Research

Many assumptions about Communists mirrored common beliefs about homosexuals,” notes National Archives archivist Judith Adkins. “Both were thought to be morally weak or psychologically disturbed, both were seen as godless, both purportedly undermined the traditional family, both were assumed to recruit, and both were shadowy figures with a secret... See more

Eisenhower was questioned by journalists about the percentage of employees fired for security reasons or morality but it was a number he was hesitant to reveal to the public. Consequently, American audiences were led to believe that the federal government had been successfully removing communist threats. In reality, homosexual employees, who had... See more

Additionally, the process in which investigations were completed exposed an individual's private life, irreparably damaging their relationships with family and friends. The effects rippled into local gay communities, limiting interaction among community members.There was fear of being outed by undercover investigators or by those who had been... See more

Having introduced flights and familiars into the proceedings, having delivered a tale that could not be unthought, Tituba was neither again questioned nor so much as named. She finally went on trial for having covenanted with the devil on May 9, 1693, after 15 harrowing months in prison. The jury declined to indict her. The first to confess to... See more

There was equal reason why Tituba afterward caused grown men to freeze in their tracks. Hours after her testimony, they trembled at “strange and unusual beasts,” diaphanous creatures that mutated before their eyes and melted into the night. And she would herself undergo a number of strange and unusual transformations, with the assistance of some of... See more

She was presumably not a large woman; she would expect the Salem justices to believe that two other suspects had strong-armed her into a high-speed excursion through the air, while all held close to one another on a pole. She was the first in Salem to mention a flight.