Much less known was the mass interrogation and subsequent firings of thousands of gays and lesbians during this same period often called “The Lavender Scare.” Labeled, “The McCarthy Era,” this period is a staple of high school textbooks as an object lesson in governmental persecution. Reputations, careers, and lives were ruined. In the end, McCarthy never produced a single one, but the fearful, repressive atmosphere his accusations created, hung over the country for years. Over the next few weeks, his list of names fluctuated between 10 and 57 Communists.

The members of the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling were rapt as McCarthy dramatically claimed to possess a list of Communists working in the State Department. To his audience, the barrel-chested former Marine was a welcome contrast to the effete Washington politicians with their East Coast superiority and secretive ways. Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) strode onto the stage with the down home confidence that endeared him to regular folks. The temperature reached 48 degrees in Wheeling, West Virginia, on February 20, 1950. Photo: Nishan Bichajian, Courtesy MIT Libraries Visual Collections.Īrticle published in Boston Spirit Magazine September/October 2014