The History of the Lavender Scare

by David K. Johnson

In the 1950s, the United States was in the grip of the Cold War, a nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union. The struggle was seen by many not only as a military matter but also as a moral crusade against the threat "atheistic communism" posed to the values of the Judeo-Christian West. And homosexuality was at the center of the struggle.

We all know the story of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s charges that communist “Reds” like Alger Hiss had infiltrated the State Department and were passing secrets to the enemy. Few realize that McCarthy’s charges kept changing, and that several on his list of “security risks” in the State Department were not suspected communists but homosexuals.

December 15, 1950, U.S. Senate Report.
Source: National Archives, Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46.

According to aides in the Truman White House, it was these charges about “sex perverts” and “lavender lads” in high government positions that really alarmed the public. And when the State Department confirmed in 1950 that it had recently fired 91 homosexuals, this admission seemed to corroborate McCarthy’s otherwise groundless charges, soliciting a flood of mail thanking the Senator from Wisconsin for his fight exposing “sex depravity” in Washington. The Reverend Billy Graham, the most famous evangelical preacher of the post-war era, praised McCarthy for exposing "the pinks, the lavenders, and the reds."

In the wake of McCarthy’s revelations, congressional committees held hearings on the question of homosexuals-in-government and whether they posed a danger.  Military intelligence officials and local vice squad officers unanimously testified that gays and lesbians posed a threat to national security because they could easily be blackmailed.  But they offered no proof.  They could not point to a single example of a gay American citizen who had betrayed classified information. But facts mattered less than pre-conceptions.

1952 Republican presidential campaign poster.
Source: Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library

In January 1953 Republicans were swept into the White House with the slogan, “Let’s Clean House,” a not-so-subtle crusade to rid Washington of the communists, fellow-travelers, and homosexuals who, they argued, had accumulated there during the previous twenty years of Democratic control. One of President Eisenhower’s early acts was to replace Truman’s loyalty system with a much more aggressive security system. It specified that “sexual perversion” was grounds for termination.  With executive order 10450, McCarthy’s fear mongering had the force of law. It began a systematic effort by every agency in the federal government to find and remove all employees suspected of being gay or lesbian.

Under the Eisenhower security program, all government employees were subject to investigation for issues of character and suitability--any issue that might affect their vulnerability to blackmail. Security officials would interview employee's friends, family, neighbors and colleagues, looking for telltale signs. They focused on signs of gender non-conformity, such as odd choices of dress or gait.  Associating only with members of the same-sex or having friends who were gay was seen as evidence of homosexuality.  

The surest way of proving homosexuality was an arrest record in a known gay cruising area. In Washington, D.C. the National Park Service had set up a "Pervert Elimination Campaign" in Layfette Park, across the street from the White House, which for decades had been a notorious place for gay men to surreptitiously meet. Hundreds of men were brought in for questioning, their names and places of employment recorded, even if no arrests were made.

If suspicions were raised during these investigations, a government employee would be brought to an interrogation room, denied the right to an attorney, and grilled about their past behavior.  Security officials would often begin with this question: "Information has come to our attention that you are a homosexual.  What comment do you wish to make regarding this matter?"  Officials would drop names of "known homosexuals" to establish guilt by association; ask if one had frequented known gay hangouts; even ask about one's latest sexual acts. They would pressure employees to name names.

The State Department, where the scandal began, was particularly aggressive in ferreting out suspected homosexuals.  It established a Miscellaneous M Unit to deal with "morals" issues, providing special training to investigators on administering polygraph examinations.  They claimed eighty percent of homosexual interrogations ended in a confession. Seeing it as sport, they boasted "our batting average now one a day."

In what became known as the Lavender Scare, thousands of government employees lost their jobs.  Some tried to hide, marrying friends of the opposite sex in "lavender marriages."  A few who experienced humiliating interrogations and the threat of exposure took their own lives.

May 1965 picket by the Mattachine Society of Washington in front of the White House protesting federal treatment of "15 million U.S. homosexuals."
Source: Bettmann/Getty Image

Long outlasting the cold war, the Lavender Scare inspired the first LGBT pickets outside the White House in 1965.  Legal challenges by a few courageous gay activists limited the policy, but the government did not stop investigations into homosexuals in national security positions until the presidency of Bill Clinton.

While the legal situation has changed, animus towards LGBT people remains, and fearmongering in the style of Joseph McCarthy continues in new forms. Would-be demagogues proclaim that drag queens are endangering children, and that transgender individuals in bathrooms pose a threat to women. Some claim that the U.S. military is so pre-occupied with trans-issues that it’s neglecting our national security, putting Americans in danger. As with McCarthy, they have no proof of any of this, yet it has already resulted in restrictive legislation at the state and local level, and a ban on transgender military service members. At least one FBI agent was recently fired for displaying a rainbow flag.  Is another Lavender Scare brewing?

David K. Johnson is a historian and award-winning author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians. His book formed the basis for a documentary film that appeared on PBS and was a major source for Thomas Mallon's novel Fellow Travelers.  He is Professor and Chair of the History Department at the University of South Florida.