# Gore Vidal

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "Gore Vidal," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gore-vidal/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*American novelist and essayist; per John Kiriakou, a Sidwell Friends/St. Albans/Phillips Exeter alumnus who enlisted after Pearl Harbor rather than attend college, wrote the controversial 1948 novel The City and the Pillar, won a National Book Award in 1993, and was buried near his one lasting partner, Howard Austen, and his boyhood best friend, James Trimble, who was killed at Iwo Jima.*

- **Vocation:** American novelist, essayist, co-writer of Ben-Hur
- **Notable work:** The City and the Pillar (1948)
- **National Book Award:** 1993, for United States Essays 1952-1992
- **Lasting partner:** Howard Austen (53 years, until Austen's death in 2003)
- **Died:** Buried in Rock Creek Cemetery, near Howard Austen and James Trimble

**Gore Vidal** was an American novelist and essayist. Per [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou), Vidal attended some of the finest prep schools in America — Sidwell Friends, St. Albans School, and Phillips Exeter Academy — then enlisted in the military after the bombing of Pearl Harbor rather than go on to college.[1]

## The City and the Pillar

Vidal's third book, *The City and the Pillar*, caused a nationwide controversy for its dispassionate account of a young man confronting his own homosexuality. Vidal dedicated the novel to "JT" — James Trimble, his childhood best friend, killed at the Battle of Iwo Jima — whom Vidal later told an interviewer was *"the only man he had ever loved."*[2] Critics attacked the book; one *New York Times* critic refused to review it, or to permit others at the paper to review any of Vidal's future books, and an editor at E.P. Dutton reportedly told him at the time: *"You will never be forgiven for this book. Twenty years from now, you'll still be attacked for it."*[3]

## Later career

Vidal won the National Book Award in 1993 for his nonfiction anthology *United States Essays 1952–1992*, and was a co-writer on the film *Ben-Hur*.[4]

## Personal life

Vidal kept his private life private, but was reported to have had affairs with Anaïs Nin (denied until his love letters to her surfaced just before his death), Diana Lynn (with whom he may have fathered a daughter), Fred Astaire, and Dennis Hopper, and was briefly engaged to Joanne Woodward before she married Paul Newman. His only lasting relationship, however, was with Howard Austen, his partner for 53 years until Austen's death in 2003.[5]

## Death

Vidal died in Hollywood, California, after developing Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, and was buried in Rock Creek Cemetery to be near Austen and James Trimble.[6]

## See also

- [Remains of the Day (book)](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/remains-of-the-day-book)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)

## Sources

1. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 20:47. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
2. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 21:20. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
3. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 21:51. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
4. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 22:56. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
5. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 24:09. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/
6. Mini Episode 4: Grave Concerns (2025-12-15), at 24:45. Recording: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/68e695c6d798804c9e4bbd13/e/693edf68f817d7dbe8033bd9/media.mp3 · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-15-dead-drop-mini-episode-4-grave-concerns/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/gore-vidal/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt