Three separate and well-informed sources, including a former White House press photographer and a noted researcher on the late FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, have confirmed that not only was Hoover gay, which, according to FBI agents interviewed by one of our sources, was well-known to a number of FBI agents, but was a cross-dresser, as well. Apparently, it was Hoover's fondness for male nude figurines that prompted the few FBI agents invited to visit Hoover's home to wonder about their celebrated "tough guy" director.
In addition, Hoover's longtime close association with his deputy director Clyde Tolson -- some would call it a gay marriage -- set off the "gaydar" among many seasoned FBI agents.
Hoover, who was known as "Weird Mary" by his neighbors who lived near his eerily quiet home at 4936 31st Place in northwest Washington, DC, was often spied wearing either a dress or an old woman's-style house coat while watering his flowers and rosebushes. Hoover masked his face by wearing a beekeeper's hat and face net, according to one source who often passed by "Weird Mary's" home. Hoover insisted on being called "Mary" when in the company of gay partners at his home and at parties with very exclusive invitation lists.
Hoover's homosexual and transvestite antics were also known to the Mafia, which used the information to blackmail Hoover into never waging a full scale onslaught by the FBI against its top leaders, including mob financier Meyer Lansky.
Although Hoover's relationship with Tolson seemed monoganous enough, WMR learned from one informed source that Hoover once had a homosexual relationship with a young Chilean diplomat assigned to the Chilean embassy in Washington.
"Mary" and "Franny"
A source who is familiar with the child abuse scandals of the Roman Catholic Church also revealed to WMR that Hoover also frequently swapped young males, some underage, for the purposes of sex with the gay Archbishop of New York City, Francis Cardinal Spellman, known as "Franny" in New York's gay community. Hoover and Spellman shared something in addition to young males -- a fervent commitment to right-wing politics.
The boy swapping between Hoover and Spellman was known to President John F. Kennedy through the Archbishop of Boston, Richard Cardinal Cushing, who, although a heavy drinker, was straight but despised Spellman with a passion. Cushing reportedly told Kennedy and his brothers Robert and Teddy about Spellman and Hoover. Hoover, who maintained an extensive personal file on the Kennedys, as he did a number of U.S. political and other leaders, realized that he faced a situation of "mutually assured destruction" if he exposed any of the Kennedys' affairs.
President Kennedy was not the only president to know about Hoover's secret life style. When White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman informed President Richard Nixon of Hoover's sudden death in May 1972, Nixon replied, "Jesus Christ! That old cocksucker!"