In the 1950s, the US government launched a campaign focused on finding and purging gay government employees. It was prompted due to a misguided idea that gay people were vulnerable to blackmail and considered easy targets for Russia. About 10,000 people lost their jobs because of "the Lavender Scare," which had lasting impact on the queer community. During the Cold War paranoia of the late 1940s and 50s, the US government famously led a witch hunt targeting communists leading to a hysteria dubbed the "Red Scare." The hysteria was later followed by a second government campaign prompted by discrimination against gay people in the federal government, which similarly became known as the "Lavender Scare."

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Persons: —, Joan Cassidy, Cassidy Organizations: Service Locations: Russia