J. Edgar Hoover

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RFK Jr.: Dad, JFK Had to Allow Wiretapping of MLK

Presidential candidate says 'politically' they had to do it

(Newser) - Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was defending his father and uncle's approval of the wiretapping of Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of the holiday honoring the civil rights leader. In an interview with Politico while he was campaigning in Atlanta on Sunday, RFK Jr. explained that in his...

Monkee Micky Dolenz Is Suing the FBI

Dolenz wants to see what files the Bureau has on the band and its members

(Newser) - The last of the Monkees, Micky Dolenz, has filed a lawsuit against the FBI to "obtain any records" the bureau has on the band, according to the Hill. The lawsuit states that Dolenz, 77, "exhausted all necessary required administrative remedies," having submitted a FOIA request back in...

Man Who Shared 'Secret Sex Lives of the Stars' Has Died

Scotty Bowers was a self-described Hollywood 'fixer'

(Newser) - Scotty Bowers, a self-described Hollywood "fixer" whose memoir offered sensational accounts of the sex lives of such celebrities as Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, has died. He was 96. Bowers' agent, David Kuhn, said he died Sunday of natural causes at his home...

FBI Releases Hugh Hefner File
FBI Releases 
Hugh Hefner's File
Jun 12, 2019 4:37 AM CDT

FBI Releases Hugh Hefner's File

He was 'too clever' to violate federal laws

(Newser) - The FBI has released its 58-page file on Hugh Hefner—which starts with a 1955 news clipping describing Playboy as an "oversexed young version" of Esquire, Hefner's former employer. The heavily redacted file, which can be seen in full here , reveals that the agency interviewed Hefner several times...

Letter May Be FBI's Attempt to Get MLK to Kill Himself

Yale professor finds uncensored version in Hoover's files

(Newser) - In 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. received an anonymous letter assailing him as an "evil" fraud and threatening to reveal all kinds of sordid details about his personal life. Unless: "There is only one thing left for you to do," it concludes. "You know what it...

Alaskans Were Trained as Secret Agents Against Soviets

Fisherman, trappers called on in operation 'Washtub'

(Newser) - In the 1950s, the US feared a Russian invasion via Alaska—so the government trained regular folks, from fishermen to trappers, as secret agents. The plan involved coordination by J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, the CIA, and the military, the AP reports based on hundreds of partially-redacted documents obtained via...

Feds Likely Would Have Used PRISM on King

Scary thought: What if the FBI's Hoover had today's technology: Joe Johns

(Newser) - As the nation remembers Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic speech—and considers Edward Snowden's revelations—it's worth remembering that in his time, King was virtually "Public Enemy No. 1," points out Joe Johns at CNN . J. Edgar Hoover's FBI had King under heavy...

'Gay' Hoover Movie Enrages FBI's Old Guard

Retired agents not happy about J. Edgar 's homoeroticism

(Newser) - Hundreds of former FBI agents are hopping mad about Clint Eastwood's biopic of J. Edgar Hoover, which strongly hints that the first FBI director was a repressed homosexual in love with aide Claude Tolson. In J. Edgar—which stars Leonardo DiCaprio—Hoover is portrayed as an individual "who...

Clint Eastwood Grilled FBI on Hoover's Sexuality

Agents are worried about what new film will reveal

(Newser) - Was purported straight-shooter J. Edgar Hoover really a cross-dressing sexual blackmailer? Director Clint Eastwood needed to know about Hoover's sexual proclivities for his new film on the G-man—so he asked the FBI. He and star Leonardo DiCaprio were told by officials: "Vague rumors and fabrications have cropped...

Hoover's FBI Launched Gay Probe on Valenti

LBJ aide turned Hollywood figure was secretly scrutinized

(Newser) - Before his long presidency of the Motion Picture Association of America, Jack Valenti served as a top White House aide to LBJ. Recently declassified files show that, at the same time, the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover was investigating whether Valenti, who died in 2007, was gay. Although no proof...

Secret Monroe Porn Fetches $1.5M

FBI once thought it tied to JFK

(Newser) - A copy of an FBI-classified Marilyn Monroe sex tape quietly surfaced last month and sold for $1.5 million, reports the New York Post. The 15 minutes of silent footage, which the anonymous New York buyer plans to keep private so as not to make a “Paris Hilton out...

Gulags in America? Hoover Tried
Gulags in America?
Hoover Tried
Dec 22, 2007 5:56 PM CST

Gulags in America? Hoover Tried

He sought approval to jail 12,000 'disloyal' citizens without trial

(Newser) - J. Edgar Hoover wanted to round up 12,000 Americans he deemed disloyal in 1950, suspend habeus corpus, and lock them up in military and federal prisons, the New York Times reports. In a newly declassified letter, the FBI chief urges President Truman to approve the plan and tell the...

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