McCarthy.<ref>Philby, Kim ''My Silent War''</ref> === White Christian nationalism === Through his 2023 book ''The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover'', Lerone Martin argues that an understated but long-lasting influence of Hoover has been to normalize "[[White nationalism|white Christian nationalism]]" in the country, Hoover framing his work with the FBI as a crusade modelled after [[Religious order (Catholic)|Catholic orders]] such as the [[Jesuits]], despite himself being Protestant, favoring religiosity among FBI members (including "spiritual retreats") as well weaponizing traditional Christian rhetoric against what he perceived to be the atheist and Communist menace to the United States, for him founded on Christian principles. Martin also says that such social conservatism was not only religious but also racial in nature, as Hoover aimed to maintain the ethnic dynamics of his days, including the legal superiority of the [[White Americans]] over the minorities.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=David |date=March 21, 2023 |title='He was certainly a racist': J Edgar Hoover and a history of white nationalism |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/21/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover-lerone-martin |access-date=August 20, 2023 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Smietana |first=Bob |date=March 10, 2023 |title=For FBI legend J. Edgar Hoover, Christian nationalism was the gospel truth, argues new book |url=https://religionnews.com/2023/03/10/for-fbi-legend-j-edgar-hoover-christian-nationalism-was-the-gospel-truth-argues-new-book/ |access-date=August 20, 2023 |website=Religion News Service |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Stanford's Lerone A. Martin on his new book about J. Edgar Hoover and White Christian nationalism {{!}} Stanford Humanities and Sciences |url=https://humsci.stanford.edu/feature/stanfords-lerone-martin-his-new-book-about-j-edgar-hoover-and-white-christian-nationalism |access-date=August 20, 2023 |website=humsci.stanford.edu |language=en}}</ref> ==Private life== [[File:Rebozo Hoover Nixon.jpg|thumb|Hoover with [[Bebe Rebozo]] (left) and Richard Nixon. The three men relax before dinner, [[Key Biscayne, Florida]], December 1971.]] ===Pets=== Hoover received his first dog from his parents when he was a child, after which he was never without one. He owned many throughout his lifetime and became an aficionado especially knowledgeable in breeding of pedigrees, particularly [[Cairn Terrier]]s and [[Beagle]]s. He gave many dogs to notable people, such as Presidents Herbert Hoover (not closely related) and Lyndon B. Johnson, and buried seven canine pets, including a Cairn Terrier named Spee De Bozo, at Aspen Hill Memorial Park, in [[Silver Spring, Maryland]].<ref> {{cite web |website= Roadside America |url= https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/3626 |title= Grave of a Petey, Little Rascals Dog |access-date= June 15, 2016}} </ref> ===Sexuality=== Rumors began circulating in the 1940s that Hoover was [[homosexual]].<ref> {{cite book |last= Terry |first= Jennifer |title= An American Obsession: Science, Medicine, and Homosexuality in Modern Society |publisher= [[University of Chicago Press]] |location= Chicago, Illinois |year= 1999 |page= 350 |isbn= 978-0-226-79366-5}} </ref> The historians John Stuart Cox and Athan G. Theoharis speculated that [[Clyde Tolson]], who became an assistant director to Hoover in his mid 40s and became his primary heir, had a sexual relationship with Hoover until the latter's death.<ref name="Cox, John Stuart and Theoharis, Athan G. 1988 pg. 108">{{cite book|first1= John Stuart |last1=Cox |first2=Athan G. |last2=Theoharis |year= 1988 |title= The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition |publisher=[[Temple University Press]] |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page= [https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/108 108] |isbn= 978-0-87722-532-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/108 }} </ref> Hoover reportedly hunted down and threatened anyone who made insinuations about his [[sexual orientation|sexuality]].<ref name="R000320"> {{cite news |first=Hank |last=Hyena |title= J. Edgar Hoover: Gay marriage role model? |work= [[Salon (website)|Salon]]|url= http://www.salon.com/health/sex/urge/world/2000/01/05/hoover/ |date=January 5, 2000 |access-date= November 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081202062520/http://www.salon.com/health/sex/urge/world/2000/01/05/hoover/ |archive-date= December 2, 2008 |df= dmy-all }} </ref> [[Truman Capote]], who enjoyed repeating [[Wiktionary:salacious#English|salacious]] rumors about Hoover, once remarked that he was more interested in making Hoover angry than determining whether the rumors were true.<ref name="Hack2007"/> On May 2, 1969, ''[[Screw (magazine)|Screw]]'' published the first reference in print to Hoover's sexuality, titled "Is J. Edgar Hoover a [[Faggot (slang)|Fag]]?"<ref>{{cite web|first= Marc|last= Davis|title= The Screw-y, Filthy World of Al Goldstein|website= thejewniverse.com|date= November 18, 2013|url= http://thejewniverse.com/2013/the-screw-y-filthy-world-of-al-goldstein|accessdate= November 20, 2014|archive-date= November 29, 2014|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141129034348/http://thejewniverse.com/2013/the-screw-y-filthy-world-of-al-goldstein/|url-status= dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L9wREAAAQBAJ |first=Mike |last=Edison|title=Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!: Of —Playboys, Pigs, and Penthouse Paupers—An American Tale of Sex and Wonder|publisher= Soft Skull Press|location=New York City|year= 2011|isbn=9781593764678 |accessdate=November 21, 2014}}</ref> Some associates and scholars dismiss rumors about Hoover's sexuality, and rumors about his relationship with Tolson in particular, as unlikely,<ref> {{cite book |first1=Mark W. |last1=Felt |authorlink1=Mark W. Felt |first2=John D. |last2= O'Connor |title= A G-man's Life: The FBI, Being 'Deep Throat,' and the Struggle for Honor in Washington |publisher= Public Affairs |location=New York City |year= 2006 |page= [https://archive.org/details/gmanslifefbibein00mark/page/167 167] |isbn= 978-1-58648-377-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/gmanslifefbibein00mark/page/167 }} </ref><ref> {{cite book|last= Jeffreys-Jones |first= Rhodri |title= Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |location=New Haven, Connecticut |year= 2003 |page= [https://archive.org/details/cloakdollar00rhod/page/93 93] |isbn= 978-0-300-10159-1 |url= https://archive.org/details/cloakdollar00rhod/page/93 }} </ref><ref name=fapp899jp> {{cite book |first1= John Stuart |last1= Cox |first2= Athan G. |last2= Theoharis |year= 1988 |title= The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition |publisher= [[Temple University Press]] |location = New Haven, Connecticut |page= [https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/108 108] |isbn= 978-0-87722-532-4 |quote= The strange likelihood is that Hoover never knew sexual desire at all. |url= https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo/page/108 }} </ref> while others have described them as probable or even "confirmed".<ref> {{cite book |first1= William A. |last1= Percy |first2=Warren |last2=Johansson |title= Outing: Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence |url= https://archive.org/details/outing00warr |url-access= registration |publisher= Haworth Press |location= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |year= 1994 |pages= 85+ |isbn= 978-1-56024-419-6}}</ref><ref name="Summers1993"> {{cite book|last= Summers |first= Anthony |author-link= Anthony Summers |title= Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover |publisher= Pocket Books |location=New York City |year= 1993 |isbn= 978-0-671-88087-3 |url= https://archive.org/details/officialconfide000summ }}{{Rp |needed= yes |date=October 2013}} </ref> Still other scholars have reported the rumors without expressing an opinion.<ref> {{cite book |editor-link= Athan Theoharis |editor-last= Theoharis |editor-first= Athan G. |title= The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide |url= https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo |url-access= registration |publisher= Oryx Press |location= Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |year= 1998 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/291 291], 301, 397 |isbn= 978-0-89774-991-6}} </ref><ref> {{cite book|last= Doherty |first= Thomas |title= Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture |publisher= [[Columbia University Press]] |location= New York City |year= 2003 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/coldwarcoolmediu00dohe/page/254 254, 255] |isbn= 978-0-231-12952-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/coldwarcoolmediu00dohe/page/254 }}</ref> Cox and Theoharis concluded that "the strange likelihood is that Hoover [[Asexuality|never knew sexual desire at all]]."<ref name=fapp899jp/> [[Anthony Summers]], who wrote ''Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover'' (1993), stated that there was no ambiguity about the FBI director's sexual proclivities and described him as "[[bisexual]] with failed [[heterosexuality]]".<ref name=iuobq/> ====Hoover and Tolson==== [[File:Hoover & Tolson.jpg|thumb|Hoover and his assistant Clyde Tolson c. 1939]] Hoover described Tolson as his [[alter ego]]: the men worked closely together during the day and, both single, frequently took meals, went to night clubs, and vacationed together.<ref name="Cox, John Stuart and Theoharis, Athan G. 1988 pg. 108"/> This closeness between the two men is often cited as evidence that they were lovers. Some FBI employees who knew them, such as [[Mark Felt]], say the relationship was "brotherly"; however, former FBI executive assistant director Mike Mason suggested that some of Hoover's colleagues denied that he had a sexual relationship with Tolson in an effort to protect Hoover's image.<ref>{{cite news|last= Lengel|first= Allan |url= http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/09/movie-depicting-j-edgar-hoover-gay-affair-rankles-some-in-fbi/ |work= [[AOL News]]|date= January 9, 2011|title= Movie depicting J Edgar Hoover gay affair rankles some in FBI|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130516120144/http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/09/movie-depicting-j-edgar-hoover-gay-affair-rankles-some-in-fbi/|archive-date= May 16, 2013|url-status=dead}} </ref> The novelist [[William Styron]] told Summers that he once saw Hoover and Tolson in a California beach house, where the director was painting his friend's toenails, but subsequently clarified that he had not in fact witnessed this himself, although he believed the story to be true.<ref> https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/9028522/In-defence-of-J-Edgar-Hoover.html</ref> [[Harry Hay]], founder of the [[Mattachine Society]], one of the first [[gay rights]] organizations, said Hoover and Tolson sat in boxes owned by and used exclusively by gay men at the [[Del Mar racetrack]] in California.<ref name="iuobq"/> Hoover [[Bequest|bequeathed]] his estate to Tolson, who moved into Hoover's house after Hoover died. Tolson accepted the [[American flag]] that draped Hoover's casket. Tolson is buried a few yards away from Hoover in the Congressional Cemetery.<ref name="boggs">{{cite book|last1= Boggs-Roberts|first1= Rebecca|last2= Schmidt |first2= Sandra K.|title= Historic Congressional Cemetery|year= 2012|publisher= [[Arcadia Publishing]] |location=Mount Pleasant, South Carolina |isbn= 978-0-738-59224-4|page= 123}}</ref> Mob leader [[Meyer Lansky]] is credited with having "controlled" compromising pictures of a sexual nature featuring Hoover with Tolson. In his book, ''Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover'', biographer Anthony Summers cites multiple primary sources regarding Lansky's use of [[blackmail]] to gain influence with politicians, policemen and judges. One stage for Lansky's acquisition of blackmail materials was orgies held by late attorney and Hoover protégé, [[Roy Cohn]], and liquor magnate, [[Lewis Rosenstiel]], who had lasting ties with the Mafia from his bootleg operations during Prohibition.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/02/06/New-book-pictures-J-Edgar-Hoover-as-drag-queen/1064728974800/|title = New book pictures J. Edgar Hoover as drag queen}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HpUaYvBsW-MC&q=lewis+rosenstiel&pg=PT11|title = Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover|isbn = 9781453241189|last1 = Summers|first1 = Anthony|year= 2012| publisher=Open Road Media }}</ref> ====Other romantic allegations==== One of Hoover's biographers, [[Richard Hack]], does not believe the director was gay. Hack notes that Hoover was romantically linked to actress [[Dorothy Lamour]] in the late 1930s and early 1940s and that after Hoover's death, Lamour did not deny rumors that she had had an affair with him.<ref name="Hack2007"/> Hack further reported that during the 1940s and 1950s Hoover attended social events with [[Lela E. Rogers|Lela Rogers]], the divorced mother of dancer and actress [[Ginger Rogers]], so often that many of their mutual friends assumed the pair would eventually marry.<ref name="Hack2007"/> ====Pornography for blackmail==== Hoover kept a large collection of pornographic films, photographs, and written materials, with particular emphasis on nude photos of celebrities. He reportedly used these for his own titillation and held them for [[blackmail]] purposes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1825-5.html|title=The FBI's Obscene File|website=kansaspress.ku.edu|access-date=November 15, 2018|archive-date=October 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024112854/https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1825-5.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> ====Cross-dressing story==== [[Lewis Rosenstiel]], founder of [[Schenley Industries]], was a close friend of Hoover's and the primary contributor to the J. Edgar Hoover Foundation. In his biography ''Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover'' (1993), journalist [[Anthony Summers]] quoted Rosenstiel's fourth wife, Susan, as claiming to have seen Hoover engaging in [[cross-dressing]] in the 1950s at all-male parties at the [[Plaza Hotel]] with Rosenstiel, attorney [[Roy Cohn]], and young male prostitutes.<ref name="Summers254">{{cite book|last= Summers |first= Anthony |author-link= Anthony Summers |title= Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover |publisher= Pocket Books |location=New York City |year= 1993 |isbn= 978-0-671-88087-3 |pages=254–255 |url=https://archive.org/details/officialconfiden0000summ/page/254}} </ref><ref> {{cite news |first= Christopher |last= Lehmann-Haupt |title= Books of The Times; Catalogue of Accusations Against J. Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/15/books/books-of-the-times-catalogue-of-accusations-against-j-edgar-hoover.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= February 15, 1993 |access-date= April 16, 2008}} </ref> Another Hoover biographer, [[Burton Hersh]], later corroborated this story.<ref name="Carroll & Graf">{{cite book |last1=Hersh |first1=Burton |title=Bobby and J. Edgar: The Historic Face-Off Between the Kennedys and J. Edgar Hoover that Transformed America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gA6xmt1I2fYC|date=2007 |publisher=Carroll & Graf|location=New York City|pages=88|isbn=9780786731855 }}</ref> Summers alleged the Mafia had blackmail material on Hoover, which made Hoover reluctant to pursue organized crime. According to Summers, organized crime figures [[Meyer Lansky]] and [[Frank Costello]] obtained photos of Hoover having sex with Tolson and used them to ensure that the FBI did not target their illegal activities.<ref name="oooavaglynd"> {{cite news |title= J. Edgar Hoover Was Homosexual, Blackmailed by Mob, Book Says |agency= [[Associated Press]] |url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-06-mn-1078-story.html |date= February 6, 1993 |newspaper= [[Los Angeles Times]] |issn= 0458-3035 |access-date= June 6, 2016}} </ref> Additionally, Summers claimed that Hoover was friends with Billy Byars Jr., an alleged [[child pornographer]] and producer of the film ''[[The Genesis Children]]''.<ref name="Summers244"> {{cite book |last= Summers |first= Anthony |title= Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover |year= 2012 |publisher= Open Road Media |isbn= 978-1-4532-4118-9 |page= 244}} </ref> Fashion expert [[Tim Gunn]] relayed a story on the radio news quiz show "[[Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!]]". Gunn's father was Hoover's speech writer, and as a child Tim Gunn and his sister were on a tour of the FBI offices when their father asked them if they would like to meet [[Vivian Vance]]. They had a pleasant meeting with a woman in Hoover's office. Reflecting on this later as adults the Gunn children realized that Hoover was not present in the office and deemed this highly unusual. Later when Gunn included this visit in his "Gunn's Golden Rules" book the Simon and Schuster legal team attempted to corroborate the story of Vivian Vance visiting the FBI offices. Her biographers could not confirm this and a search of the FBI visitor logs did not show Vance had visited. Gunn's conclusion was that Hoover was impersonating Vance the day of his visit.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.npr.org/2014/06/07/319423432/not-my-job-project-runways-tim-gunn-gets-quizzed-on-terrible-fashion |title= Not My Job: Project Runway's Tim Gunn Gets Quizzed On Terrible Fashion : NPR |website= NPR |access-date= June 6, 2024}}</ref> Another Hoover biographer who heard the rumors of homosexuality and blackmail, said he was unable to corroborate them, though it has been acknowledged that Lansky and other organized crime figures had frequently been allowed to visit the [[Hotel del Charro|Del Charro Hotel]] in [[La Jolla, California]], which was owned by Hoover's friend, and staunch Lyndon B. Johnson supporter, [[Clint Murchison Sr.]]<ref name=oooavaglynd/><ref>{{cite book|first=Peter Dale|last=Scott|title=Deep Politics and the Death of JFK|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|location=Berkeley, California|date=1996|isbn=978-0520205192|page=207}}</ref> Hoover and Tolson also frequently visited the Del Charro Hotel.<ref name="CarthDe"> {{cite web |url= http://spartacus-educational.com/USAhooverE.htm |title= John Edgar Hoover |website= Spartacus Educational |access-date= June 6, 2016}} </ref> Summers quoted a source named Charles Krebs as saying, "on three occasions that I knew about, maybe four, boys were driven down to La Jolla at Hoover's request."<ref name="Summers244"/> Skeptics of the cross-dressing story point to Susan Rosenstiel's lack of credibility (she pleaded guilty to attempted perjury in a 1971 case and later served time in a New York City jail).<ref> {{cite book |last= Summers |first= Anthony |title= Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover |year= 2012 |publisher= Open Road Media |isbn= 978-1-4532-4118-9 |page= 295}} </ref><ref> {{cite book|last= Holden |first= Henry M. |title= FBI 100 Years: An Unofficial History |date= April 15, 2008 |publisher= Zenith Imprint |isbn= 978-0-7603-3244-3 |page= [https://archive.org/details/fbi100yearsunoff0000hold/page/42 42] |url= https://archive.org/details/fbi100yearsunoff0000hold/page/42 }} </ref> Recklessly indiscreet behavior by Hoover would have been totally out of character, whatever his sexuality. Most biographers consider the story of Mafia blackmail unlikely in light of the FBI's investigations of the Mafia.<ref> {{cite book |last= Kessler |first= Ronald |title= The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI |url= https://archive.org/details/bureau00rona |url-access= registration |publisher= St. Martin's Paperbacks |year= 2002 |pages= 120+ |isbn= 978-0-312-98977-4}} </ref><ref> {{cite web |title= Did J. Edgar Hoover Really Wear Dresses? |author= Ronald Kessler |work= History News Network |url= http://hnn.us/articles/814.html}} </ref> Although never corroborated, the allegation of cross-dressing has been widely repeated. In the words of author Thomas Doherty, "For American popular culture, the image of the [[zaftig]] FBI director as a [[Christine Jorgensen]] wanna-be was too delicious not to savor."<ref> {{cite book|last= Doherty |first= Thomas |title= Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture |publisher= Columbia University Press |year= 2003 |page= [https://archive.org/details/coldwarcoolmediu00dohe/page/255 255] |isbn= 978-0-231-12952-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/coldwarcoolmediu00dohe/page/255 }} </ref> Biographer Kenneth Ackerman says that Summers' accusations have been "widely debunked by historians".<ref> {{cite news |first= Kenneth D. |last= Ackerman |title= Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-j-edgar-hoover/2011/11/07/gIQASLlo5M_story.html |newspaper= The Washington Post |date= November 14, 2011}} </ref> The journalist [[Liz Smith (journalist)|Liz Smith]] wrote that Cohn told her about Hoover's rumored transvestism "long before it became common gossip."<ref>{{cite book |first=Liz |last=Smith |title=Natural Blonde |publisher=[[Hachette (publisher)|Hachette Books]] |year=2000|page=[https://archive.org/details/naturalblondemem00smit_0/page/355 355]|isbn=978-0786863259 |url=https://archive.org/details/naturalblondemem00smit_0/page/355}}</ref> ====Lavender Scare==== {{Main|Lavender Scare}} The attorney [[Roy Cohn]] served as general counsel on the [[Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations]] during Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]]'s tenure as chairman and assisted Hoover during the 1950s investigations of Communists and was generally known to be a [[closeted]] homosexual.<ref name="ppppnav"> {{cite web |title= 9 Things to Know about 'The Lavender Scare' |url= http://www.out.com/entertainment/popnography/2013/04/26/9-things-to%C2%A0know-about-lavender-scare |publisher= Out Magazine / Out.com |date= April 26, 2013 |access-date= July 11, 2013}} </ref><ref>{{cite book|author1= Cohn, R. |author2= Zion, S. |title= The Autobiography of Roy Cohn |publisher= Lyle Stuart |date= 1988 |pages= viii, 67, 142 |isbn= 978-0818404719 |url= https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofr00cohn }} </ref> According to Richard Hack, Cohn's opinion was that Hoover was too frightened of his own sexuality to have anything approaching a normal sexual or romantic relationship.<ref name="Hack2007" /> Some of Cohn's former clients, including [[Bill Bonanno]], son of crime boss [[Joseph Bonanno]], also cite photographs of Hoover in drag allegedly possessed by Cohn.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bonanno |first1=Bill |title=Bound by Honor: A Mafioso's Story |date=1999 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |pages=166–167|quote=They were all pictures of Hoover in women's clothing. His face was daubed with lipstick and makeup and he wore a wig of ringlets. In several of the photos, he posed alone, smiling, even mugging for the camera. In a few other photos, he was sitting on the lap of an unidentified male, stroking his cheek in one, hugging him in another, holding a morsel of food before his mouth in yet another. 'Louie [meaning Lewis Rosentiel] took most of these,' Cohn said, 'at a party on a houseboat in the Keys, 1948–1949... Hoover knows about these, believe me; he's always been aware of what would happen if they ever got out.'}}</ref><ref name="Carroll & Graf" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Carlo |first1=Philip |title=Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss |date=2009 |publisher=William Morrow Paperbacks |pages=336}}</ref> During the Lavender Scare, Cohn and McCarthy further enhanced anti-communist fervor by suggesting that Communists overseas had convinced several closeted homosexuals within the U.S. government to leak important government information in exchange for the assurance that their sexual identity would remain a secret.<ref name="ppppnav" /><ref> {{cite book|author= Von Hoffman, N. |title= Citizen Cohn |publisher= Doubleday |date= 1988 |pages= [https://archive.org/details/citizenco00vonh/page/142 142–151] |isbn= 978-0385236904 |url= https://archive.org/details/citizenco00vonh/page/142 }} </ref> A federal investigation that followed convinced President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] to sign [[Executive Order 10450]] on April 29, 1953, that barred homosexuals from obtaining jobs at the federal level.<ref> {{cite news |author= Eisenhower, Dwight D. |work= Executive Order 10450|title=Security requirements for Government employment |url= https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html |publisher= The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration |access-date= May 14, 2015}} </ref> In his 2004 study of the event, historian David K. Johnson attacked the speculations about Hoover's homosexuality as relying on "the kind of tactics Hoover and the security program he oversaw perfected: guilt by association, rumor, and unverified gossip". He views Rosenstiel as a liar who was paid for her story, whose "description of Hoover in drag engaging in sex with young blond boys in leather while desecrating the Bible is clearly a [[homophobic]] fantasy". He believes only those who have forgotten the virulence of the decades-long campaign against homosexuals in government can believe reports that Hoover appeared in compromising situations.<ref> {{cite book |author= Johnson, David K. |title= The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government |publisher= University of Chicago Press |date= 2004 |pages= 11–13}} </ref> ====Supportive friends==== Some people associated with Hoover have supported the rumors about his homosexuality.<ref name="uoboqnv"> {{cite news |title= J. Edgar Hoover: Gay or Just a Man who has Sex with Men? |url= https://abcnews.go.com/Health/edgar-hoover-sex-men-homosexual/story?id=14948447 |publisher=ABC News }} </ref> According to Anthony Summers, Hoover often frequented New York City's [[Stork Club]]. Luisa Stuart, a model who was 18 or 19 at the time, told Summers that she had seen Hoover holding hands with Tolson as they all rode in a limo uptown to the [[Cotton Club]] in 1936.<ref name=iuobq/> Actress and singer [[Ethel Merman]] was a friend of Hoover's since 1938, and familiar with all parties during his alleged romance of [[Lela Rogers]]. In a 1978 interview and in response to [[Anita Bryant]]'s anti-gay campaign, she said: "Some of my best friends are homosexual: Everybody knew about J. Edgar Hoover, but he was the best chief the FBI ever had."<ref name="iuobq" /> === Alleged African-American ancestry === Since the release of the 2011 film ''[[J. Edgar]]'', Hoover's genealogy has become a topic of interest. There are theories that Hoover had African-American heritage, which have been investigated and yet unsubstantiated.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |date=2023-05-20 |title=Opinion {{!}} Five myths about J. Edgar Hoover |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-j-edgar-hoover/2011/11/07/gIQASLlo5M_story.html |access-date=2024-09-12 |work=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> There are also family stories and genealogies recorded by writer Millie McGhee in her 2000 book ''Secrets Uncovered: J. Edgar Hoover — Passing for White?'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=McGhee |first=Millie L. |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Secrets_Uncovered.html?id=eIlwAAAACAAJ |title=Secrets Uncovered: J. Edgar Hoover - Passing for White? |date=2000 |publisher=Allen-Morris |isbn=978-0-9701822-2-7 |language=en}}</ref> where she and Hoover are said to have a common ancestor. Nevertheless, their relatedness remains unproven.<ref name=":3" /> ==Written works== Hoover was the nominal author of a number of books and articles, for which he received the credit and royalties, although it is widely believed that all of these were ghostwritten by FBI employees.<ref> {{cite book |last= Anderson |first= Jack |author-link= Jack Anderson (columnist) |title= Peace, War, and Politics: An Eyewitness Account |url= https://archive.org/details/peacewarpolitics00ande |url-access= registration |publisher= Forge Books |year= 1999 |page= [https://archive.org/details/peacewarpolitics00ande/page/174 174] |isbn= 978-0-312-87497-1}} </ref><ref> {{cite book|last= Powers |first= Richard Gid |title= Broken: the troubled past and uncertain future of the FBI |publisher= Free Press |year= 2004 |page= [https://archive.org/details/broken00rich/page/238 238] |isbn= 978-0-684-83371-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/broken00rich/page/238 }} </ref><ref> {{cite book |editor-last= Theoharis |editor-first= Athan G. |title= The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide |url= https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo |url-access= registration |publisher= Oryx Press |year= 1998 |page= [https://archive.org/details/fbicomprehensive0000theo/page/264 264] |isbn= 978-0-89774-991-6}} </ref> *{{cite book |last= Hoover |first= J. Edgar |title= Persons in Hiding |publisher= Gaunt Publishing |url={{Google books|zSEiAAAAMAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |year= 1938 |isbn= 978-1-56169-340-5}} *{{cite journal |last= Hoover |first= J. Edgar |title= Red Fascism in the United States Today |journal= [[The American Magazine]] |date= February 1947}} *{{cite book |last= Hoover |first= J. Edgar |title= Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It |publisher= Holt Rinehart and Winston |url={{Google books|U503AAAAIAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |year= 1958 |isbn= 978-1-4254-8258-9}}<ref>{{cite news |first= John B. |last= Oakes |title= Conspirators against the American Way |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1958/03/09/archives/conspirators-against-the-american-way-masters-of-deceit-the-story.html |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |date= March 9, 1958 |access-date= April 17, 2008}}</ref> *{{Cite EBO|title=J. Edgar Hoover on the FBI|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/J-Edgar-Hoover-on-the-FBI-1984379|access-date=2024-11-24|last=Hoover|first=J. Edgar|year=1961}} *{{cite book |last= Hoover |first= J. Edgar |title= A Study of Communism |url={{Google books|8Jk3AAAAIAAJ|page=|keywords=|text=|plainurl=yes}} |publisher= Holt Rinehart & Winston |year= 1962 |isbn= 978-0-03-031190-1}} ==Honors== *1938: [[Oklahoma Baptist University]] awarded Hoover an honorary doctorate during commencement exercises, at which he spoke.<ref> {{cite web |url= http://www.okbu.edu/alumni/honordocs.html |title= Honorary Doctorates |publisher= [[Oklahoma Baptist University]] |access-date= September 20, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100527141759/http://www.okbu.edu/alumni/honordocs.html |archive-date= May 27, 2010}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.okbu.edu/news/2004-12-15/how-the-angells-changed-obu |title= How the Angells changed OBU |date= December 15, 2004 |access-date= September 20, 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110720024348/https://www.okbu.edu/news/2004-12-15/how-the-angells-changed-obu |archive-date= July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> *1939: the [[National Academy of Sciences]] awarded Hoover its [[Public Welfare Medal]].<ref name="PublicWelfare"> {{cite web |title= Public Welfare Award |url= http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_pwm |publisher= National Academy of Sciences |access-date= February 14, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101229180311/http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer?pagename=AWARDS_pwm |archive-date= December 29, 2010}} </ref> *1950: [[George VI|King George VI of the United Kingdom]] appointed Hoover [[Order of the British Empire|Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]].<ref> This entitled him to use the letters KBE after his name, but not to the use of the title "Sir," since that title is restricted to a citizen of countries belonging to the [[Commonwealth of Nations|British Commonwealth]]. {{cite news |newspaper= [[The New York Times]] |url= https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0C13F73A5F1A7A93C3A81789D95F438485F9 |title= George VI Honors FBI Chief |date= December 11, 1947 |access-date= February 17, 2011}} </ref> *1955: President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded Hoover the [[National Security Medal]].<ref name="ucsb">{{Cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/citation-and-remarks-presentation-the-national-security-medal-j-edgar-hoover|title=Citation and Remarks at Presentation of the National Security Medal to J. Edgar Hoover | The American Presidency Project|website=presidency.ucsb.edu}}</ref> *1966: President Lyndon B. Johnson bestowed the State Department's [[Awards of the United States Department of State#Secretary's Distinguished Service Award|Distinguished Service Award]] on Hoover for his service as director of the FBI. *1973: The newly built FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., was named the J. Edgar Hoover Building. *1974: Congress voted to honor Hoover's memory by publishing a memorial book, ''J. Edgar Hoover: Memorial Tributes in the Congress of the United States and Various Articles and Editorials Relating to His Life and Work''. *1974: In [[Schaumburg, Illinois]], a grade school was named after J. Edgar Hoover. However, in 1994, after information about Hoover's illegal activities was released, the school's name was changed to commemorate President Herbert Hoover instead.<ref> {{cite news |title= Hoover School gets a Name it can Take Pride In |newspaper= [[Chicago Tribune]] |date= June 26, 1994 |first= Christine |last= Winter |url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/06/26/hoover-school-gets-a-name-it-can-take-pride-in/}} </ref> ==Theater and media portrayals== Hoover has been portrayed by numerous actors in films and stage productions featuring him as FBI Director. The first known portrayal was by [[Kent Rogers]] in the 1941 [[Looney Tunes]] short "[[Hollywood Steps Out]]". Some notable portrayals (listed chronologically) include: * Hoover portrayed himself (filmed from behind) in a cameo, addressing FBI agents in the 1959 film ''[[The FBI Story]]''. * [[Dorothi Fox]] "portrayed" Hoover in disguise in the 1971 film ''[[Bananas (film)|Bananas]]''. * [[Broderick Crawford]] and [[James Wainwright (actor)|James Wainwright]] in the [[Larry Cohen]] film ''[[The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover]]'' (1977). * [[Dolph Sweet]] in the television miniseries ''[[King (miniseries)|King]]'' (1978). * [[Sheldon Leonard]] in the [[William Friedkin]] film ''[[The Brink's Job]]'' (1978).<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/02/16/brinks-job-is-a-winner-about-losers/49438bfe-4fee-46cc-b92d-ddf347c5c241/|title='Brink's Job' Is a Winner About Losers|last=Martin|first=Judith|author-link=Judith Martin|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=February 16, 1979|access-date=July 16, 2020}}</ref> * [[Ernest Borgnine]] in the television film ''[[Blood Feud (1983 film)|Blood Feud]]'' (1983). * [[Vincent Gardenia]] in the television miniseries ''[[Kennedy (1983 miniseries)|Kennedy]]'' (1983). * [[Jack Warden]] in the television film ''[[Hoover vs. The Kennedys]]'' (1987). * [[Treat Williams]] in the television film ''[[J. Edgar Hoover (film)|J. Edgar Hoover]]'' (1987). * [[Kevin Dunn]] in the film ''[[Chaplin (film)|Chaplin]]'' (1992). * [[Pat Hingle]] in the television film ''[[Citizen Cohn]]'' (1992). * [[Richard Dysart]] in the television film ''Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair'' (1993) * [[Kelsey Grammer]] portrayed Hoover, with [[John Goodman]] as Tolson, in the [[Harry Shearer]] comic musical ''J. Edgar!'' at The Guest Quarters Suite Hotel in [[Santa Monica]] (1994).<ref>[https://latw.org/title/j-edgar ''J Edgar!'']. [[LA Theatreworks]]. Retrieved September 28, 2020.</ref> * [[Richard Dysart]] in the theatrical film ''[[Panther (film)|Panther]]'' (1995). * [[Bob Hoskins]] in the [[Oliver Stone]] drama ''[[Nixon (film)|Nixon]]'' (1995). * [[Wayne Tippit]] in two episodes of ''[[Dark Skies]]'' (1996) and (1997).<ref> {{cite news |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0554702/ |work= Dark Skies |title= We Shall Overcome |year= 1996}} </ref><ref> {{cite news |title= The Warren Omission |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0554700/ |work= Dark Skies |year= 1996}} </ref> * David Fredericks in the episodes "[[Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man]]" (1996) and "[[Travelers (The X-Files)|Travelers]]" (1998) of ''[[The X-Files]]''. * David Fredericks in the episode "[[Millennium (season 3)|Matryoshka]]" (1999) of ''[[Millennium (television series)|Millennium]]''. * [[Ernest Borgnine]] in the theatrical film ''[[Hoover (film)|Hoover]]'' (2000). * [[Larry Drake]] in the Robert Dyke film ''[[Timequest (film)|Timequest]]'' (2002). * [[Ryan Drummond]] voiced him in the [[Bethesda Softworks]] game ''[[Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth]]'' (2005). * [[Billy Crudup]] in the [[Michael Mann (director)|Michael Mann]] film ''[[Public Enemies (2009 film)|Public Enemies]]'' (2009). * [[Enrico Colantoni]] in the television miniseries ''[[The Kennedys (miniseries)|The Kennedys]]'' (2011). * [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] in the [[Clint Eastwood]] biopic ''[[J. Edgar]]'' (2011). * William Harrison-Wallace in the [[Dollar Baby]] 2012 screen adaptation of [[Stephen King]]'s short story, "[[The Death of Jack Hamilton]]" (2001).<ref> {{cite web |url= http://www.thedeathofjackhamilton.com |title= 'The Death of Jack Hamilton' official movie website |access-date= May 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130507021516/http://thedeathofjackhamilton.com/ |archive-date= May 7, 2013}} </ref> * [[Rob Riggle]] in the "Atlanta" (2013) episode of [[Comedy Central]]'s ''[[Drunk History]]''.<ref> {{cite news |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2788120/ |work= Drunk History |title= Atlanta |year= 2013}} </ref> * [[Eric Ladin]] in the [[HBO]] series [[Boardwalk Empire (season 4)|''Boardwalk Empire'', season 4]] (2013).<ref> {{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2778300/ |work= Boardwalk Empire |title= Season 4}} </ref> * [[Michael McKean]] in [[Robert Schenkkan]]'s play ''[[All the Way (play)|All the Way]]'' at the [[American Repertory Theater]] (2013). * Sean McNall in the movie ''[[No God, No Master]]'' (2014).<ref> {{cite web |url= https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1485761/ |title= No God, No Master|publisher=IMDb |year= 2014}} </ref> * [[Dylan Baker]] in [[Ava DuVernay]]'s [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] biopic ''[[Selma (film)|Selma]]'' (2014). * [[Stephen Root]] in the [[HBO]] television film ''[[All the Way (2016 film)|All the Way]]'' (2016). * [[T. R. Knight]] in the [[National Geographic (American TV channel)|National Geographic]] television series ''[[Genius (American TV series)|Genius]]'' (2017). * [[William Forsythe (actor)|William Forsythe]] in the [[Amazon MGM Studios|Amazon]] television series ''[[The Man in the High Castle (TV series)|The Man in the High Castle]]'' (2018). * [[Stephen Stanton]] in the film ''[[Bad Times at the El Royale]]'' (2018) * [[Martin Sheen]] in the film ''[[Judas and the Black Messiah]]'' (2021). * Giacomo Baessato in the [[The CW|CW]] television series ''[[Legends of Tomorrow]]'' (2021). ==See also== {{Portal|United States|Politics|Biography}} *[[G-man|G-Man]] *[[Harry J. Anslinger]] *[[Helen Gandy]] *[[McCarthyism]] ==References== ===Citations=== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=iuobq> {{cite news |title= J. Edgar Hoover: Gay or Just a Man who has Sex with Men? |url= https://abcnews.go.com/Health/edgar-hoover-sex-men-homosexual/story?id=14948447&page=2 |publisher=ABC News |page= 2 |first=Susan |last=Donaldson James |date=November 16, 2011}} </ref> }} === General and cited references === {{Refbegin|30em}} {{cite book |first= Kenneth D. |last= Ackerman |title= Young J. Edgar: Hoover, the Red Scare, and the Assault on Civil Liberties |publisher= Carroll & Graf |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-7867-1775-0 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/youngjedgarhoove0000acke }} {{cite book |first= William |last=Beverly |title= On the Lam: Narratives of Flight in J. Edgar Hoover's America |publisher= [[University Press of Mississippi]] |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-1-57806-537-0}} {{cite book |last= Carter |first= David |title= Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked The Gay Revolution |publisher= [[St. Martin's Griffin]] |year= 2003 |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-312-34269-2}} {{cite book |last=Denenberg |first=Barry |title= The True Story of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI |publisher= [[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]] |year= 1993 |isbn= 978-0-590-43168-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/truestoryofjedga00dene }} {{cite book |first= Douglas |last=Charles |title= J. Edgar Hoover and the Anti-interventionists: FBI Political Surveillance and the Rise of the Domestic Security State, 1939–1945 |publisher= [[Ohio State University Press]] |year= 2007 |isbn= 978-0-8142-1061-1}} {{cite book |last1= Cox |first1=John Stuart |last2=Theoharis |first2=Athan G. |year= 1988 |title= The Boss: J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisition |publisher= Temple University Press |isbn= 978-0-87722-532-4 |url= https://archive.org/details/bossjedgarhoover00theo }} {{cite book |last1=Gage |first1=Beverly |title=G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0BfQEAAAQBAJ |year=2022 |place=New York |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-02537-4 |via=Google Books }} {{cite book |last= Garrow |first= David J. |author-link= David J. Garrow |title= The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr., From 'Solo' to Memphis |publisher= W. W. Norton |year= 1981 |isbn= 978-0-393-01509-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/fbimartinlutherk00garr }} {{cite book |last= Gentry |first= Curt |author-link= Curt Gentry |title= J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets |publisher= Plume |year= 1991 |isbn= 978-0-452-26904-0 |url= https://archive.org/details/jedgarhoover00curt }} {{cite book |last= Gentry |first= Curt |author-link= Curt Gentry |title= J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets |year= 2001 |publisher= [[W. W. Norton & Company]] |isbn= 9780393343502}} <small> – Total pages: 848 </small> {{citation |last= Hack |first= Richard |year= 2007 |title= Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover |publisher= Phoenix Books |isbn= 978-1-59777-512-0}} {{cite book |last= Lowenthal |first= Max |author-link= Max Lowenthal |title= The Federal Bureau of Investigation |publisher= Greenwood Publishing Group |year= 1950 |isbn= 978-0-8371-5755-9}} {{cite book |last= Porter |first= Darwin |author-link= Darwin Porter |title= J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson: Investigating the Sexual Secrets of America's Most Famous Men and Women |publisher= Blood Moon Productions |year= 2012 |isbn= 978-1-936003-25-9}} {{cite book |first= Richard |last=Gid Powers |title= Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover |publisher= Free Press |year= 1986 |isbn= 978-0-02-925060-0}} {{cite book |first= Joseph L. |last=Schott |title= No Left Turns: The FBI in Peace & War |url= https://archive.org/details/noleftturns0000scho |url-access= registration |publisher= Praeger |year= 1975 |isbn= 978-0-275-33630-1}} {{cite book |last= Stove |first= Robert J. |author-link= R. J. Stove |title= The Unsleeping Eye: Secret Police and Their Victims |publisher= Encounter Books |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-1-893554-66-5}} {{cite book |last= Summers |first= Anthony |author-link= Anthony Summers |title= Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover |publisher= Putnam Publishing Group |year= 2003 |isbn= 978-0-399-13800-3 |ref= {{harvid|Summers|1993}} |url= https://archive.org/details/officialconfiden00summ }} {{cite book |last= Swearingen |first= M. Wesley |author-link= M. Wesley Swearingen |title= FBI Secrets: An Agent's Expose }} {{cite book |last= Theoharis |first= Athan |author-link= Athan Theoharis |title= From the Secret Files of J. Edgar Hoover |publisher= Ivan R. Dee |year= 1993 |isbn= 978-1-56663-017-7}} "The Secret File on J. Edgar Hoover". ''Frontline'' episode #11.4 (1993).{{citation needed |date=April 2015}} {{Refend}} ==Further reading== *{{cite web |author= Adams, Cecil |date= December 6, 2002 |url= https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2423/was-j-edgar-hoover-a-cross-dresser/ |website= The Straight Dope |title= Was J. Edgar Hoover a crossdresser?}} * Caballero, Raymond. ''McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019. * Cecil, Matthew (2016). ''Branding Hoover's FBI: How the Boss's PR Men Sold the Bureau to America''. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2016. *{{Cite book |last=DeLoach |first=Cartha D. |title=Hoover's FBI: The Inside Story by Hoover's Trusted Lieutenant. |date=1995 |publisher=Regnery Publishing, Inc. |isbn=9780895264794}} *{{cite news |url= http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2015/09/02/how_collier_s_suggested_j_edgar_hoover_was_gay_back_in_1933.html |title= A Lavender Reading of J. Edgar Hoover |work= Slate |author= Elias, Christopher |date= September 2, 2015}} * {{cite journal | first = Dave | last = Lindorff | title = Brothers Against the Bureau | journal = The Nation | url = https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ted-hall-espionage-fbi/ | pages = 26–31 | date = January 4, 2022 | access-date = January 26, 2022}} * Martin, Lerone A. (Feb. 2023) ''The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover: How the FBI Aided and Abetted the Rise of White Christian Nationalism'' {{ISBN|9780691175119}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691175119/the-gospel-of-j-edgar-hoover |title=The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover |date=February 7, 2023 |isbn=978-0-691-17511-9 |language=en |last1=Martin |first1=Lerone A. |publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref> * Oller, John (2024) ''Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-Men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies''.<ref>[https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707146/gangster-hunters-by-john-oller/''Gangster Hunters: How Hoover's G-Men Vanquished America's Deadliest Public Enemies'', by John Oller, Penguin Random House, 2024] {{ISBN|978-0-593-47136-4}}</ref> *{{cite news |url= http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006987 |department= Opinion |newspaper= The Wall Street Journal |title= Hoover's Institution |author= Silberman, Laurence H. |date= July 20, 2005}} *{{cite magazine |url= http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,879566,00.html |magazine= Time |title= The Truth about J. Edgar Hoover |date= December 22, 1975}} *{{cite news |last= Yardley |first= Jonathan |title= 'No Left Turns': The G-Man's Tour de Force |newspaper= [[The Washington Post]] |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7055-2004Jun25.html |date= June 26, 2004}} ==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wikiquote}} *{{Gutenberg author|id=8410}} *{{Internet Archive author|sname= J. Edgar Hoover}} *{{IMDb name|0393890}} *{{C-SPAN|1015007}} *{{cite book|author=Assassination Records Review Board Staff|url=https://fas.org/sgp/advisory/arrb98/index.html|title=Final Report of the Assassination Records Review Board|date=September 1998}} *{{cite web|url=https://vault.fbi.gov/J.%20Edgar%20Hoover|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110413061457/http://vault.fbi.gov/J.%20Edgar%20Hoover|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 13, 2011|title=FBI file on J. Edgar Hoover}} *{{cite web|url= http://www.zpub.com/notes/znote-jeh.html|website= Zpub.com|title= J. Edgar Hoover Biography|access-date= April 15, 2008|archive-date= April 22, 2009|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090422024044/http://www.zpub.com/notes/znote-jeh.html|url-status= dead}} {{s-start}} {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=[[William J. Burns]]|as=Director of the Bureau of Investigation}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]]<br>{{small|Bureau of Investigation: 1924–1935}}|years=1924–1972}} {{s-aft|after=[[L. Patrick Gray|Pat Gray]]<br>{{small|Acting}}}} |- {{s-hon}} {{s-bef|before=[[Everett Dirksen]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Persons who have [[lying in state|lain in state or honor]]<br>in the [[United States Capitol rotunda]]|years=May 3–4, 1972}} {{s-aft|after=[[Lyndon B. Johnson|Lyndon Johnson]]}} {{s-end}} {{FBI Directors navbox}} {{Prohibition}} {{Lain in State (USA)}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoover, J. Edgar}} [[Category:J. Edgar Hoover| ]] [[Category:1895 births]] [[Category:1972 deaths]] [[Category:Antimafia]] [[Category:Articles containing video clips]] [[Category:American anti-communists]] [[Category:American Freemasons]] [[Category:American librarians]] [[Category:American people of English descent]] [[Category:American people of Swiss-German descent]] [[Category:American Presbyterians]] [[Category:Anti-crime activists]] [[Category:American white nationalists]] [[Category:Burials at the Congressional Cemetery]] [[Category:Christian nationalists]] [[Category:Directors of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]] [[Category:Freemasonry-related controversies]] [[Category:George Washington University Law School alumni]] [[Category:George Washington University trustees]] [[Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Lawyers from Washington, D.C.]] [[Category:People from Capitol Hill]] [[Category:Washington, D.C., independents]] [[Category:Historical figures with ambiguous or disputed sexuality]] <references />
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