In 1953, Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450 which many
believed unleashed a massive program to purge homosexuals from the federal
payrolls under the pretense of national security. The firings were seen as a witch hunt
and became known as the “lavender scare” that paralleled the so-called “Red
Scare” by McCarthy to purge Communists from the U.S. government. The order
created conduct and character requirements for all employees, including habitual
use of intoxicating drugs to excess and “sexual perversion”. The
order remained on the books for 45 years.
"the interests of the national security require that
all persons privileged to be employed in the departments and agencies of the
Government, shall be reliable, trustworthy, of good conduct and character, and
of complete and unswerving loyalty to the United States"
excerpt from Executive Order 10450
In 1953, we were
still in the cold war, this act was not met with much controversy, but the term
"sexual perversion" became general known as code for homosexuality. Later that year, the administration reported that
1,456 persons were separated from the federal government under this new program. It was generally believed by the people that
most were “potential spies”, but there was speculation in the news that many of
these were not disloyal or treasonous. Edward T. Folliard of the Washington Post engaged
President Eisenhower during a press conference on December 16, 1953. Folliard asked the President if he would
release a breakdown of how many were separated for "heavy drinking”, “morals"
or "outright spying". Eisenhower
replied that he could not give a breakdown offhand, but he did refer to some
"delicate positions" a person might be in that would make them a
security risk.
"if a man has done certain things that you know make
him, well, a security risk in delicate positions--and I don't care what they
are--where he is subject to a bit of blackmail or weakness of, let's say, being
non compos mentis (not of sound mind) for a little while, anything of that kind
can enter into it; although you may be looking toward the fact that he possibly
could become a subversive under those reasons."
Mr. Folliard, intimated that according to widespread
opinion, all of them were suspected spies, and asked Eisenhower to confirm that
this was not the case. Eisenhower
confirmed that they were not but were instead people who could become security
risks. When pressed, President Eisenhower
would not even call the "potential" spies, but rather they were just
"poor security risks".
To get a better understanding of what Eisenhower might mean
by "poor security risks", we can look back to a Cabinet meeting that
was televised on June 3, 1953. In the
meeting, Eisenhower's Attorney General Herbert Brownell applauded the
employment security program that Eisenhower spoke of as a way of "weeding
out" persons who were not good security risks. Brownell explained the difference between
disloyalty and being a security risk. Brownell
said, "for many of the employees could be a security risk and still not be
disloyal or have any traitorous thoughts, but it may be that their personal
habits are such that they might be subject to blackmail by people who seek to
destroy the safety of our country."
But did these "personal habits" or "sexual
perversion" include homosexuality?
According to author and investigative journalist for Yahoo news Michale
Isikoff it did. In an article by Isikoff,
he explained that Executive Order 10450 became "the trigger for a massive
purge of the federal workforce" including the firing of many for the sole "crime
of being gay". Isikoff explained
that it was a closeted gay man and close advisor to Eisenhower by the name of Robert
"Bobby" Cutler Jr who oversaw the drafting of Executive Order
10450. It was Cutler who recommended
that the order be toughened with more expansive language that would include the
term "sexual perversion" as grounds of dismissal. The thinking was that gays were susceptible
to blackmail by the Soviet Union and were therefore a security risk. But why would Cutler add such language as
this? Some think that it was a way to
get praise from McCarthy who saw it as a "tremendous improvement",
but others think it was a way to counteract rumors in Washington that Cutler
might be gay.
Nevertheless, President Eisenhower saw his Executive
Security Program as a success, and in his 1954 State of the Union Address, he
announced that 2,200 individuals had been purged from the federal payroll because
of their potential risk to national security.
Eisenhower made no mention of "sexual perversion" or morality,
only that national security demanded it.
"Under the standards established for the new employee security program, more than 2,200 employees have been separated from the Federal government. Our national security demands that the investigation of new employees and the evaluation of derogatory information respecting present employees be expedited and concluded at the earliest possible date. I shall recommend that the Congress provide additional funds where necessary to speed these important procedures."
Eisenhower’s employment security program remained in place until
1998 when President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 13087 to establish "a uniform policy for federal government to prohibit discrimination on
sexual orientation". For 45 years,
the federal government could legally exclude individuals who identified as
homosexuals, forcing them to remain in the closet. The law made homosexuality
worthy of punitive action and subjected individuals to stigmatism and
vulnerable to blackmail, the very security risk that Eisenhower's program was
supposed to address.
In 2016, Director Josh Howard directed a documentary film
based on a book by historian David K. Johnson to trace the history of America’s
Cold War panic over “commies and queers”
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Annual Message to the Congress on the State of the Union | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/annual-message-the-congress-the-state-the-union-13 [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Television Report to the American People by the President and Members of the Cabinet. | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/television-report-the-american-people-the-president-and-members-the-cabinet [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). The President's News Conference | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/the-presidents-news-conference-482 [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
HuffPost. (2019). In The Closet In The White House: The Tortured History Of The Gay Man Who Touched Off The Purge Of Gays In Government. [online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/in-the-closet-in-the-white-house-the-tortured-history-of-the-gay-man-who-touched-off-the-purge-of-gays-in-government_us_5c003703e4b08506231ad56e [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
HuffPost. (2019). In The Closet In The White House: The Tortured History Of The Gay Man Who Touched Off The Purge Of Gays In Government. [online] Available at: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/in-the-closet-in-the-white-house-the-tortured-history-of-the-gay-man-who-touched-off-the-purge-of-gays-in-government_us_5c003703e4b08506231ad56e [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
National Archives. (2019). Executive Orders. [online] Available at: https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/codification/executive-order/10450.html [Accessed 27 Mar. 2019].
Smith, A. (n.d.). Gender, heteronormativity, and the American presidency. pp.56-57.
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