 Shield of Harvard University with the motto Veritas (truth) The Secret Court of 1920 was a secret tribunal convened in 1920 at Harvard University to rid the university of homosexuals. Download high resolution version (1000x1182, 23 KB)Shield of Harvard University Rasterized from Harvard Print Services business card order form (PDF file) by Jacobolus This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ...
Download high resolution version (1000x1182, 23 KB)Shield of Harvard University Rasterized from Harvard Print Services business card order form (PDF file) by Jacobolus This is a copyrighted and/or trademarked logo. ...
1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ...
Harvard University (incorporated as The President and Fellows of Harvard College) is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ...
Since its coinage, the word homosexuality has acquired multiple meanings. ...
Headed by then president Abbott Lawrence Lowell, the tribunal included acting Dean Chester N. Greenough, Assistant Dean Edward R. Gay, Professor of Hygiene Robert I. Lee, and Regent Matthew Luce. The "Court" met in secret, and held secret interrogations of students and one Assistant Professor suspected of being homosexual. Fourten men were found "guilty": eight students, one Assistant Professor and PhD candidate, one recent graduate, and four men not associated with the university. All the students who were found guilty were expelled from the university, in most cases permanently. Abbott Lawrence Lowell, portrait by John Singer Sargent U.S. educator, historian, and President of Harvard University (1909–33), Abbott Lawrence Lowell (January 1, 1856–January 6, 1943) was born to Augustus Lowell and his wife Katherine Bigelow Lowell at the families 10 acre estate in Brookline, MA. The Lowell...
A professor giving a lecture The meaning of the word professor (Latin: one who claims publicly to be an expert) varies. ...
Background
On May 13, 1920, Cyril Wilcox was found dead in his room, apparently of suicide, though the papers called the death accidental.
A Harvard undergraduate, Wilcox had been asked to withdraw from the university due to poor academic performance [1].
The night before his death, Wilcox had confessed to his older brother, George Wilcox, that he had been having an affair with an older man, Harry Dreyfus, who lived in Boston. Shortly after his brother's death George intercepted two letters addressed to Cyril, both from homosexual friends, that convinced George that Cyril had been led astray by a group of students at Harvard who were involved in homosexual activities [2]. Image File history File links Abbott_Lawrence_Lowell,_by_Sargent. ...
Image File history File links Abbott_Lawrence_Lowell,_by_Sargent. ...
Self Portrait, oil painting, 1907 John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was the most successful portrait painter of his era, as well as a gifted landscape painter and watercolorist. ...
Nickname: City on the Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Universe)1, Athens of America, The Cradle of Revolution, Puritan City, Americas Walking City Location in Massachusetts, USA Counties Suffolk County Mayor Thomas M. Menino(D) Area - City 232. ...
Furious, George Wilcox located Dreyfus and beat him, extracting several names of homosexual students, and contacted Acting Dean Greenough, demanding that Harvard do something about the situation.
A day later, on May 23, 1920, the "Secret Court" was created.
Activities of the Court The Court, which initially remained secret even from the university's Administrative Board, quickly named one student who they saw as the "ringleader": Ernest Weeks Roberts, son of Rep. Ernest William Roberts, who had represented Massachusetts in Congress for eight years and was still an important political figure in Washington and Boston [3]. Roberts Jr., who had hoped to enter Harvard Medical School, had served during World War I in the Harvard unit of the Students’ Army Training Corps (SATC) [4]. Shield of Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University. ...
Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul...
A list of names of students who were known to be friendly with Roberts was compiled, and the Court proceded to summon the accused for interviews. Curt notes were delivered to those involved. Roberts' read:
"I expect you, whatever your engagement may be, to appear at my office tomorrow, Friday, May 28th, at 2:45 P.M." (Wright)
Students were directed to appear even if appearing meant missing a final examination.
On Thursday, May 27, 1920, Kenneth Day became the first accused to appear before the Court. The accused were asked intimate details of the personal and sexual lives, including whether, and how often, they masturbated. Some were summoned because they had been seen attending parties in Roberts' rooms; some had been accused by others. Mulher Sentada de Coxas Abertas, Drawing 1916 by Gustav Klimt Masturbation is sexual stimulation, particularly of ones own genitals, often to the point of orgasm, that is accomplished manually, by other types of bodily contact (except for sexual intercourse), by use of objects or tools, or by some combination...
The accused Besides the eight undergraduates and one assistant professor expelled, at least four men not affiliated with Harvard were found guilty by the Court. In at least one case, a letter detailing his "crimes" was sent to the man's employer (Wright).
Donald Clark Douglas Clark, then twenty-four years old, was Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Harvard, and a PhD. candidate. Fluent in Italian, German and French, he servied during WWI he served as a special agent in the U.S. Department of Justice. He received a master's degree in Philosophy at Harvard in 1918 and was in the third year of his Ph.D. program when he was summoned before the Court. He was summoned after being accused by a student. The Death of Socrates, by Jacques-Louis David (1787) depicts the philosopher Socrates carrying out his own execution. ...
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is a Cabinet department in the United States government designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. ...
A masters degree is an academic degree usually awarded for completion of a postgraduate (or graduate) course of one to three years in duration. ...
Clark was expelled from the university, and President Lowell personally crossed Clark’s name off all Corporation records [5]. He taught for a while at Mills College and at the David Mannes School of Music, wrote a book of poetry, and published translations from Italian and German, then worked as a librarian at the National Jewish Hospital until his death from tuberculosis at age forty-seven in 1943 (Wright). Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for Tubercle Bacillus) is a common and deadly infectious disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which most commonly affects the lungs (pulmonary TB) but can also affect the central nervous system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, genitourinary system, bones and joints. ...
Eugene R. Cummings Eugene Cummings, then twenty-three, was a dentistry student. He committed suicide at Harvard’s Stillman Infirmary the day he learned he was being expelled, three weeks before graduation (Wright). A Dentist and Dental Assistant perform surgery on a patient. ...
Kenneth Day Kenneth Day was expelled from Harvard. Despite being told that he might be considered for readmission, his repeated requests were dismissed, probably on the instructions of President Lowell.
In April 1926, Day married and moved to New York, where he worked as a bank teller. He had two daughers, and would marry two additional times (Wright).
Stanley Gilkey According to a letter sent to his father, Stanley Gilkey was expelled from Harvard because | | he has, by reading and conversation found out too much about homosexual matters. Secondly, he has been most indiscreet in saying in a public restaurant that a certain student looked to him like a man guilty of homosexual practices. In the third place, he has been too closely acquainted with the ringleader in these practices, and has visited his room too often. (Wright) | | Gilkey, who was in fact homosexual, was readmitted to the university in 1921 and graduated in 1923. He lived in Paris for two years, then returned to the US, where he produced ten Broadway shows, some of them hits (one of them gave renowned dancer Gene Kelly his first speaking role). He remained active in the theatre world, and died in 1979. Image File history File links Cquote1. ...
Image File history File links Cquote2. ...
City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Île-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land...
Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ...
Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996), better known as Gene Kelly, was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ...
Joseph Lumbard Although the court had been unable to prove that Joseph Lumbard had been involved in any homosexual activity (he had been the roommate of Edward Say, who was also found guilty and expelled), he was expelled from the university on the grounds that he had associated too closely with Say and others in the crowd. He was nineteen years old. In a letter to his father after his expulsion, Greenough wrote of Lumbard: Joseph Edward Lumbard (August 18, 1901 - June 3, 1999) was a longtime federal appellate judge in the United States. ...
| | His difficulties are, in brief, as follows. A certain group of Harvard students, in connection with a group of older men in Boston, have been guilty of homosexual practices, and one of the men deeply involved is your son's roommate. Your son, though we believe him to be innocent of any homosexual act, is . . . too closely connected with those who are guilty of those acts. (Wright) | | Lumbard had admitted to dancing with another boy at a party in Roberts' rooms, taking telephone messages for other boys whom he knew to be homosexual, and permitting friends of his roommmate Say to stay overnight in their shared rooms. Image File history File links Cquote1. ...
Image File history File links Cquote2. ...
Lumbard was invited to reapply at Harvard after a year, and was readmitted in 1921. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1925 and married in 1929. Harvard Law School (HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. ...
Despite his readmission, Harvard twice divulged details of Lumbard's expulsion, once in 1931 when he was being considered by the US Attorney's office and once more thirty-three years after his expulsion, in 1953, when President-elect Eisenhower was considering him for a judgeship on the US Court of Appeals. Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ...
During a long career, Lumbard sat on the New York Supreme Court, served as the United States Attorney in Manhattan, cofounded the OSS (which later became the CIA), and was a senior judge on the US Court of Appeals. He was also considered to sit on the US Supreme Court. He served on the Special Court of Appeals, and turned down the position of judge in the Watergate scandal. In 1959 he was appointed, ironically, to the Board of Overseers at Harvard, and served for ten years (Wright). The Borough of Manhattan, highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ...
Oss is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. ...
The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ...
The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...
The term Watergate scandal refers to a series of events, spanning from 1972 to [[1974], that gained its name from burglaries of the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C.. Though then-President Richard Nixon had endured two years of mounting political embarrassments...
Harold Saxton Harold Saxton had graduated and was no longer a Harvard student at the time the Court was convened, but was making a living tutoring Harvard students. He was banished from the university, which made a point of sending damning letters when asked by perspective employers for a recommendation. Nothing more is known of Saxton after his twenty-ninth year (Wright).
Edward Say Edward Say was twenty years old when he was expelled. He insisted he had never engaged in any homosexual activity (though others claimed that he had). After his expulsion he wored as a securities salesman.
Say was killed in a mysterious single-car crash on July 13, 1930 (Wright).
Keith Smerage Keith Smerage was expelled from Harvard. He later claimed the Court had tricked him into confessing by lying about the evidence they had against him (Wright). After being informed that Harvard would report fully on the circumstances surrounding his expulsion from the school if contacted by other universities, Smerage took a job in a tearoom, and then became assistant manager of his mother's inn.
He had some low-level jobs in the theater, followed by a stint as assistant manager at a Greenwich Village restaurant, where he lived with a man who may have been his lover.
He committed suicide on September 8, 1930 in the same manner as Cyril Wilcox had ten years previously, by turning on the gas and going to bed (Wright).
Nathaniel Stein Wollf Nathaniel Wollf, who was probably homosexual, was expelled at the age of twenty-five, days before earning his bachelors degree, but the possibility of readmission was left open; his request would be denied. Because of unfavourable reports from Harvard, Wollf's application at McGill University was also denied. A bachelors degree is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course that generally lasts three or four years. ...
McGill University is a publicly funded, non-denominational, co-educational research university located in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. ...
Ultimately, Wollf graduated with a medical degree from Bellevue Hospital Medical College. After studying psychiatry for a further three years, spent the next ten years pursuing painting and academic interests, and briefly converted to Islam. He opened a nightclub in Barcelona in 1935. Islam (Arabic: ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Quran, its principal scripture, whose followers, known as Muslims (مسلم), believe God (Arabic: الله ) sent through revelations to Muhammad. ...
Clubbing, also known as a disco A nightclub (often shortened to club) is an entertainment venue which does its primary business after dark. ...
Location Coordinates : Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) - summer: CEST (GMT +2) General information Native name Barcelona (Catalan) Spanish name Barcelona Nickname Ciutat Comtal Postal code 08001-08080 Area code 34 (Spain) + 93 (Barcelona) Website http://www. ...
During World War II he returned to the US where he served as a psychiatrist for returning soldiers. Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...
He died a bachelor in 1959 (Wright).
Discovery In 2002 a researcher from student newspaper The Crimson came accross a box of files labelled "Secret Court." Eventually five hundred documents relating to the Court were released by Harvard, and the story was broken in The Crimson's weekly magazine Fifteen Minutes.
Then Harvard University President Lawrence H. Summers said of the incident: Larry Summers Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist, politician, and academic. ...
| | These reports of events long ago are extremely disturbing. They are part of a past that we have rightly left behind. I want to express our deep regret for the way this situation was handled, as well as the anguish the students and their families must have experienced eight decades ago. Image File history File links Cquote1. ...
"Whatever attitudes may have been prevalent then, persecuting individuals on the basis of sexual orientation is abhorrent and an affront to the values of our university. We are a better and more just community today because those attitudes have changed as much as they have." [6]
| | Image File history File links Cquote2. ...
References - Wright, William. Harvard's Secret Court: The Savage 1920 Purge of Campus Homosexuals. New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, 2005.
- Washington Post.com: "Harvard Secret Court Expelled Gay Students in 1920"
- The Harvard Crimson: "The Secret Court of 1920"
|
Feeds |
Contact