Hoover has had several competent biographers since his death. None has confirmed the story about the photo of him, cross-dressed. Doesn't mean he wasn't gay--does mean that it hasn't been proven.

Nonetheless, Hoover wrecked many lives. The irony is that, with the dirt he accumulated on people in high places, and the esteem he enjoyed as the nations' "Number One Commie and Crime Fighter," Hoover could have been a real menace to democracy. But all he ever wanted was to hold onto his job. At the end of the day, he was nothing more than the consummate bureaucrat.