
J. Edgar Hoover | |
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Born | John Edgar HooverJanuary 1, 1895 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Died | May 2, 1972 (aged 77) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
Resting place | Congressional Cemetery |
Political party | Republican Independent |
Did J Edgar Hoover cross-dress in the 1950s?
In his biography Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1993), journalist Anthony Summers quoted "society divorcee". Susan Rosenstiel as claiming to have seen Hoover engaging in cross-dressing in the 1950s, at all-male parties.
What did Mrs Rosenstiel wear to Hoover’s party?
A year later Ms. Rosenstiel attended another party at the same hotel; this time Hoover wore a red dress and a black feather boa. He had one of the blond boys, who were now dressed in leather, read to him from a Bible while the other “played” with him.
What was the significance of the cross-dressing rumor most significant?
Potter argues that the cross-dressing rumor was most significant for what it reveals about the nature of gossip. Hoover was a man feared and loathed by many for his abuses of power. Homophobia became a powerful tool for attacking him.
What did Herbert Hoover wear to the trial?
"He [Hoover] was wearing a fluffy black dress, very fluffy, with flounces and lace stockings and high heels, and a black curly wig," Summers quoted Susan as saying."He had makeup on and false eyelashes." [ 1] Susan claimed Cohn introduced Hoover to her as"Mary."

Who Exposed J. Edgar Hoover?
The 15-round bout was a brilliant distraction exploited by a group of anti-war activists who set out to burgle a small FBI office outside Philadelphia and expose some of J. Edgar Hoover's secrets. Bonnie Raines was one of those activists, and she's talking publicly about what she did for the first time in 42 years.
When was J. Edgar Hoover president?
Edgar Hoover, who served as the bureau's head from 1924 to 1972.
What was the FBI originally called?
The FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation, the BOI or BI for short. Its name was changed to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935. The FBI headquarters is the J. Edgar Hoover Building, located in Washington, D.C.
What president created the FBI?
President Clinton designated the FBI as lead law enforcement agency in the case. The U.S. Marshals Service, the Treasury Department, and many other state and local agencies contributed to the investigation.
What did J. Edgar Hoover accomplish?
Edgar Hoover (1895–1972) was director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 48 years, serving under every president from Calvin Coolidge to Richard M. Nixon. His supporters praised him for building the FBI into one of the world's outstanding law-enforcement agencies.
When did J. Edgar Hoover run the FBI?
On May 10, 1924, Attorney General Harlan Fiske Stone appointed the 29-year-old Hoover acting director of the Bureau, and by the end of the year Mr. Hoover was named Director. As Director, Mr. Hoover put into effect a number of institutional changes to correct criticisms made of his predecessor's administration.
Who is the head of the FBI 2021?
Christopher Asher Wray (born December 17, 1966) is an American attorney who is the 8th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving since 2017.
When was the FBI founded?
July 26, 1908, United StatesFederal Bureau of Investigation / FoundedIt all started with a short memo, dated July 26, 1908, and signed by Charles J. Bonaparte, Attorney General, describing a “regular force of special agents” available to investigate certain cases of the Department of Justice.
What was the dress of the director in the Plaza?
A year later, Susan claimed, she again saw Hoover at the Plaza. This time, the director was wearing a red dress. Around his neck was a black feather boa. He was holding a Bible, and he asked one of the blond boys to read a passage as another boy played with him.
Why didn't Hoover pursue organized crime?
Edgar Hoover, claimed that Hoover did not pursue organized crime because the Mafia had blackmail material on him.
What did the Mafia hold over Hoover's head?
It was episodes such as these, Summers declared, that the Mafia held over Hoover's head."Mafia bosses obtained information about Hoover's sex life and used it for decades to keep the FBI at bay," the jacket of the book says."Without this, the Mafia as we know it might never have gained its hold on America.".
Was Hoover a transvestite?
Despite the clear implication in the book that her story was true and the declaration on the book's jacket that the Mafia knew that Hoover was a" closet homosexual and transvestite" and held that over his head, Summers told me that he merely reported what Rosenstiel said, along with what others claimed. He said he holds"no firm view one way or the other" as to whether she told the truth. [ 5]
Was Nixon a part of the CIA?
Nixon not only was closely affilated with the CIA, but with the mafia . Hoover believed JFK stole the election from Nixon, and Nixon was aware of this too. It would be extremely rewarding for me to communicate with Mr Summers about my ideas as I am writing stuff myself and I greatly respect his work.
Was Hoover balckmailed?
This article attacks the thesis that Hoover was being balckmailed by the Mafia. It does not offer any argument against the thesis that Hoover was seen in drag, and in fact the witness confirms her account. The statement that he could not have engaged in this activity without the word leaking out is silly, since the word demonstrably did leak out.
Was Hoover a crossdresser?
That Hoover was a cross-dresser is now largely presumed to be fact even by sophisticated people.
Who was the President who shared a bed with Joshua Speed?
Abraham Lincoln. One of America’s most iconic Presidents, Abe’ also spent a large portion of his life spooning with men. In his early adulthood, the President shared a bed with Joshua Speed – who later became a Congressman.
How many presidents have been heterosexual?
To mark Presidents’ Day, we count down 7 US leaders who faced rumours about their sexuality. There have been 44 Presidents to date – and according to official doctrine, all of them have supposedly been heterosexual. But given at least 43 of them were serving at a time when homosexuals were still oppressed, there has long been speculation ...
What happened to Walter Jenkins?
However, he dodged scandals himself when his close personal friend and de-facto Chief of Staff Walter Jenkins was outed. Ahead of the 1964 Presidential election, Jenkins was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct with another man in a public YMCA restroom in Washington DC – forcing him to resign.
When one turned over the other had to do likewise, his thighs were as perfect as a human being could?
Greene remarked of their cosy living situation: “When one turned over the other had to do likewise… his thighs were as perfect as a human being could be.”
Who accused Bill Clinton of homosexuality?
Right-wing pundit Ann Coulter famously accused Bill Clinton of being a “latent homosexual”, adding: “I think that sort of rampant promiscuity does show some level of latent homosexuality.”
Is Frank Underwood based on the Clintons?
The relationship between Kevin Spacey’s House of Cards character Frank Underwood and his wife has consistently been rumoured to be based on the Clintons.
Did Alexander Hamilton ever become President?
As fans of musical Hamilton know, founding father Alexander Hamilton never got to be President – after scandal about his tumultuous personal life. As well as his affair with a woman, doubt has also been cast over his relationships with men.
What did Hoover wear?
Hoover, whom Cohn introduced as “Mary,” was supposedly wearing a wig, a black dress, lace stockings, and high heels. Hoover went into a bedroom, took off his skirt to reveal a garter belt, and had a couple of blond boys — one wearing rubber gloves — “work on him with their hands.”.
What was Hoover's mincing step?
A 1930s magazine article, for example, describes Hoover’s mincing step. He was a bit dandyish, favoring white linen suits as a young man; he had classical statues of male nudes at his home, and one of his hobbies was antique collecting.
Why did Susan Rosenstiel go to jail?
In a 1993 Esquire article, journalist Peter Maas wrote that Susan Rosenstiel, the sole source of the cross-dressing allegations, had “been trying to peddle this story for years,” apparently because she believed Hoover had put FBI agents on her tail to help her husband during their divorce. According to Ronald Kessler, author of The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI (2002), Ms. Rosenstiel did jail time for perjury in connection with a 1971 case.
How did the Hoover story start?
The story probably got its start because of more plausible rumors that Hoover was gay. He and his right-hand man, Clyde Tolson, were constant companions for more than 40 years, even vacationing together, and both remained lifelong bachelors. (Hoover lived with his mom until she died in 1938.)
Was Hoover an old hand at blackmail?
Even if we set aside the teller’s credibility, it’s difficult to take this tale seriously. Hoover was an old hand at blackmail — he used incriminating information his agency collected about prominent people to maintain his hold on office and otherwise get his way. Would a man with so many enemies put himself in a position to be blackmailed by waltzing around a hotel in drag?
Did Hoover and Tolson have any other buddies?
Appearances notwithstanding, no one has found concrete evidence that the two men were anything other than buddies. Given Hoover’s ability to cover his tracks — his associates, with Tolson’s help, destroyed many of his files upon his death — it’s unlikely anyone ever will.
Is there cross dressing in Official and Confidential?
The cross-dressing thing, however, is a definite no. The story appears in Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover (1993), a gossipy biography by British journalist Anthony Summers, who has also written a JFK assassination conspiracy book. Summers says he got his info from Susan Rosenstiel, fourth wife of Lewis Rosenstiel, ...
Why is the cross-dressing rumor important?
Potter argues that the cross-dressing rumor was most significant for what it reveals about the nature of gossip. Hoover was a man feared and loathed by many for his abuses of power. Homophobia became a powerful tool for attacking him.
What did Hoover do to a woman?
Hoover manifested a “visceral, public hatred” for notable women, like gangster Ma Barker, radical Emma Goldman, and convicted spy Ethel Rosenberg.
Why did liberals use homosexual gossip to help bring down Senator Joe McCarthy?
Liberals used homosexual gossip to help bring down Senator Joe McCarthy because of the scandals of his gay aide Roy Cohn. According to Potter, this was part of a long-used strategy of outing, deploying “gossip about sexual identity as a political weapon that shamed the powerful but closeted.”.
What was Hoover's agenda?
His agenda shaped federal law enforcement for half a century until his death in 1972. From the Teapot Dome Scandal to Watergate, Hoover was enmeshed in some of the nation’s most notorious scandals. Meanwhile, he played down investigations of civil rights violations and dismissed the existence of organized crime.
Is Transvestite Hoover a myth?
Scholar Claire Bond Potter notes that whatever the truth of this supposed incident, “Transvestite Hoover” has become a character of American myth. And therein lies a tale of what Potter calls “sex, lies, and political history.”.
What did Hoover do after LL.M.?
Immediately after getting his LL.M. degree, Hoover was hired by the Justice Department to work in the War Emergency Division. He accepted the clerkship on July 27, 1917, aged 22. The job paid $990 a year ($20,000 in 2021) and was exempt from the draft.
What was Hoover's first assignment?
America's First Red Scare was beginning, and one of Hoover's first assignments was to carry out the Palmer Raids. Hoover and his chosen assistants, George Ruch, monitored a variety of U.S. radicals with the intent to punish, arrest, or deport those whose politics they decided were dangerous.
Why did Hoover want to have his crimes recognized as federal offenses?
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 ," left a Bureau agent and a civilian bystander dead and others wounded; all the gangsters escaped.
How old was Hoover when he became a Freemason?
In 1920 the 25 year-old Edgar Hoover was initiated as a Freemason at D.C.'s Federal Lodge No. 1 in Washington D.C., rising to a 33rd Degree Inspector General Honorary in 1955.
Why was Hoover the head of the Bureau of Investigation?
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.
What was Hoover's main interest?
Although Hoover built the reputation of the FBI arresting bank robbers in the 1930s, his main interest had always been 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-50s, he paid little attention to criminal vice rackets such as illegal drugs, prostitution, and 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.
Where was Hoover born?
Hoover was born in a house on the present site of Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, located on Seward Square near Eastern Market in Washington's Capitol Hill neighborhood .
Who was Hoover's deputy?
Hoover promoted men inclined to homosexual indiscretions, including Tolson, who had barely 18 months experience with the FBI when he became Hoover's deputy. The pair used to make "saucy jokes" about some of the other agents, like Melvin Purvis, who was a hero for arresting John Dillinger, according to Summers.
Who was Hoover's soap model?
Hoover often frequented New York City's Stork Club and one observer -- soap model Luisa Stuart, who was 18 or 19 at the time -- told Summers she saw Hoover holding hands with Tolson as they all rode in a limo uptown to the Cotton Club in 1936.
Who told Summers that Hoover was paranoid?
Monteen Ruffin told Summers that Hoover was "very paranoid" about anyone finding out, and he eventually stopped seeing the psychiatrist. She said her husband burned the evidence.
Was Hoover a cross dresser?
Hoover as a Cross-Dresser Is Controversial. One short scene in the film showed the FBI director in anguish over his mother's death, putting on her dress and beads, a nod to Summers expose that Hoover had been a cross-dresser.
Was Hoover gay?
In a 2004 biography by Richard Hack, "Puppetmaster," which was culled from the notes of Truman Capote, who had begun interviews on Hoover and Tolson's relationship, the author says Hoover was not gay, but suggests the man was vicariously turned on by the smut he collected on others.
Who was the FBI chief in 1978?
Everybody knew about J. Edgar Hoover, but he was the best chief the FBI ever had.".
Who was the Clark Gable of the FBI?
Purvis's son shared his father's 500-letter correspondence with Hoover , who teased the good-looking, blond-haired agent as "the Clark Gable of the FBI," even though he was heterosexual. Many were intimate and one was highly charged with innuendo, as Hoover referred to himself as the "Chairman of the Moral Uplift Squad.".
