In 1964, Jack Valenti was stalled at the Whe Hoe as a top ai to Print Lyndon B. Johnson. And the FBI found self quietly nsumed wh the vexg qutn of whether Valenti was gay.
Contents:
- BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON
- LYNDON B. JOHNSON'S DGHTERS DISCS GAY MARRIAGE WH KATIE COURIC
- 17 GAY SEX SNDALS THAT ROCKED AMERIN POLICS
- ‘GAY’ PROBE OF LBJ AIDE
- WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
BEG GAY WAS THE GRAVT S WASHGTON
For nearly half a century, no graver s existed the black book of Amerin polics than homosexualy. From World War II until the end of the Cold War, untold thoands of gay men and women were eher purged om ernment service or nied employment altogether, solely bee of their sexual the same time, some of the most important prerequis for succs the natn’s pal—the abily to work long hours on a low ernment salary, a willgns to travel at a moment’s notice, prrizg reer over fay—are more easily attaed by those whout a fay to support, a set of circumstanc that ma Washgton an pecially attractive place for gay people, gay men particular.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON'S DGHTERS DISCS GAY MARRIAGE WH KATIE COURIC
The cy has long attracted the archetypil “bt ltle boy the world, ” the thor Andrew Tobias’s term for a certa type of gay young man who diligently channels the adversy engenred by his secret to amic pursus, so many of whom have ma their way to Washgton bee of s peculiar appete for the skills that secret Kirchick: The stggle for gay rights is overBob Waldron was one such man.
Waldron’s experience, ptured now-classified ernment rerds and told full here for the first time, reveals jt how much the gay Amerins sacrificed—and how even someone unwavergly loyal to one of the untry’s most skillful policians was vulnerable to the fall of 1963, Johnson had cid to brg Waldron onto his executive-branch staff.
On October 31, Waldron filled out a formal job any gay man Amerin polics had to be, Waldron was protective of his secret. “You’d have to be a bld person and af not to realize Bob was gay, ” one iend, Bill Wiley, told me. Acrdg to Johnson’s olr dghter, Lynda Bird, Waldron did not acknowledge his homosexualy while workg for her father, nor did her father ever discs the subject her prence.
17 GAY SEX SNDALS THAT ROCKED AMERIN POLICS
Ultimately, of the more than 100 dividuals whom the CSC terviewed for s vtigatn, about half “mented on his effemate characteristics and many spected homosexual tennci. ” Although was acceptable for a hairdrser to be homosexual, Waldron allowed, “for a man bs or ernment work, was a disgrace. Phillips seemed to take the matter stri, as evinced by his cisn to stay at Waldron’s home, and sleep Waldron’s bed, for the rt of the A glimpse to 1970s gay activismIn reuntg the experienc to the ernment vtigator, though, Phillips imbued them wh a forebodg he had not seemed to feel when they occurred.
“I believe that he is very much a loyal Amerin cizen, and even though he has homosexual tennci, I would still remend him for a posn volvg natnal secury on the basis of his past rponsible ernment work and other personal characteristics.
‘GAY’ PROBE OF LBJ AIDE
But while he was helpg Johnson assume the rponsibili of lear of the ee world, a group of men a buildg a few blocks away were pilg a report that would throw his life to the urse of nductg s background check, Space Council Executive Secretary Edward Welsh told the longtime Johnson ai Walter Jenks, the CSC disvered that Waldron had participated “homosexual activi.
“Nobody ever said to me ‘Bob n’t work at the Whe Hoe, bee he’s gay, ’” Lynda Bird relled. The “Lavenr Sre, ” the purge of gays and lbians om the feral ernment that had begun the early 1950s, was still grdg on well to the followg ; jt a few months after Waldron was jettisoned om the Whe Hoe, the State Department announced that had fired 63 people as “secury risks” the prev year, 45 of them on acunt of a wele prence Washgton’s most exclive salons and at the apex of Amerin polil power, Waldron was now persona non grata. Scerely, Bob WaldronIronilly, the man rponsible for rryg out Waldron’s dismissal, Walter Jenks, himself beme the subject of a gay sndal when, three weeks before the 1964 electn, he was arrted for solicg another man for sex the basement bathroom of the YMCA around the rner om the Whe Hoe.
WHAT COM AFTER THE EX-GAY MOVEMENT? THE SAME THG THAT CAME BEFORE.
) In the ensug FBI vtigatn to Jenks, Waldron’s name rurfaced, threateng to tar the Johnson admistratn wh another homosexual sndal.
Jt a few months later, nnectn wh a Senate Internal Secury Submtee vtigatn that lled more than 100 wns and generated some 20, 000 pag of ttimony, a senr State Department official asserted that “homosexualy is the most disturbg secury problem” the agency faced. An era of tremendo legal and moral progrs for some Amerin cizens remaed a time of spair for gay and lbian on.
He unted among his clients a diplomatic register full of ambassadors, the Organizatn of Amerin Stat, the Johnsons after they left the Whe Hoe, and numero other proment Washgtonians and storied stutns—a tribute to his genuy and perseverance, perhaps, but also a utnary tale for any gay person wh polil ambn.