cover image J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime: An Historical Antidote

J. Edgar Hoover, Sex, and Crime: An Historical Antidote

Athan G. Theoharis. Ivan R. Dee Publisher, $19.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-1-56663-071-9

The author of this freshly informative study addresses the late FBI director's alleged homosexuality and the rumor that the Mafia, having acquired evidence of it, blackmailed him into leaving them alone. Acknowledging the FBI's unimpressive record against organized crime and Hoover's denial that a nationwide criminal conspiracy ever existed, Theoharis establishes convincingly that the investigation of organized crime was of secondary importance to Hoover and that his priority list was dominated by the hunt for ``subversives'' and collecting information on the illicit sexual activities of public figures to use against them. The author examines the testimony that led to the popularization of Hoover's ``homosexuality,'' including Susan Rosenstiel's questionable report of seeing Hoover in drag at a homosexual orgy hosted by former McCarthy aid Roy Cohn. He concludes that if Hoover was homosexual, which he doubts, he ``would never have put himself in a position that publicly compromised his homosexuality.'' Theoharis is the author of a highly critical biography of Hoover, The Boss. (Mar.)