Speaker to address purging of homosexuals from government
Released on 10/14/2005, at 2:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
WHEN: Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2005
WHERE: Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q Street
David K. Johnson, professor of history at the University of South Florida, will deliver the talk "Nebraska's Lavender Scare: Sen. Kenneth Wherry and the Cold War 'Purge of the Perverts'" at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Great Plains Art Museum, 1155 Q St. The talk is free and open to the public. A reception and book signing will follow.
Johnson's book "The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government," was cited in the Journal of American History as "compellingly written and exhaustively researched." It has won several awards, including the 2004 Herbert Hoover Book Award given by the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Association, and the 2004 Outstanding Book Award by the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights.
The McCarthy era saw the purging from government service of those suspected of Communist affiliation. In his book, Johnson draws on newly declassified documents, National Archives records, FBI files and interviews with former government employees.
The book shows that the "lavender scare" resulted in the purging from government service of men and women suspected of being gay or lesbian, and in fact lasted longer and was pursued more vehemently than the "red scare." As Johnson documents in his book, the purging of homosexuals from government service continued into the 1970s.
"Crucial to this campaign were the efforts of Sen. Kenneth S. Wherry of Nebraska, who quietly spearheaded the attack on gay personnel since 1947. . . . Throughout the early years of the scare Wherry was seconded by another Nebraskan, Rep. Arthur Miller, who gave impassioned speeches in the state to deplore the 'menace,'" said Louis Crompton, professor emeritus of English at UNL, an expert on the place of homosexuals in history and publisher of "Homosexuality and Civilization."
Johnson's talk is sponsored by the UNL Committee on GLBT Concerns and the Women's Studies Program, and co-sponsored by the Department of History and the Convocations Committee.
CONTACT: Barbara DiBernard, Professor, English, (402) 472-9300