Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover, By Anthony Summers
Hoover's dirty (and fluffy) laundry
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Anthony Summers' biography of J Edgar Hoover was first published in 1993, but has been reissued to tie in with the release of Clint Eastwood's big-budget movie (in which the squat, ugly Hoover is played by – who else? – Leonardo DiCaprio).
The book is more exciting, and more damning, than the film. Summers charges that Hoover, who founded the FBI in 1935 and remained at the helm for four decades, had a "crippled psyche", was "capable of great evil", enacted "a state of apartheid" in his offices, and "would have made a perfect high-level Nazi". Those are a few of the more benign accusations.
Official and Confidential abounds in juicy detail. The famously prudish Hoover was a different man in private. An acquaintance remembers him flouncing around a hotel room in a "fluffy black dress, lace stockings, high heels and a black curly wig". Others recall him participating enthusiastically in homosexual orgies.
Hoover was, in other words, a monumental hypocrite. He used his vast network of agents to persecute gay people and to blackmail philandering politicians. In a neat twist, his proclivities left him open to blackmail himself, notably by Mafia bosses who learned of his "secret life"; as a result Hoover went easy on organised crime.
Summers has no axe to grind, and he pulls no punches. This is bold, excoriating, unmissable stuff.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments