Sacco and Vanzetti and the Newport sex scandal

Newport Sex Scandal

On the surface, the two stories are completely different: the Newport Sex Scandal and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. The Newport Sex Scandal involved military conspiracy, and revealed a culture obsessed with self-righteous and arbitrary moralism. The Sacco and Vanzetti trial involved judicial failures, and revealed a culture obsessed with political subversion. Whereas homosexuality is the core theme of the Newport Sex Scandal, anarchism was at the heart of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. The two incidents occurred at about the same time in American history, and therefore they reveal much about the political and cultural climate of the early twentieth century. Attempts to fabricate a normative culture in America manifested in various ways, such as in the persecution of those whose political beliefs, ethnicities, and sexual orientations differed from the dominant culture. Whether homophobia or xenophobia, the politics of oppression have long characterized American society.

Even as the culture evolves, there remains an ongoing attempt to uproot the problems leading to cases like the Newport Sex Scandal and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. These two incidents actually share much in common. Both cases reveal disturbing weaknesses in American political and social institutions. In fact, the military and the judiciary are two of the most important institutions that demand the public trust. The public entrusts the military to protect, not subvert, the core values of the Constitution. The public likewise trusts the judiciary to treat citizens fairly and to uphold the principles embedded in the Constitution. Both the Newport Sex Scandal and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial challenge the public's implicit trust in American political and social institutions. It is therefore important to discuss both these cases. Both the Newport Sex Scandal and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial shed light on current events, which, like countless other instances of wrongful persecution through the history of the nation, continue to impede the progress of social justice.

The persecution of those deemed to be potential enemies of the state is nothing new in American society. One does not even have to be labeled or perceived as a dangerous threat to be stigmatized, as with women during the Salem witch trials. Homosexuals pose no tangible threat to society in any way, and yet the Newport Sex Scandal shows how individuals and groups deemed to be deviant can become scapegoats. Likewise, Italian-Americans and other non-dominant social groups have been labeled as potentially undermining the core values of American society. One can be gay, Italian, or gay-Italian; it does not matter what the actual label might be. The concurrence of these two incidents shows that during the early twentieth century, Americans were paranoid about their own neighbors.