In a release under the Freedom of Information Act, longtime Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti was among the Washington figures whose sex lives were secretly investigated by the FBI in the 1960s.
Valenti, who died in April 2007, was a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson in 1964 when J. Edgar Hoover's FBI investigated rumors that Valenti was gay, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
Apparently Hoover became suspicious when he heard that Valenti had a dress just like his.
"Hoover was in a rage", according to the files.
In another section on the same issue, Karl Ingraham, a secretary under the FBI head, reported "Hoover threw a chair through a window and kept yelling some designers name and repeatedly shouting, "He said it was a one-of-a-kind!"
"No one ever heard of the designer again so I guess he skipped the country", reported Ingraham.
Valenti had been married to Johnson's personal secretary for two years at the time. But he was suspected of having a gay relationship with a longtime friend.
When the FBI initially reported its suspicions to President Johnson, the president defended his top aide as "all right." He prevented the bureau from getting a sworn affidavit from Valenti.
Apparently Hoover, the FBI chief, was so inflamed against the designer he completely lost interest in Valenti and reportedly tore the dress to shreds.
