Who Is Loyal To America Summary

In the book Voices of Freedom by Eric Foner, an essay written by Henry Steele Commager argued that the anticommunist movement was the new meaning of loyalty. In the article “Who is Loyal to America” by Henry Steele, he conveyed how the Lavender Scare was a problematic issue to the government since the Lavender Scare was aimed at homosexuals working for the government. Discriminating the homosexuals was very similar to the civil rights reforms because the situation was very similar to the Red Scare at the time. Thus caused the change through feminist movement which stressed equality for everyone. This all intertwines with polices due to the fear of communism. Being “different” from the others raised a great suspicion of being a part of being

the communist movement. If you were homosexual, they thought that you are more likely to leak information to communism countries mainly Soviet Union.
Following WWII and going into the Cold War, there was a huge problem that loyalty became a form of conformity.

According to Henry Steele, in his essay “Who is Loyal to America”, he states that “What is the new loyalty? It is, above all, conformity” (Foner. 240) This means that if you are not devoted or in a high social standing, then you could be accused of being part of the communist movement. This was a problematic because those who were loyal were placed on top of back burners “who regard public office as a source of private gain. Those who would exalt the military over the civil” (Foner. 242) Henry was very clear about this because those who changed the definition of loyalty was the ones who were doing the opposite. Another problem that Henry stated was “the concept of loyalty as a conformity is a false one. It is narrow and restrictive, denies freedom of thought and of conscience, and is irremediably stained by private and selfish considerations” (Foner, 240). This is the reason why he was arguing because the government are trying to force people to change into a “true” American without any questions. This ideology broke basically all the Amendments that are bound to citizens. Understanding the new “loyalty” is very important because there are many issues that happened such as the Lavender Scare and the Red

Scare.
An example of promotion of conformity was the Lavender Scare. During the 1950’s, homosexuals working for the government were persecuted. The reason why homosexuals were prosecuted is because the government thought that being “different” from the society makes you seem like you are from the communist party. This connects to the McCarthyism because the government is making false accusations without any evidence of being “different” to convey that they are a part of the communist party. The government also believed that if you were homosexual, there was a bigger chance of you leaking information to others since (they say) you lack emotional stability and are weak minded. According to the lecture, we discussed about Alger Hiss. He was being a communist spy by Whittaker Chambers. Whittaker was accused of many homosexual affairs which made the government very suspicious and when Hiss and Chambers hits the media, everyone believed that they were communist spies. The government took this issue very seriously, any little thing that could connect you to the communist party, they will accuse you with no questions asked.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the civil right reforms was a big issue in the government’s perspective. Americans felt much discriminated by the government since they did not conform to the government expectations. The Cold War was a force of change because it was the initial step to desegregation. When the Soviet Union figured out that the United States military were segregated, they could use it to convey to other nations that the United States were not doing what they wanted. If other nations were to see that the United States were not doing what they were encouraging then other nations would go towards communism which is very bad. Another case would be the Brown vs. Education. The Truman Administration was able to give African American students access to prominent white school. Although this was a very risky take, it was the step in making other nations see that the United States is doing what they intend to do.
Other nations saw the United States as being “talker” of all nation because before, they saw that the United States doing the opposite of what they intended to do however, when the Truman Administration came into play to desegregate schools and the military, everything started going in the right direction. If the Soviet Union spies found out negative things going around in the Unites States then they will try any way to make the U.S look bad. Same situation with Chambers and Hiss, they were accused of being a part of the communist party and made all the other nations aware the United States is imperfect. The government was trying every way to block out any communist influence.