Personality Analysis of J. Edgar Hoover J.

Personality Analysis of J. Edgar Hoover

J.

There are numerous sources that confirm the fact that J. Edgar Hoover, founder and the most notorious head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was a closet homosexual. While this fact in and of itself is not the main defining trait of this man, it certainly was one of them and produced a profound influence on other traits of this American leader. The most important fact about Hoover's sexuality is that it was largely hidden from the public. In that sense, then, he led a repressed life and largely had to conceal the fact that he was sexually attracted to men. As a leader of the FBI, Hoover was notoriously ruthless. He spied on numerous individuals, and was considered to have wantonly abused his power and promoted others for his own personal gain (James, 2011). Hoover's manner of dealing with stressful situations was to largely conceal his true feelings and emotions, except for on a few occasions on which he could not repress his actions. However, Hoover was a prototype for closet homosexuals; in public he exuded power and authority -- traits typically associated with masculinity -- while in private he engaged in cross gender roles such as desiring men and painting their toenails (James, 2011).

INTRAPSYCHIC DOMAIN

Due to the general state of repression in which Hoover existed and functioned for the vast majority of his life, the intrapsychic personality domain is ideal for analyzing his personality. Specifically, this personality domain "also includes defense mechanisms such as repression, denial, and projection" (Larsen and Buss, 2010, p. 16). There is a good deal of evidence that Hoover engaged in all of these defense mechanisms. As a child, virtually the only person he socialized with was his mother, with whom he lived until he was middle-aged. As such, he did not grow up pursuing young women, and became attracted to young men. What is essential to note about this fact is that Hoover used his authority as the head of one of the most notorious and powerful agencies in the country to further his own personal needs which were related to his repressed sexuality. His hiring of Clyde Tolson as his second in command, for instance, (despite Tolson's dearth of experience within the bureau) (James, 2011) was a means of perpetuating his denial of his homosexuality while still being able to sate his personal desires with a close, personal relationship with Tolson. Any attention addressed to the Bureau employee could be disguised as professional which both aided Hoover's capacity for denial and further fueled his repression, since he could not reveal such a relationship in the open.

One of the core principles of the intrapsychic domain is that it reveals basic instincts of a person in terms of his or her sexuality and aggression which "are presumed to drive and energize much of human activity" (Larsen and Buss, 2010, p. 16). Hoover's own sexuality and aggression seems to have been founded in his relationship with his mother. She continuously pushed him to be a perfectionist; one of her means of doing so was to ensure that he spent as much time around her as possible and as little time as possible (socially) around others. The most important way that the intrapsychic domain applies to a personality analysis of Hoover is in the fact that it indicates a correlation between his aggressive behavior as the leader of the FBI and his repressed sexual state which was spawned from an unusual relationship with his mother. His aggression and repression likely fueled one another with the subject largely unconsciously aware of the "processes within the person's own mind" (Larsen and Buss, 2010, p. 15,).

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DOMAIN