Research Catalog

Title

Secret city : the hidden history of gay Washington / James Kirchick.

Author

Kirchick, James

Publication

• New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022.
• ©2022

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 826 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map; 25 cm

Summary

"For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret "too loathsome to mention" paradoxically held enormous, terrifying power. Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with over one hundred people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, from FDR through Clinton is a chronicle of American politics like no other. Beginning with the tragic story of Sumner Welles, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's brilliant diplomatic advisor and the man at the center of "the greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States," award-winning journalist and author James Kirchick illuminates how the idea of homosexuality shaped each successive presidential administration, impacting everything from the creation of America's earliest civilian intelligence agency to the rise and fall of McCarthyism, the struggle for African American civil rights, and the conservative movement. Celebrating the men and women who courageously decided that the source of their private shame could instead be galvanized for public pride, Kirchick offers a reinterpretation of American history told from the perspective of the citizens who lived in its shadows. Sweeping in scope and intimate in detail, Secret City will forever transform our understanding of American history"--

Alternative Title

Hidden history of gay Washington

Subjects

• Gay people
• Heterosexism
• Homophobia
• Gay people > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century
• LGBTQ+ people
• Men
• Sexual minorities
• Gay men
• LGBTQ+ phobia
• History
• 1900-1999
• Washington (D.C.)
• Heterosexism > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century
• Homophobia > Washington (D.C.) > History > 20th century

Genre/Form

History.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages [664]-682) and index.

Contents

Dramatis personae -- Introduction: Comrades -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt. "No comment" -- "Worse than a murderer" -- Senator X -- Patriotic homosexuals -- "The greatest national scandal since the existence of the United States" -- Harry Truman. The concealed enemy -- "This moral leper" -- Lavender lists -- "A government within a government" -- The homintern -- Dwight Eisenhower. "No more Bohlens!" -- The heterosexual dictatorship -- Pixies on the Potomac -- "We accuse..." -- The hunted -- John F. Kennedy. First friends -- The group of the intrepid -- "That old black fairy" - Lyndon B. Johnson. A long way from Arp -- "A quite serious situation" -- "Gone and forgotten" -- The Fruit Loop -- Scandal in Sacramento -- The thrill of treason -- Richard Nixon. "Destroy your opponent" -- Fags -- "We are impatient" -- The city of conversation -- Gerald Ford. The ultimate democracy -- "Too good an opportunity" -- Jimmy Carter. Out of the closets, into the White House -- Code breakers -- Ronald Reagan. "The homosexual thing" -- The Manchurian Candidate -- An enclosed and enchanted garden -- Sodom-on-the-Potomac -- "I don't have it, do you?" -- "Them" is "us" -- "Our Sebastian" -- Mr. Green -- The wonderful, the creative, and the brave -- George H.W. Bush. Naming names -- Bill Clinton. A profoundly important strength -- Conclusion: The gay century.

Call Number

JFE 23-274

ISBN

• 9781627792325
• 1627792325

LCCN

• 2021055007
• 40031235966

OCLC

1293451114

Author

Kirchick, James, author.

Title

Secret city : the hidden history of gay Washington / James Kirchick.

Publisher

New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022.

Copyright Date

©2022

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

still image

cartographic image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages [664]-682) and index.

Chronological Term

1900-1999

Other Form:

Online version: Kirchick, James. Secret city First edition. New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2022 9781627792332 (DLC) 2021055008

Other Standard Identifier

40031235966

Research Call Number

JFE 23-274