First published 2022
James Kirchick exposes decades of political persecution that Washington kept hidden. He begins with Sumner Welles, Franklin Roosevelt's diplomatic advisor whose sexuality sparked what contemporaries called the greatest national scandal in American history. Kirchick traces how fear of homosexuality drove government purges during the Cold War, when officials linked gay identity to communist threats. He draws from thousands of declassified documents and over one hundred interviews to show how this anxiety influenced presidential administrations through the twentieth century. The book reveals a World War II spymaster who used seduction as an espionage tool, chronicles how Lyndon Johnson abandoned a devoted aide after discovering his sexuality, and details allegations of a homosexual ring that nearly destroyed Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign. Kirchick demonstrates how the hunt for gay federal employees affected major political events, from Joseph McCarthy's rise to the FBI and CIA rivalry to the conservative movement's growth. The book offers readers a complete reexamination of American political history through the lens of systematic discrimination.
Genres: history, 20th-century, political-science, politics, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, Washington
Period: Cold War, World War II
848 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.
Content warnings: homophobia