On the morng of April 27, 1953, Print Dwight D. Eisenhower clared war on homosexuals. In one of his first official acts after takg office, Eisenhower issued Executive Orr 10450, which banned gay men and lbians om workg for any agency of the feral ernment.
Contents:
- INSI THE LIFE OF EISENHOWER'S 'MYSTERY MAN' — SMART, EFFICIENT, SECRETLY GAY
- IKE'S MYSTERY MAN REVIEW: ASTONISHG TALE OF A GAY WHE HOE AI
- HOW EISENHOWER'S BAN ON GAYS BACKFIRED: COLUMN
- PERVED: EISENHOWER ANTI-GAY EXECUTIVE ORR TURNS 60
INSI THE LIFE OF EISENHOWER'S 'MYSTERY MAN' — SMART, EFFICIENT, SECRETLY GAY
Robert Cutler was Print Dwight Eisenhower's right hand. He was also a closeted gay man who helped rry out a 1953 executive orr to intify and remove gay employe om the feral ernment. * was eisenhower gay *
No man wh the possible exceptn of the print knew so many of the natn's strategic secrets, The New York Tim wrote at the was also gay, at a time when beg out meant losg one's reer, or backed Eisenhower's efforts to ban munists, gays and lbians om ernment, cludg Executive Orr 10450. Edgar Hoover, both thought to be secretly gay, ferreted out others who led to not only disptn and persecutn, but suicis. "Hoover would report his latt spicns to Cutler, unaware that Cutler was gay.
""I lied many tim, of urse, " Benedict, now 92 years old, rells of workg ernment as a gay man alongsi Cutler.
"Interview HighlightsOn how the Lavenr Sre origally me aboutStephen Benedict: "It really go back to 1947, and that is when the Lavenr Sre, so-lled, really began to get a head of steam, and partly bee was associated wh the whole Alger Hiss-Whtaker Chambers affair, which helped to be the two issu of munism and homosexualy — 's almost plete myth.
IKE'S MYSTERY MAN REVIEW: ASTONISHG TALE OF A GAY WHE HOE AI
There's almost no tth whatsoever to the proposn that homosexualy predispos anyone to eher munism or to beg blackmailed. "On rearchg and wrg about Cutler's lifeShkle: "The entire procs was a 12-year journey for me, learng not only about my great-uncle's life, but also the experience of gay Amerins. My feelg is that Ike may well have unrstood that his top natnal secury ai, Robert Cutler, was gay.
(Courty)On Cutler choosg not to stand up and speak out agast efforts targetg gays and lbians ernmentShkle: "I believe [ was a failure]. "On the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rts, which occurred roughly a after this perd of persecutn agast gays and lbians the '50sBenedict: "It was certaly a very important event. But those days, to have nceived of gay marriage, for example, or someone nng for the princy who was openly gay and married, would have been utterly nceivable.
HOW EISENHOWER'S BAN ON GAYS BACKFIRED: COLUMN
Skip and Steve need to keep their homosexualy out of sight, and the Dr.
”Soon, Skip brought to the hoe a new boyiend, twenty-three-year-old Gaylord Hoftiezer, who went by Gayl. A South Dakotan, Gayl had served the US Mare Corps but was recently discharged.
PERVED: EISENHOWER ANTI-GAY EXECUTIVE ORR TURNS 60
He soon began sleepg regularly Skip’s room on the send floor, and Bobby beme iends wh Gayl, and Skip knew they need to be discreet if they wanted to avoid trouble McCarthy-era Washgton, so they kept reasonable hours, didn’t have parti, and didn’t equent gay bars. A year had passed sce Ike signed Executive Orr 10450, which effect had banned homosexuals om any feral job, let alone the posn of Whe Hoe secury officer.
Eisenhower clared war on homosexuals. In one of his first official acts after takg office, Eisenhower issued Executive Orr 10450, which banned gay men and lbians om workg for any agency of the feral that wasn't all. The print orred all private ntractors dog bs wh the ernment to fire their gay employe, as well.
And he urged our alli overseas to nduct siar purg their ratnal was that "perverts" -- the word The New York Tim eely ed as a synonym for homosexuals -- were a threat to the secury of the untry bee their immoral liftyle left them sceptible to blackmail by foreign agents, who would prumably duce them to reveal sensive ernment rmatn exchange for avoidg McCarthy era is wily known as the time of the Red Sre, the search for Communists who had supposedly filtrated Amerin society. But fact was homosexuals who were the primary victims of the wch hunts. In what has bee known as the Lavenr Sre, thoands and thoands of people were fired om their jobs simply bee of their sexual anti-gay enzy igned by the ernment did far more than jt prive the men and women of jobs; drove many to suici and cemented homophobic stereotyp that persisted for s the Amerin nscns.