Gore Vidal, author and playwright, dies

Gore Vidal, novelist, playwright, essayist and two-time political hopeful, died on Tuesday in Hollywood after experiencing complications from pneumonia Reutersreports. He was 86.

Vidal is best known for the bestselling novels Lincoln,Myra Breckenridge, and The City and the Pillaras well as the Tony-nominated play The Best Man.Vidal’s work often explored the dangers of government militarization; in art and life, Vidal was an outspoken critic of wars from Vietnam to Iraq.  

He was also the first American novelist to write openly and frankly about gay relationships. Although he was never quite at ease with America’s political establishment, CBC notes Vidal ran for congressional office twice, and was a friend of Jackie Kennedy as well as Hillary Clinton. 

Vidal will be buried in Washington D.C, next to longtime partner, Howard Austin.