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.
- ISBN10 0918393442
- ISBN13 9780918393449
- Publish Date 8 September 1988 (first published 7 September 1988)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Imprint Routledge
- Format Paperback
- Pages 354
- Language English