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Podcast: Commonwealth Club of California Podcast
Episode: James Kirchick: The Hidden History of Gay Washington
Description: 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” held enormous, terrifying power.Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with more than 100 people, and material unearthed from presidential libraries and archives around the country, James Kirchick's Secret City is a c...