G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century

by Beverly Gage

Only Hoover and a handful of other federal officials, agents, and confidants have ever heard the recordings. (After Hoover’s death, a court order placed the tapes under embargo for fifty years, set to expire in 2027.) But they spoke a good deal to each other and to allies outside the Bureau about what they thought they heard. According to Hoover, the evening was filled with sexual activities of an “immoral + degenerate” nature, involving not only King and more than one woman but also several of his fellow ministers. One agent recalled hearing King proclaim, “I’m fucking for God!” and “I’m not a Negro tonight,” amid the many other sounds—sighs, laughter, the clink of glasses—coming from the room. A written summary of the recordings, apparently prepared by Bureau officials in early 1968, added detail to those recollections. According to the document, written in a tone of bristling outrage, the dozen or so people gathered in the room that night engaged in a fantastical “sex orgy,” complete with “excessive consumption of alcohol and the use of the vilest language imaginable.” King allegedly participated in and even joked about the full range of activity, declaring himself a proud founding member of the “International Association for the Advancement of Pussy Eaters.”