Why did Eisenhower administration officials consider homosexuals and other "sex offenders" national security risks during the Cold War? During the McCarthy era, from the late 1940’s to the late 1950’s, the United States government mobilized its resources at hand to remove all employees within the government that were suspects of being communist as they posed as risk for the American way of life. Among the list of national security risks, was homosexuality. The Eisenhower administration considered homosexual and other sex offenders national risk because “their sexual orientation (regardless of their loyalty to the US), supposedly made them susceptible to blackmail; once black mailed, they might give state secrets to the communist enemy. But sex, not communist, was behind this crackdown”. Pg. 167-168 What evidence did they present to justify firing these individuals? Besides all out government campaigns against homosexuals and spying on employees and regular citizens, the different agencies of government, also relied on anonymous’ tipping. For Americans, participating in this “hunt of homosexuals” was a civil duty, therefore, keeping the eyes open and reporting …show more content…
Agents interviewed many man and woman suspected of gender deviation. Besides the uncomfortable questioning, agents used tactics such as the good and bad cop technics to force individuals to provide names of other possible suspects or else they would made public their homosexuality. Additionally, agents also used the polygraph test or most commonly known as the lie detector, which is an apparatus that measures and detects deviances in an individual’s vital signs during interrogation. Eight out of ten people tested thru the lie detector was found suspect of immorality, which basically meant that he or she was