#Ethel & Julius Rosenberg | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kaijuno · 1 year ago

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In light of Fall Out Boy’s GARBAGE cover of the song. Let’s learn about the original. Notice how they’re actually in chronological order instead of just random references 😒😒😒😒

1949

Harry Truman was inaugurated as U.S. president after being elected in 1948 to his own term; previously he was sworn in following the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He authorized the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan during World War II, on August 6 and August 9, 1945, respectively.

Doris Day enters the public spotlight with the films My Dream Is Yours and It’s a Great Feeling as well as popular songs like “It’s Magic”; divorces her second husband.

Red China: The Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People’s Republic of China.

Johnnie Ray signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records, although he would not become popular for another two years.

South Pacific, the prize-winning musical, opens on Broadway on April 7.

Walter Winchell is an aggressive radio and newspaper journalist credited with inventing the gossip column.

Joe DiMaggio and the New York Yankees go to the World Series five times in the 1940s, winning four of them.

1950

Joe McCarthy, the US Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-communist crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.

Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.

Studebaker, a popular car company, begins its financial downfall.

Television is becoming widespread throughout Europe and North America.

North Korea and South Korea declare war after Northern forces stream south on June 25.

Marilyn Monroe soars in popularity with five new movies, including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve, and attempts suicide after the death of friend Johnny Hyde who asked to marry her several times, but she refused respectfully. Monroe would later (1954) be married for a brief time to Joe DiMaggio (mentioned in the previous verse).

1951

The Rosenbergs, Ethel and Julius, were convicted on March 29 for espionage.

H-Bomb is in the middle of its development as a nuclear weapon, announced in early 1950 and first tested in late 1952.

Sugar Ray Robinson, a champion welterweight boxer.

Panmunjom, the border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.

Marlon Brando is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.

The King and I, musical, opens on Broadway on March 29.

The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger, is published.

1952

Dwight D. Eisenhower is first elected as U.S. president, winning by a landslide margin of 442 to 89 electoral votes.

The vaccine for polio is privately tested by Jonas Salk.

England’s got a new queen: Queen Elizabeth II succeeds to the throne upon the death of her father, George VI, and is crowned the next year.

Rocky Marciano defeats Jersey Joe Walcott, becoming the world Heavyweight champion.

Liberace has a popular 1950s television show for his musical entertainment.

Santayana goodbye: George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist, dies on September 26.

1953

Joseph Stalin dies on March 5, yielding his position as leader of the Soviet Union.

Georgy Maksimilianovich Malenkov succeeds Stalin for six months following his death. Malenkov had presided over Stalin’s purges of party “enemies”, but would be spared a similar fate by Nikita Khrushchev mentioned later in verse.

Gamal Abdel Nasser acts as the true power behind the new Egyptian nation as Muhammad Naguib’s minister of the interior.

Sergei Prokofiev, the composer, dies on March 5, the same day as Stalin.

Winthrop Rockefeller and his wife Barbara are involved in a highly publicized divorce, culminating in 1954 with a record-breaking $5.5 million settlement.

Roy Campanella, an African-American baseball catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, receives the National League’s Most Valuable Player award for the second time.

Communist bloc is a group of communist nations dominated by the Soviet Union at this time. Probably a reference to the Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.

1954

Roy Cohn resigns as Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel and enters private practice with the fall of McCarthy. He also worked to prosecute the Rosenbergs, mentioned earlier.

Juan Perón spends his last full year as President of Argentina before a September 1955 coup.

Arturo Toscanini is at the height of his fame as a conductor, performing regularly with the NBC Symphony Orchestra on national radio.

Dacron is an early artificial fiber made from the same plastic as polyester.

Dien Bien Phu falls. A village in North Vietnam falls to Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap, leading to the creation of North Vietnam and South Vietnam as separate states.

“Rock Around the Clock” is a hit single released by Bill Haley & His Comets in May, spurring worldwide interest in rock and roll music.

1955

Albert Einstein dies on April 18 at the age of 76.

James Dean achieves success with East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, gets nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and dies in a car accident on September 30 at the age of 24.

Brooklyn’s got a winning team: The Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series for the only time before their move to Los Angeles.

Davy Crockett is a Disney television miniseries about the legendary frontiersman of the same name. The show was a huge hit with young boys and inspired a short-lived “coonskin cap” craze.

Peter Pan is broadcast on TV live and in color from the 1954 version of the stage musical starring Mary Martin on March 7. Disney released an animated version the previous year.

Elvis Presley signs with RCA Records on November 21, beginning his pop career.

Disneyland opens on July 17, 1955 as Walt Disney’s first theme park.

1956

Brigitte Bardot appears in her first mainstream film And God Created Woman and establishes an international reputation as a French “sex kitten”.

Budapest is the capital city of Hungary and site of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.

Alabama is the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott which ultimately led to the removal of the last race laws in the USA. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr figure prominently.

Nikita Khrushchev makes his famous Secret Speech denouncing Stalin’s “cult of personality” on February 25.

Princess Grace Kelly releases her last film, High Society, and marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

Peyton Place, the best-selling novel by Grace Metalious, is published. Though mild compared to today’s prime time, it shocked the reserved values of the 1950s.

Trouble in the Suez: The Suez Crisis boils as Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal on October 29.

1957

Little Rock, Arkansas is the site of an anti-integration standoff, as Governor Orval Faubus stops the Little Rock Nine from attending Little Rock Central High School and President Dwight D. Eisenhower deploys the 101st Airborne Division to counteract him.

Boris Pasternak, the Russian author, publishes his famous novel Doctor Zhivago.

Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.

Jack Kerouac publishes his first novel in seven years, On the Road.

Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on October 4, marking the start of the space race.

Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People’s Republic of China, survives an assassination attempt on the charter airliner Kashmir Princess.

Bridge on the River Kwai is released as a film adaptation of the 1954 novel and receives seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

1958

Lebanon is engulfed in a political and religious crisis that eventually involves U.S. intervention.

Charles de Gaulle is elected first president of the French Fifth Republic following the Algerian Crisis.

California baseball begins as the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants move to California and become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. They are the first major league teams west of Kansas City.

Charles Starkweather Homicide captures the attention of Americans, in which he kills eleven people between January 25 and 29 before being caught in a massive manhunt in Douglas, Wyoming.

Children of Thalidomide: Mothers taking the drug Thalidomide had children born with congenital birth defects caused by the sleeping aid and antiemetic, which was also used at times to treat morning sickness.

1959

Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash on February 3 with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a day that had a devastating impact on the country and youth culture. Joel prefaces the lyric with a Holly signature vocal hiccup: “Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Ben-Hur, a film based around the New Testament starring Charlton Heston, wins eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Space Monkey: Able and Miss Baker return to Earth from space aboard the flight Jupiter AM-18.

The Mafia are the center of attention for the FBI and public attention builds to this organized crime society with a historically Sicilian-American origin.

Hula hoops reach 100 million in sales as the latest toy fad.

Fidel Castro comes to power after a revolution in Cuba and visits the United States later that year on an unofficial twelve-day tour.

Edsel is a no-go: Production of this car marque ends after only three years due to poor sales.

1960

U-2: An American U-2 spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960.

Syngman Rhee was rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea for allegedly fixing an election and embezzling more than US $20 million.

Payola, illegal payments for radio broadcasting of songs, was publicized due to Dick Clark’s testimony before Congress and Alan Freed’s public disgrace.

John F. Kennedy beats Richard Nixon in the November 8 general election.

Chubby Checker popularizes the dance The Twist with his cover of the song of the same name.

Psycho: An Alfred Hitchcock thriller, based on a pulp novel by Robert Bloch and adapted by Joseph Stefano, which becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard briefly in the background of the song are a trademark of the film’s soundtrack.

Belgians in the Congo: The Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) was declared independent of Belgium on June 30, with Joseph Kasavubu as President and Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister.

1961

Ernest Hemingway commits suicide on July 2 after a long battle with depression.

Adolf Eichmann, a “most wanted” Nazi war criminal, is traced to Argentina and captured by Mossad agents. He is covertly taken to Israel where he is put on trial for crimes against humanityin Germany during World War II, convicted, and hanged.

Stranger in a Strange Land, written by Robert A. Heinlein, is a breakthrough best-seller with themes of sexual freedom and liberation.

Bob Dylan is signed to Columbia Records after a New York Times review by critic Robert Shelton.

Berlin is separated into West Berlin and East Berlin, and from the rest of East Germany, when the Berlin Wall is erected on August 13 to prevent citizens escaping to the West.

The Bay of Pigs Invasion fails, an attempt by United States-trained Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro.

1962

Lawrence of Arabia: The Academy Award-winning film based on the life of T. E. Lawrence starring Peter O’Toole premieres in America on December 16.

British Beatlemania: The Beatles, a British rock group, gain Ringo Starr as drummer and Brian Epstein as manager, and join the EMI’s Parlophone label. They soon become the world’s most famous rock band, with the word “Beatlemania” adopted by the press for their fans’ unprecedented enthusiasm. It also began the British Invasion in the United States.

Ole’ Miss: James Meredith integrates the University of Mississippi

John Glenn: Flew the first American manned orbital mission termed “Friendship 7” on February 20.

Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fight for the world heavyweight championship on September 25, ending in a first-round knockout. This match marked the first time Patterson had ever been knocked out and one of only eight losses in his 20-year professional career.

1963

Pope Paul VI: Cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected to the papacy and takes the papal name of Paul VI.

Malcolm X makes his infamous statement “The chickens have come home to roost” about the Kennedy assassination, thus causing the Nation of Islam to censor him.

British politician sex: The British Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, has a relationship with a showgirl, and then lies when questioned about it before the House of Commons. When the truth came out, it led to his own resignation and undermined the credibility of the Prime Minister.

JFK blown away: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on November 22 while riding in an open convertible through Dallas.

1965

Birth control: In the early 1960s, oral contraceptives, popularly known as “the pill”, first go on the market and are extremely popular. Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965 challenged a Connecticut law prohibiting contraceptives. In 1968, Pope Paul VI released a papal encyclical entitled Humanae Vitae which declared artificial birth control a sin.

Ho Chi Minh: A Vietnamese communist, who served as President of Vietnam from 1954–1969. March 2 Operation Rolling Thunder begins bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail supply line from North Vietnam to the Vietcong rebels in the south. On March 8, the first U.S. combat troops, 3,500 marines, land in South Vietnam.

1968

Richard Nixon back again: Former Vice President Nixon is elected President in 1968.

1969

Moonshot: Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing, successfully lands on the moon.

Woodstock: Famous rock and roll festival of 1969 that came to be the epitome of the counterculture movement.

1974–75

Watergate: Political scandal that began when the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC was broken into. After the break-in, word began to spread that President Richard Nixon (a Republican) may have known about the break-in, and tried to cover it up. The scandal would ultimately result in the resignation of President Nixon, and to date, this remains the only time that anyone has ever resigned the United States Presidency.

Punk rock: The Ramones form, with the Sex Pistols following in 1975, bringing in the punk era.

1976–77

(An item from 1977 comes before three items from 1976 to make the song scan.)

Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel in 1977 and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt’s president in 1978.

Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States in 1980, but he first attempted to run for the position in 1976.

Palestine: a United Nations resolution that calls for an independent Palestinian state and to end the Israeli occupation.

Terror on the airline: Numerous aircraft hijackings take place, specifically, the Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 and the subsequent Operation Entebbe in Uganda.

1979

Ayatollah’s in Iran: During the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the West-backed and secular Shah is overthrown as the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini gains power after years in exile and forces Islamic law.

Russians in Afghanistan: Following their move into Afghanistan, Soviet forces fight a ten-year war, from 1979 to 1989.

1983

Wheel of Fortune: A hit television game show which has been TV’s highest-rated syndicated program since 1983.

Sally Ride: In 1983 she becomes the first American woman in space. Ride’s quip from space “Better than an E-ticket”, harkens back to the opening of Disneyland mentioned earlier, with the E-ticket purchase needed for the best rides.

Heavy metal suicide: In the 1980s Ozzy Osbourne and the bands Judas Priest and Metallica were brought to court by parents who accused the musicians of hiding subliminal pro-suicide messages in their music.

Foreign debts: Persistent U.S. trade deficits

Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam War, including many disabled ex-military, are reported to be left homeless and impoverished.

AIDS: A collection of symptoms and infections in humans resulting from the specific damage to the immune system caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). It is first detected and recognized in the 1980s, and was on its way to becoming a pandemic.

Crack cocaine use surged in the mid-to-late 1980s.

1984

Bernie Goetz: On December 22, Goetz shot four young men who he said were threatening him on a New York City subway. Goetz was charged with attempted murder but was acquitted of the charges, though convicted of carrying an unlicensed gun.

1988

Hypodermics on the shore: Medical waste was found washed up on beaches in New Jersey after being illegally dumped at sea. Before this event, waste dumped in the oceans was an “out of sight, out of mind” affair. This has been cited as one of the crucial turning points in popular opinion on environmentalism.

1989

China’s under martial law: On May 20, China declares martial law, enabling them to use force of arms against protesting students to end the Tiananmen Square protests.

Rock-and-roller cola wars: Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using rock & roll and popular music stars to reach the teenage and young adult demographic.

Short summaries of all 119 references mentioned in the song, you’re welcome.

#look fall out boy is one of my fave bands but this is inexcusable #fall out boy #Billy Joel #music #Spotify

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the-breath-in-air · 1 year ago

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An "oh no what am I going to watch after Fellow Travelers is done?" List

When I first saw the trailer for Fellow Travelers I was disappointed because it looked predictable. Turns out it wasn't nearly as predictable as I thought, and is actually quite good. But then I got to thinking...why not share a list of series and movies that folks might be interested in watching once Fellow Travelers is done airing.

If you want to see more about McCarthyism, Roy Cohn and the Lavender Scare:

Bully. Coward. Victim. (2019) and Where's My Roy Cohn? (2019) - Both of these documentaries focus on the life of Roy Cohn, from his time at the McCarthy hearings, to his time as the Studio 54 lawyer, to his work during the Reagan era and his eventual death from AIDS. Where's My Roy Cohn? also focuses in on Roy Cohn's working relationship with Donald Trump. "Bully. Coward. Victim. was produced by the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and as such, it also focuses more on the lasting impact of Cohn's role in their executions. There's a lot of overlap between the two documentaries, but I think they're both worth watching if you can.

If you want to see more stories of gay men in the 1950s:

Against the Law (2017) - This is a biopic about Peter Wildeblood, a man who was put on trial for homosexuality and who, remarkably, acknowledged that he was gay during the trial. This trial and Wildeblood's later actions, are considered pivotal in the movement toward decriminalizing homosexuality in the UK. The movie takes place mostly in the 1950s and, again, deals with queer men trying to find love in a time in which laws, social norms, etc. made it exceedingly difficult to do so. The drama is interspersed with interviews in 2017 with real queer men who were alive at the time of the trial.

If you want to see more stories of ruthless politicians trying to hide that they're gay:

A Very English Scandal (2018) - As the title suggests, this miniseries takes place in the UK. It's based on a true story...even the more outlandish moments. Jeremy Thorpe (Hugh Grant) is a career politician who's been hiding that he's gay for decades. He's developed a ruthlessness and callousness to his own situation and he, predictably, treats everyone around him as disposable. Then along comes Norman Scott (Ben Whishaw), a young man who Thorpe is instantly attracted to. But Scott struggles with self-acceptance and mental health issues, and Thorpe has no compassion nor patience for any of that. The result is a dark comedy about this doomed relationship alongside the change to the law in the UK to decriminalize homosexuality.

If you want to see more stories of queer folks in the 1980s:

It's A Sin (2021) - This is a miniseries that follows a group of queer folks during the 1980s in London. It's all about their search for love and finding themselves and whatnot, even as they are forced to deal with HIV and AIDS. It's a good show that is worth a watch, especially if you haven't seen much else about being queer in the '80s.

Angels in America (2003) - Of course Angels in America was going to end up on this list. It is one of the definitive pieces of fiction on living in New York during the AIDS crisis. The play was originally performed in 1991...just four years after AZT was approved for use in the US to treat HIV and AIDS. It's big, and complex, and as much about the state of the U.S. at the time as it is about these individual characters and their lives. Also, Roy Cohn shows up, working as a political operative for Reagan. It really is, as it's subtitle says, "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes."

#fellow travelers #bully coward victim #where's my roy cohn #against the law #a very english scandal #it's a sin #angels in america

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sixpenceee · 2 years ago

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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg share a final kiss before being sent to Sing Sing Correctional Facility.The couple were convicted of spying and providing dozens of top secret nuclear and radar information to the Soviets.They would both be executed on the 19th June 1953.

#history

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fuckyeahmarxismleninism · 1 year ago

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By Stephen Millies

In his funeral eulogy for Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, W.E.B. Du Bois declared, “They died because they would not lie.” The Rosenbergs were executed by the U.S. government on Juneteenth, 1953.

The Rosenbergs were blamed for the Soviet Union being able to develop an atomic bomb. Their frame-up and execution for espionage during the Korean War was the peak of the anti-communist witch hunt in the United States.

#Rosenbergs #execution #imperialism #death penalty #communist #cold war #witch hunt #web dubois #USSR #Soviet Union #frame up #Korean War #political prisoners #struggle la lucha

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qqueenofhades · 1 year ago

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Let's say Trump goes to jail, it doesn't mean Maga is going to fall in line with Desantis or any other Rightwinger running. There is a total schism. Also a lot of Republicans are disenchanted with voting because they think its rigged.

It is unlikely, but not impossible, that Trump will be in jail in November 2024. His trial in the NYC case is set for March 2024, and we don't know yet when his trial(s) will be for this case, the Georgia election interference case, the federal Jan 6th case, or like, any of the other eighty billion felonies he's already been or is about to be charged with. So while not super likely, it is not out of the realm of possibility that he will be tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison by the time the election rolls around. Not that this is going to stop him. He will only not run if he's dead.

In the meantime: in no universe is this good for the GOP. The establishment GOP knows Trump is incredibly toxic but is too cowardly to say so, and the rabid base won't accept anyone else. Once again I want to emphasize: the Espionage Act is explicitly a treason charge, and it is not a small or low-level charge. It was the primary statute used to charge Aldrich Ames, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and Robert Hanssen, all of whom are infamous as some of the biggest traitors in American history (legally speaking). Ames is locked away in the Terre Haute federal penitentiary for life without parole, the Rosenbergs were executed, and Hanssen just died in Florence Supermax while serving 15 life sentences. I'm not saying any of this will necessarily happen to Trump, but that is the level of charges we are talking about. Ames and Hanssen were both charged under section 794; Trump is, as far as we know, charged under section 793. But the statute makes explicit reference to "the injury of the United States or for the advantage of a foreign government." Which is, y'know. Treason.

The point is: Trump has been indicted for literal espionage, there's no way for the GOP to spin this (though they will obviously try) and this won't win any more supporters for him outside of his diehards, who were obviously already on his side. So, like:

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

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follow-up-news · 2 months ago

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A top U.S. government codebreaker who decrypted secret Soviet communications during the Cold War concluded that Ethel Rosenberg knew about her husband’s activities but “did not engage in the work herself,” according to a recently declassified memo that her sons say proves their mother was not a spy and should lead to her exoneration in the sensational 1950s atomic espionage case. The previously unreported assessment written days after Rosenberg’s arrest and shown to The Associated Press adds to the questions about the criminal case against Rosenberg, who along with her husband, Julius, was put to death in 1953 after being convicted of conspiring to steal secrets about the atomic bomb for the Soviet Union. The couple maintained their innocence until the end, and their sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol, have worked for decades to establish that their mother was falsely implicated in spying. The brothers consider the memo a smoking gun and are urging President Joe Biden to issue a formal proclamation saying she was wrongly convicted and executed. Historians have long regarded Julius Rosenberg as a Soviet spy. But questions about Ethel Rosenberg’s role have simmered for years, dividing those who side with the Meeropols and say she had zero role in espionage from some historians who contend there’s evidence she supported her husband’s activities.

#ethel rosenberg

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kvetchlandia · 1 year ago

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Don Hunstein Billie Holiday, New York City 1957

““It was during my stint at Café Society that a song was born which became my personal protest—“ Strange Fruit.” The germ of the song was in a poem written by Lewis Allan. I first met him at Café Society. When he showed me that poem, I dug it right off.“ Billie Holiday

Lewis Allan was the pen name of poet and school teacher Abel Meeropol. Abel Meeropol and his wife also adopted Robert and Michael Rosenberg, the children of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, after they were judicially murdered by the US government.

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irmandinha1917 · 4 months ago

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In honor of the 26th of July, here are some pictures from a recent trip to Cuba. Starting off with one of my favorites, a memorial to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg

The text reads:

"'For peace, bread, and roses, let us face the executioner.' Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, murdered on 06/19/1953"

#Cuba #07/26 #la habana #havana #CDR #26 de Julio #26th of July #M-26-7 #ethelandjuliusrosenberg

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bassproshopspyramid · 2 years ago

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bestie can you explain why ray cohn's panel said that please i'm so curious

of course! warnings for 1950s–1980s period typical homophobia, and also: you’ll fucking hate this guy.

roy cohn was an american lawyer, and he first became famous for two things: the rosenberg trial, and mccarthyism (also known as the second red scare).

julius and ethel rosenberg were an american couple who were both executed for espionage after providing military secrets to the ussr. i’m not super familiar with the case, but as i understand it: the consensus today is that julius was guilty, ethel probably wasn’t, but the trial was so full of garbage that, legally, they never should have been executed. "guilty but framed" is a phrase i’ve heard about it a couple times.

roy cohn was super proud about the rosenberg trial, claiming that he was responsible for getting the judge and the assistant u.s. attorney appointed to the case, and that the judge gave them the death penalty based on cohn’s personal recommendation.

because of cohn’s prominence in the rosenberg trial, senator joseph mccarthy chose cohn as his chief counsel. cohn worked for the "permanent subcommittee on investigations" (which mccarthy was the head of), and was known for his "aggressive" questioning of suspected communists in american government — basically, they interrogated hundreds of people working for the military and other parts of the government, and drummed up as much anti-communist sentiment as america as possible (that sentiment is why everyone in america is so Like That about unions).

one of the tactics that mccarthy and cohn used was weaponizing americans’ homophobia. they said that communists were convincing closeted gay people in the government to share top secret information in return for not being outed. this is the start of the lavender scare. homosexuals, they said, were a danger to national security. this eventually made then-president eisenhower sign an executive order to ban homosexuals from working for the federal government. we’ll come back to this.

eventually, mccarthy’s claiming that the department of defence was full of communists and also threatening the army when they drafted one of his consultants, g. david schine, led to senate hearings in 1954 that ruined mccarthy’s public image, and cohn was asked to resign.

he went into private practice in new york, where his clients included a bunch of mafia dudes and the star of home alone 2: donald trump. (other famous assholes that were cohn’s clients/friends include alan dershowitz, rupert murdoch, and roger stone. none of those dudes are dead but they all really should be.) he also befriended archbishop francis spellman of new york city, and represented the archdiocese of new york in court. during the debate over the passage of new york’s first gay rights bill, he shared the archdiocese’s opinion and said "homosexual teachers are a grave threat to our children"

cohn was known for being fiercely loyal, and also being accused of a ton of crimes himself (his section on his wikipedia page lists theft, obstruction, extortion, tax evasion, bribery, blackmail, fraud, perjury, and witness tampering. none of which are particularly cool crimes, because he’s a coward.)

he eventually wormed his ass back into politics, becoming an informal advisor to presidents tricky dick nixon and ronald reagan, two guys who are currently burning in hell, competing to figure out which of them is more racist. he was a very good friend to first lady nancy reagan and former cia director william casey, as well as a ton of lobbyists and some morally corrupt "journalists", but he said his very best friend was donald trump. cohn got charged with a few crimes on account of him committing a metric fuckton of crimes, and he ended up being disbarred shortly before his death.

(speaking of those crimes that got him disbarred, one of the things that is mentioned a couple times is that cohn entered the hospital room of one of his clients, a dude who was in a coma and dying, and attempted to make himself a beneficiary of the man’s will. to quote wikipedia, "the resulting marks were determined in court to be indecipherable and in no way a valid signature.")

now, the thing i have done my best to not mention in this post? is that roy cohn himself was infamously gay. he denied it until his dying breath, of course, but he was really bad at hiding it. it was one of those things that everybody knew and nobody spoke about.

we know some of the men he dated and slept with — his assistant russell eldridge, who died from aids in 1984, was one of his boyfriends. the chauffeur of that mccarthy consultant that got drafted, g. david schine, said that schine and cohn did the dirty in the back of his limo, which is just really rude to the chauffeur no matter what your sexuality is. this came up during hearings, and cohn said he and schine were not "closer than to the ordinary friend". that archbishop i mentioned, francis spellman, was rumoured to be gay, which was a big controversy in the church at the time. and cohn’s partner for the last two years of his life was a man named peter fraser.

again, cohn’s sexuality was the kind of thing that was known, you just couldn’t say in public. the lawyer for the army in the hearings asked if a photograph "came from a pixie", and then he defined "pixie" as "a close relative of a fairy". ("pixie" was a type of camera, and "fairy" is a somewhat outdated insult for gay men). cohn’s associate roger stone said of him: "roy was not gay. he was a man who liked having sex with men."

in 1984, roy cohn was diagnosed with aids. he kept the condition a secret and received experimental treatment — he was part of clinical trials for azt, the first anti-hiv drug. he died of complications from aids on august 2, 1986, insisting to his dying day that the cause was liver cancer. when he died, the irs (internal revenue service/basically the tax cops) seized nearly everything he owned. one of the things they didn’t take was a pair of diamond cufflinks, which were a gift from donald trump. roger stone said that cohn’s "absolute goal was to die completely broke and owing millions to the irs. he succeeded in that."

michael kruse wrote for politico: "he was preening and combative, look-at-me lavish and loud. it was an act. the truth was he hated what he was—a lawyer who hated lawyers, a jewish person who hated jewish people, and a gay person, fiercely closeted if haphazardly hidden, who hated gay people".

cohn is a character in a couple of tony kushner’s plays — most famously angels in america, where he is "a closeted, power-hungry hypocrite haunted by the ghost of ethel rosenberg as he denies dying of aids.", but he also appears in g. david schine in hell (where, from a brief look at the show’s wikipedia page, i think he might be in drag?). kushner actually said that seeing his description on the aids quilt is what inspired him to look into cohn.

roy cohn:

lawyer and patriot

bully, coward, victim.

#alt text included #long post #i am not an expert but i am a nerd and i did my best #there’s actually another section for him that has a communist flag but the bully coward victim one came first #roy cohn #aids crisis #aids quilt #icarus #ask #asks #do i have an ask tag

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