From LIFE magazine, August 16, 1943, the “strange case” of modern dancer-turned-economic analyst John Bovingdon:

“Discovered in the new Office of Economic Warfare by red-eyed Martin Dies, Bovingdon was denounced by the Texas Congressman as a man whose “record and career as a ballet dancer is well-known.” The newspapers rushed into print with bare-chested, loin-clothed pictures of Bovingdon (see left). Embarrassed at harboring a cultist, conservative OEW director Leo Crowley asked the dancer to resign from his $3,600-a-year Civil Service position as economic analyst. Bovingdon refused. The next day Crowley fired him unceremoniously. [. . .]

Bovingdon now explains that he was never a ballet dancer, only a seeker after health through scientific bodily movement.”