Perverts by Official Order: The Campaign Against Homosexuals by the United States Navy

by Lawrence Murphy

Overview

This candid book documents for the first time the U.S. Navy’s use of entrapment in pursuit of homosexuals in and around Newport, Rhode Island, during the early twentieth century. This most extensive systematic persecution of gays in American history occurred with the approval of Navy Secretary Josephus Daniels and Assistant Secretary Franklin Roosevelt, as dozens of sailors were ordered to identify and even seduce gay men in order to report their names to the authorities. Noted historian Lawrence Murphy reveals the details of this sordid campaign that ultimately generated a national scandal and first raised issues of gay rights and governmental persecution of homosexuals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780918393449
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	09/08/1988
Series:	Journal of Homosexuality Series
Pages:	354
Product dimensions:	6.03(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.92(d)

Table of Contents

Contents Preface

• “Half the World Is Queer”
• Cleaning Up the Navy
• Navy Justice
• Section A., O.A.S.N.
• On Trial in Newport and Washington
• The United States Versus Samuel Neal Kent
• A National Gay Scandal
• Defending the Right of Petition
• Rhode Island Versus the U.S. Navy
• Section A on Trial
• Defending the U.S. Navy
• Before the Senate of the United States
• Legacies
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index

Editorial Reviews

On homophobia in the Navy during WWI. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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