Black has had a longtime interest in the founder of the FBI. "To the conservative right," he says, "Hoover was a hero. Of course, in the gay community, you hear he was gay and a cross-dresser. I was curious where the truth lies. Here is a guy who was arguably the most powerful man in the United States in the 20th century. He held power for 48 years and, in his own way, controlled the presidents, from Coolidge to Nixon. I wanted to investigate the greatness of his youth and what he became, which was a heinous blackmailer."
Unfortunately, Black soon dispelled the cross-dressing myth. "It doesn’t take much digging," he concedes, "to find out that it’s one source. It was clear she had a bone to pick with the FBI. They intervened on her divorce and it didn’t go well for her, and she admits that to the original interviewer. That is not mentioned in any of the documentaries. Anytime you investigated these rumors, none seemed true. They were all coming from the far right or the far left. The truth was often more heartbreaking, more horrible then what people think. But he was also more brilliant than people gave him credit for.