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Longtime FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, subject of a much-anticipated biopic this fall, became obsessed with discrediting a Los Angeles Times reporter he believed was preparing a story asserting that Hoover was gay.
A Times article published Monday says that in the early 1970s, prize-winning investigative journalist Jack Nelson reported on various abuses by the FBI but was not concerned with Hoover's sexuality. While there have been many claims that Hoover and close friend Clyde Tolson were lovers, Hoover always denied he was gay.
Still, convinced that Nelson was going to characterize him as gay, Hoover limited the Times' access to information and complained about the journalist to a variety of sources, calling him an excessive drinker, "a mental case," and "a lice-covered ferret." Hoover died in 1972, and Nelson continued to have a distinguished newspaper career, eventually becoming Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the Times. He died in 2009 at age 80.
Rachel Maddow referred to the matter on the "Debunktion Junction" segment of her MSNBC show Monday night, noting among other things that ferrets do not get lice. Watch here.
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Trudy Ring
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.