Senators Herbert O Connor, Clyde Hoey, and Margaret Chase Smith in 1949 (U.S. Senate Historical Office).
The Lavender Scare:
The Hunt for Homosexuals and Their Fight For Rights
The Hoey Committee
"There is no place in the United states Government for persons who violate he laws or the accepted standards of morality, or who otherwise brings disrepute to the Federal service by infamous or scandalous personal conduct"
-Hoey Comittee's final report, Written by Flanagan
The Committee of Expenditures in the Executive Departments, commonly known as the Hoey Committee, began investigating homosexuals in government positions in the spring of 1950 (Johnson 101-105). The committee included chairman Senator Clyde Hoey, chief counsel Francis Flanagan, three Democratic senators, and three Republican senators. Their role was to create lists of both suspected homosexuals holding government positions and all fired homosexuals. Federal agencies and military branches were inquired about their hiring policies. Psychologists were also questioned to gain a perspective of homosexuality as a mental illness. Hoey's committee used these ideas to create an argument stating homosexuality is a perversion of the mind.
List of homosexual federal employees who were arrested for homosexual acts that was sent to the Hoey Committee. (Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46)
Senate Resolution 280: The Hoey Committee's Findings
Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts In Government , Records of the U.S. Senate, RG 46
Once the Hoey investigation was finished, Flanagan wrote "The Employment of Homosexuals and Other Sex Perverts". Flanagan mentions how the committee believed homosexuals were “security risks” with no emotional stability and weak morals. The Senate resolution states:
“... It should be borne in mind that the public interest cannot be adequately protected unless responsible officials adopt and maintain a realistic and vigilant attitude toward the problem of sex perverts in the Government. To pussyfoot or to take half measures will allow some known perverts to remain in Government...” (Washington, D.C., Legislature, Senate 21)
The Senate Resolution 280 grants permission and reason to begin the official hunt for homosexuals.