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Reviews an important historical work by David K. Johnson:

The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government

LavenderScareDavid JohnsonThe Lavender Scare:
the Cold War persecution of gays and lesbians in the federal government.

by David K. Johnsoncontact
The University of Chicago Press. 
ISBN 0-226-40481-1.  2004.  277 p.
Hardcover, $21.00

In February 1950 ninety-one homosexuals, labeled "security risks," were forced to leave their jobs at the State Department. Shortly after they were dismissed, Deputy Undersecretary John Peurifoy appeared before a congressional committee to announce that homosexuals in high government office posed a serious threat to national security. Homosexuals were considered as dangerous a threat to national security as Communists, and Peurifoy's revelation resulted in near hysteria. Washington, D.C. came to be known as a haven for Communists, deviants, and moral perverts. While Senator Joseph McCarthy carried out his witch hunt for Communists, security officials pursued another course: individuals employed in the federal government were frequently brought for private questioning, where they were informed, "Information has come to the attention of the civil service commission that you are homosexual.  What comment do you care to make?"

David K. Johnson, a visiting assistant professor in the history department at the University of South Florida, reports these events in The Lavender Scare, a penetrating account of the homosexual purges of the 1950s and the gay activism that emerged in response to them. Johnson's exhaustive research intertwines cultural, political, and social history in an eloquent, detailed account of the government purges that threatened American homosexuals during the Cold War. Many civil servants lost their jobs, either because they were believed to be "moral perverts," or because they associated with known homosexuals. The Lavender Scare provides information from newly declassified documents, records of the national archives and the FBI, and interviews with former civil servants—many of whom lost promising careers after they were questioned about their sex lives. Johnson seamlessly weaves together facts garnered from these interviews and historical documents to form a comprehensive, gripping history of the political upheaval of the Cold War era.

The Lavender Scare is a compelling history of those gays and lesbians who moved to Washington in the 1930s and 40s. As federal agencies were established in response to the Great Depression, these individuals migrated to Washington in hope of employment. For most, life in the nation's capital provided a welcoming social circle. The New Deal was transforming the country's thinking about how the government could actively address social ills and it also transformed the city of Washington, creating a social and economic base that could support gay and lesbian subcultures. According to Johnson, from 1930 until 1950 the total population of the Washington area doubled, from approximately 700,000 in 1932 to 1.5 million in 1950.  In conjunction, the number of federal workers also increased, and 70,000 in 1930 to 270,000 by 1942.  The federal Social Service was hospitable to these single, white, middle-class, civil servants, in part because the positions were filled by competitive examination, awarding individuals for their merits rather than political connections.

By 1947 however, the State Department, responding to congressional pressure, instituted new security checks on its employees. Republicans charged that the Roosevelt and Truman administrations were havens for homosexuals and used these charges to gain political leverage. As Johnson notes, the campaigns to remove Communists and homosexuals from the federal government began simultaneously in the State Department.  By June 1947, the Senate Appropriations Committee had warned the Secretary of State, George Marshall, of "the extensive employment and highly classified positions of admitted homosexuals, were historically known to be security risks." Carlisle Humelsine testified before Congress in early 1951 that "since the inception of the department's loyalty/security program in 1947, 14 individuals have been separated as security risk, while 144 had been separated for homosexuality."  In 1949 he testified that "of the 654 dismissals or forced resignations for security/loyalty grounds, 402 were for homosexuality."  Over the course of the 1950s and 1960s, approximately 1000 persons were dismissed from the Department of State for alleged homosexuality.

Though the conservative agenda and its consequences are chilling, Johnson's book ends on a positive note. The actions of the congressional conservatives resulted in an organized opposition. By the 1960s many of the individuals dismissed from their jobs became activists, struggling for equal rights in response to the injustice of federal employment policies.  Johnson examines many of the positive movements that came out of this turmoil, including the Harry Hay's founding of the first Mattachine Society in 1950, and Frank Kameny's program of social action aimed at changing federal policy. Johnson provides balanced, thoughtful documentation of a harrowing era in American history. The Lavender Scare is worthwhile not just for those interested in the gay civil rights movement, but for anyone with an interest in political movements and opression.

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