412Z Winter 2026 Ernest Hemingway and J. Edgar Hoover: Friends, Enemies, or Frenemies?

The left-leaning Hemingway and the Red hunter Hoover are usually portrayed as enemies. Hoover is said to have ordered the FBI to surveil Hemingway for decades, even during his final illness. Hemingway’s belief that special agents were watching his every move contributed to the psychological burdens that drove him to suicide. This lecture will explore how the truth was far more nuanced and why it matters.

Nicholas Reynolds, a retired CIA officer, is the author of The New York Times bestseller Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: The Secret Adventures of Ernest Hemingway, 1935-1961 (William Morrow, 2017).