One of Ernest Hemingway’s closest friends has revealed that he now believes the legendary writer may have been driven to commit suicide 50 years ago because he was under intense FBI surveillance. In a piece published in the New York Times, A.E. Hotchner writes that the FBI’s surveillance of Hemingway “substantially contributed to his anguish and his suicide.” In 1960, Hemingway told Hotchner that federal agents were following him, had bugged his phone and intercepted his mail. At the time, Hotchner dismissed Hemingway’s comments as delusional. Hotchner changed his views after reading once-secret FBI documents that reveal J. Edgar Hoover paid close attention to Hemingway due to his links to Cuba and his attempts to set up an anti-fascist spy network called the Crook Factory.