He Was Chummy With A Young Shirley Temple
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Hoover enjoyed a bit of an unusual relationship with actress Shirley Temple. In 1938, he gave her a tour of the FBI offices and taught her how to ride a mechanical horse. In 1949, he reportedly gifted her with a tear gas fountain pen. She was 21 years old, and the pen was meant as a self-defense implement.
While the pair seemed odd — he was a formidable G-Man and she was a sweet and innocent young woman — they liked one another. At one point, she asked Hoover to do a background check on her future husband, Charles Alden Black.
