In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower took a direct role in the Lavender Scare by enacting Executive Order #10450 titled “Security Requirements for Government Employment”. This executive order gave the official approval to investigate and fire homosexuals from government jobs. An individual was allowed to be fired or investigated for “Any criminal, infamous, dishonest, immoral, or notoriously disgraceful conduct, habitual use of intoxicants to excess, drug addiction, sexual perversion" (United States, Executive Office of the President Dwight David Eisenhower).
The Lavender Scare:
The Hunt for Homosexuals and Their Fight For Rights
Eisenhower's Order
Unidentified artist, Republican Party Candidates Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon, 1952
Interrogations
The State Department sought a quick and effective way to identify homosexuals. Government interrogations took place trying to identify homosexual citizens. The interrogators believed homosexuality to be a character defect. The Secretary of State Marshall made an order of principles to find a communist or any person with “character weaknesses” (Johnson, 21). They were to consider alcohol history, visitations of gay bars, and past relationships. The interrogators also looked for individuals who often were spotted with already assumed homosexuals. This created a "guilty by association" paranoia forcing many LGBTQ+ individuals to cut connections with other known homosexuals. Homosexual government workers were living in fear.
"Everybody was suspicious because everybody was squealing on everybody else. You were afraid to make friends with anybody."
-Raymond Mailloux
"You didn't know who your friends were."
-Madeleine Trees
Homosexual man being arrested. PBS
Newspaper linking communism to homosexuality. (Johnson)
Job Loss
After Eisenhower's executive order, the FBI was given a larger role in finding potential communists and homosexuals.“[The FBI] was able to force hundreds of men out of government service on suspicion of homosexual behavior. Because these dismissals were usually listed as 'security risks,' it validated the anticommunists’ claim that Washington was riddled with evil and that they were successfully eliminating the problem” (Brennan 126). An estimated 5,000 to 10,000 homosexual individuals lost their job due to the Lavender Scare. The executive order impacted homosexual government workers as well as employees for large corporations.
PBS, The Lavender Scare