The Sexual Economy of War: Regulation of Sexuality and the U.S. Army, 1898-1940 by John Andrew Byers Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Alex Roland, Supervisor ___________________________ William Chafe ___________________________ Nancy MacLean ___________________________ Peter Sigal ___________________________ Dirk Bönker Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 ABSTRACT The Sexual Economy of War: Regulation of Sexuality and the U.S. Army, 1898-1940 by John Andrew Byers Department of History Duke University Date:_______________________ Approved: ___________________________ Alex Roland, Supervisor ___________________________ William Chafe ___________________________ Nancy MacLean ___________________________ Peter Sigal ___________________________ Dirk Bönker An abstract of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History in the Graduate School of Duke University 2012 Copyright by John Andrew Byers 2012 Abstract The United States began to look beyond its continental boundaries and acquire a new, far-flung empire in the late nineteenth century. Two decades later, a national draft and mobilization program brought millions of men into the army when the United States intervened in the First World War. The U.S. Army also experienced several major changes in the first four decades of the twentieth century, including massive growth in the size of the army’s forces, changes in the demographics of soldiers and a related effort “Americanize” the army, and increased professionalization and internal reform as the army attempted to improve its performance and increase its standing in the nation. Along with these changes came the efforts of influential Progressive social and moral reformers who sought to reform the U.S. Army and inculcate newly enlisted soldiers with middle-class values and behavior. Over time, army leaders and War Department officials found that they needed to address the perennial set of problems that soldiers’ sexual relationships created for the army and its new long-term missions in Asia and Europe. While the U.S Army was initially interested in the sex lives of soldiers primarily for utilitarian reasons, it eventually assumed an institutional interest in cultivating particular kinds of masculine identities for soldiers. This dissertation explores how the U.S. Army of the early twentieth century conceived of a host of issues related to sexuality: marriage and family life, prostitution iv and venereal disease, rape and sexual violence, same-sex sexuality, and conceptions of masculinity, among others. It examines how the army sought to regulate and shape the sexual behaviors of soldiers and the civilians with whom they came into sexual contact. The sexual cultures, practices, and behaviors of soldiers and their partners, along with the U.S. Army’s efforts to regulate their sexuality, constitute what it describes as the “sexual economy of war.” This dissertation argues that the U.S. Army first attempted to gain control of almost all aspects of soldiers’ sexuality and then tried to carefully manage and regulate that sexual economy to best fulfill the army’s missions. The army suppressed soldiers’ sexual behaviors and expressions that it perceived as running counter to the good of the service or creating inefficiencies. It encouraged those aspects of sexual identity that the army believed benefited the service – for instance, hypermasculine demeanor and actions – eventually purging soldiers who engaged in same-sex sexual activities because these practices became linked with effeminacy and mental disorders and producing a set of militant masculinities among soldiers. These issues are explored through five case studies of specific time periods and geographic areas: Fort Riley in Kansas from 1898-1940; the Philippines from 1898-1918; Camp Beauregard in Louisiana, 1917-1919; the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) in France and the American Forces in Germany (AFG), 1917-1923; and Hawaii, 1909-1940. The army’s new position in American society, especially after World War I, and its overseas operations opened up a host of new and different kinds of sexual politics, v possibilities, and relationships for all those touched by the U.S. Army’s regulation of sexuality. vi Dedication To Elizabeth, the love of my life vii Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ................................................................................................................................ xii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ xiii Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................xiv Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 The United States Army and Sexuality ............................................................................. 10 The United States in the Progressive Era .......................................................................... 26 The U.S. Army and the Sexual Economy of War ............................................................. 41 Research Methodology ........................................................................................................ 48 Dissertation Overview and Organization ......................................................................... 53 Chapter One: “Conduct of a Nature to Bring Discredit upon the Military Service”: The Regulation of Sexuality at Fort Riley, Kansas, 1898-1940 ...................................................... 58 Introduction: Fort Riley from the Spanish-American War through the Interwar Years ................................................................................................................................................. 58 Military Justice at Fort Riley ............................................................................................... 64 Lesser Criminal Offenses ..................................................................................................... 68 Marriage and Family Life at Fort Riley ............................................................................. 76 The Family Life of Officers .................................................................................................. 80 The Family Life of Enlisted Men ........................................................................................ 84 Sexual Propriety and Harassment ..................................................................................... 87 Venereal Disease at Fort Riley ............................................................................................ 91 viii Sodomy and Homosexuality .............................................................................................. 94 Sexual Violence toward Women ...................................................................................... 109 The Sexual Economy of War at Fort Riley ...................................................................... 117 Chapter Two: “Benevolent Assimilation” and the Dangers of the Tropics: The Sexual Economy of War during the American Occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1918 ......... 124 Introduction: Benevolent Assimilation and Tropical Dangers for American Manhood ............................................................................................................................................... 124 U.S. Military Occupation and Prostitution in the Philippines ..................................... 134 Domestic Responses to Army-Regulated Prostitution .................................................. 141 Attempts to Contain and Eliminate Prostitution ........................................................... 154 The Problem of Venereal Disease in the Army .............................................................. 159 Military Justice and Venereal Disease in the Philippines ............................................. 167 Same-Sex Sexual Activity in the Philippines .................................................................. 171 Romantic Relationships, Marriage, and Family Life in the Philippines ..................... 176 African-American Soldiers in the Philippines ................................................................ 183 The Philippines and the Sexual Economy of War .......................................................... 187 Chapter Three: “Come Back Clean”: Camp Beauregard and the Commission on Training Camp Activities (CTCA) in Louisiana, 1917-1919 ................................................................ 191 Introduction: Progressivism, the Social Purity Movement, and the American War Effort in World War I ......................................................................................................... 191 The Creation of the Commission on Training Camp Activities .................................. 197 CTCA Policies and Practices ............................................................................................. 203 Camp Beauregard