I visited the National Archives in the 1980s, when a friend of mine was an archivist in the photo collection. My friend pulled out several files of photos of J. Edgar Hoover. Among them were several black-and-white images of Hoover in women's clothing (in particular I remember a photo of him in a spaghetti-strap evening dress) in--what at least appeared to be-- public social functions, Tolson usually hovering only inches from Hoover's arm (at what film studies calls "intimate distance").
I have not followed the controversy of who has claimed what about whom. I first learned of the Hoover-astransvestite story *after* seeing actual photos in the National Archives.
by Les Wright on July 18, 2002 at 9:15 AM