14. The FBI’s known files contain enough information to last scandalmongers for decades
The list of people on whom the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, maintained surveillance and kept extensive files of the information obtained is staggering. Its existence first became known to the public at roughly the same time as the Watergate scandal, and its associated scandals rattled Washington DC in the 1970s. As the names were revealed, public reaction over the surveillance was favorable or outraged, or in some cases indifferent, depending on the political leanings of the individual. Conservatives and pro-American involvement in Vietnam Americans applauded the FBI surveillance of Jane Fonda, John Lennon, Martin Luther King, and scores of others, willing to look away from the violation of civil rights since they were targeted at perceived enemies of America. Others were outraged at the idea of the private telephone communications of American citizens being intercepted and recorded by the FBI without the knowledge of a court, and without a warrant.
In the mind of J. Edgar Hoover, homosexuality was a precursor to communism, and in the lists of individuals his bureau kept on the former were suspected supporters of communist infiltration of the United States government, and the end of the American way of life. Eleanor Roosevelt was among the most famous suspected by Hoover of being pro-communist due to her sexual orientation. Hoover kept in his files the names of Congressmen and their aides, Senators, judges and lawyers, career civil servants, military careerists, members of the diplomatic corps, members of the press. FBI files were filled with the names of artists, film stars, filmmakers, college professors, and members of the clergy, as well as many others; extensive files called for, in Hoover’s mind, because anyone exploring same-sex activity was likely to explore communist beliefs and values, and was, therefore, a threat to the security of the United States.
Related: The FBI Believed That ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ Was Communist Propaganda.