March 25, 2012

• JEH

  I watched Clint Eastwood's J Edgar over the weekend and it confirmed what I've long suspected: J Edgar Hoover was a complicated man. The movie itself was pretty good although at times kinda hard to follow and understand, probably much like Hoover. The movie moves and forth over the course of 50 years. At first, Leonardo DiCaprio seems kind of awkward as Hoover but soon you forget that it is him playing Hoover. And like many other Eastwood movies, it is kind of dark both literally and figuratively but I can see why it had to be like that.

  It is hard to know what to make of Hoover; was he good or bad or both? One thing we know is that he definitely had an effect on the country. I do think that he was really good for the country at first, but eventually grew too powerful and soon started to do, well, downright evil things with his power. Of course, we don't know for sure just how much of the movie is true. Honestly, Hoover himself is shrouded in mystery and it is hard to know just what is true and what isn't true. I think we do know this, based on the fact that he went so damn far to hide things then you know that some of what he did was probably unethical and not good.

  There is also a widespread belief that Hoover was gay. His number two in the FBI was a man by the name of Clyde Tolson who was closer with Hoover than any other person in the world. They ate just about every meal together, vacationed together and pretty much did every thing else together. Neither ever married or as far as anybody knows, dated any females. They either had a legendary 50 year male friendship on a level that nobody has seen before or were gay lovers. In addition, as many people know, the rumor is that Hoover was a cross dresser. While this does not mean that he was gay, with you look at the crossdressing with the relationship with Tolson and the lack of female companionship, it certainly is a legitimate conclusion to draw that he was gay.

  Gay or not though, he was nothing if not a fascinating and interesting study. Such a complex man who seemed to make far more enemies than friends, he seemed to be obsessed with power. I'm just not sure what to make of him; surely he must have been at least somewhat good for the country but honestly, is it good to have one person with that much power?

   

  • 7:32 pm
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