Category Archives: Week 3: Cold War Politics

Like the Red Scare, which was about communism, the Lavender Scare is the period of the 1950s when the U.S. government persecuted and targeted members of the LGBTQ+ communityThe assumption that homosexuals were more blackmail and espionage targets drove this movement because they seemed to compromise national securityOne of the prevailing traits of the largerContinue reading ““The Lavender Scare: How Fear and Prejudice Fueled Political Persecution in Cold War America””

The Lavender Scare was an event that took place during the Cold War and in many ways was very similar to the Red Scare. In the Lavender Scare, thousands of government employees were fired or forced to resign because they were accused of being homosexuals. This event was happening at the same time as theContinue reading “The Lavender Scare and The Red Scare”

The “Lavender Scare” was a period in American History wherein “thousands of homosexuals were investigated, interrogated, and dismissed by government officials and private employers” (Friedman 1105). More broadly, the Lavender Scare was marked by the characterization of homosexuality as morally corrupt, predatory, and synonyms with untrustworthiness. This characterization was then weaponized against government officials andContinue reading “The Politicalization of Homophobia”

The Lavender Scare is a case when “… thousands of suspected homosexual were investigated, and dismissed by government officials and private employers.” (Friedman) It’s related to the red scare because they happened at the same time and the impact or the way they were executed was similar to one another. In the article it statedContinue reading “IDENTITY”

Homophobia and the fear of communism went hand-in-hand during the Cold War. Much like the Red Scare that caused thousands of Americans to be investigated by government officials, employers, and neighbors because of alleged connections to communism, the “Lavender Scare” was an era of increased homophobia where similar investigations against those alleged to be gayContinue reading “Red Scare, Lavender Scare”

The new heightened sense of National Security during the Cold War kept the nation under a watchful eye, and this watchfulness was also being done within the U.S. government. With fears of Russia’s nuclear power and the Soviet Union’s political power taking over nations, this fear translated into the government surveilling their people of havingContinue reading “‘Masculinity Crisis’ – How National Security Weaponized Homosexuality to Protect the Rigid Image of “Real” Masculinity”

I think that Lavender Scare is about the government firing or resigning thousands of people from their jobs as they were part of the early LGBTQ+ community in the 1960s or 1950s. I think it was related to the Cold War “Red Scare” because people were scared of what might happen when people who helpContinue reading ” The Lavender Scare and how it affects the people in the past and the future. “

  ABB The Lavender scare happened during the 1950s when the U.S. government launched a campaign against the people who belonged to the LGBTQ+ community as it was believed that they were prone to being blackmailed by the communists, especially with the influence of the Red Scare. The widespread fear of communism within the U.S. notContinue reading “The irony of Joe McCarthy “

A quick note—apparently political moments during the Cold War were just as SNL-worthy as they are today. I laughed thinking about an army professional, in all seriousness, condemning G. David Schine for wearing a “fur-lined hood,” as well as mittens (Friedman 1118). My title is a humorous exaggeration, but seriously, sometimes the common person justContinue reading “How a fur-lined hood demolished McCarthy’s career”

The “Lavender Scare” was a phenomenon observed during the 1950s which led to the gross dismissal of people who were homosexual or were accused to be involved in homosexual activities. The “Lavendar Scare” was often amalgamated with “Red Scare” which like the “Lavendar Scare” was a paradigm that invoked widespread public panic in the UnitedContinue reading “The Parallels between the “Lavender Scare” and the “Red Scare””