Top » Gay & Lesbian

The Hoover Treatment

We've all heard the stories about J. Edgar Hoover. But apparently rumors were circulating about the autocratic FBI chief long before his very public "outing" in the 1990's. This delicious internal FBI memo, unearthed and helpfully posted online by the conspiracy buffs at The Smoking Gun (just in time for the Ellen DeGeneres outing episode, apparently), shows the absurd lengths agents were willing to go to to suppress gossip about Hoover's private behavior. Seems some schoolmarm mentioned at a bridge game that she had heard rumors that the FBI director was gay. When the FBI got wind of it, they hauled the poor woman into the office and "chastised her most vigorously" for her indiscretion. Hmmm, I wonder if J. Edgar did the chastising himself, or left it to one of his underlings. The mind boggles.

Mon, 29 Nov 1999 05:25:19 -0800