The "Lavender Scare": Homosexuals at the State Department

Source: http://ift.tt/hFWySe - Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Note: Our accounts contain the personal recollections and opinions of the individual interviewed. The views expressed should not be considered official statements of the U.S. government or the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. ADST conducts oral history interviews with retired U.S. diplomats, and uses their accounts to form narratives around specific events or concepts, in order to further the study of American diplomatic history and provide the historical perspective of those directly involved. In the 1950s and 60s, security within the U.S. government, including the State Department, was on high alert for internal risks, particularly Communists and what were considered to be sexual deviants -- homosexuals and promiscuous individuals. Investigating homosexuality became a core function of the Department's Office of Security, which ferreted out more people for homosexuality than for being a Communist. In 1950, a subcommittee chaired by Maryland Senator Millard Tydings convened to investigate Joseph McCarthy's notorious list of "205 known communists." Tydings worked to discredit McCarthy's claim, but, in the process, the subcommittee concluded that the State Department was overrun with "sexual perverts," part of the so-called "Lavender Scare." During the hearings, Nebraska Senator Kenneth Wherry memorably claimed that as many as 3,000 homosexuals were employed at State. By the end of 1950, 600 people had been dismisse

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