Franklin Delano Roosevelt didn’t take the presidency route first.
In 1919, before becoming the 32nd president of the United States, he approved a secret plan meant to “rid the U.S.
Navy in Newport, Rhode Island, of “cocksuckers and rectum receivers.”” The plan relied on volunteer agents to have gay sex with sailors and then report them.
A plot to “clean up” port cities
One reason agents allegedly repeated encounters was “evidence” — or at least that was the logic.
Zane described that it “wouldn’t just take one time,” adding that covert agents would have sex “like three or four times before they would get the person.” Actually, she also flagged how messy that justification was, saying, “Well, that’s questionable.” On one hand, the argument was about collecting enough proof; on the other hand, there were “a lot of questions,” she said—like whether the agents simply “enjoyed having sex with these men.”
The Navy’s paperwork, at least, doesn’t pretend it was neutral.
A court martial log labeled “Naval Training Station, Newport, R.I.” documents sailors tried in 1919, listing charges such as “sodomy” and “scandalous conduct,” with some men acquitted.
Somewhere in that dry bureaucratic record is the human consequence—lives reorganized by a single decision made far above the harbor.
The cost, the charges, and the backlash
Debussy described the policy fallout, saying that the matter landed before a congressional committee—where the reaction was essentially, “you did what?” Misryoum editorial desk noted that 22 sailors were entrapped and charged with “deviancy” in Section A’s operations, and an additional 16 civilians were caught up in the busts.
There’s also a story, Zane said, about fear: “this fear by American mothers about sending their sons … into port cities where they associated cities with vice,” so the Navy wanted to “clean up those areas to make mothers feel safer.” If you think about it, Zane’s point is that the military used its power to remove “so-called perverts and degenerates without needing legal authority.”
The punishment didn’t land evenly.
Men labeled as “tops” were seen as less gay or not gay at all and punished less severely, while men labeled as “bottoms” or “effeminate” were punished most severely.
For many, the consequences were severe and life-changing, Debussy said.
In some instances, men were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
And then there’s the part people don’t like to quantify: the ripple effect.
She described stigma that follows—dishonorable discharge, the lack of benefits, the lack of respect—something that can stick for years, long after the courtroom is quiet.
Maybe what’s most surprising is how close the operation came to derailing Roosevelt himself.
According to Zane, senators were “utterly shocked” and “strongly advised Roosevelt never be allowed to hold public office again.” It didn’t stick.
He was elected to four terms as president, and history largely forgot the scandal.
Still, the whole thing leaves a lingering, sour feeling—like old paper after rain—because it shows how easily a state can turn private lives into evidence, and then call it order.
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