Tailhook scandal

Tailhook scandal
An unofficial Tailhook aviator's uniform patch from 1992.
Date:	September 8–12, 1991
Place:	Las Vegas, Nevada

The Tailhook scandal refers to a series of incidents at the 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium from September 8–12, 1991 and the resulting investigations conducted by the United States Navy (USN) and United States Department of Defense. At the symposium, held at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada, numerous USN and United States Marine Corps aviation officers were alleged to have assaulted women or otherwise engaged in improper and indecent conduct.

As a result of the subsequent investigations, a number of officers were formally disciplined or refused advancement in rank. Controversially, military officers and observers have alleged that flag officers attending the symposium were not held accountable for knowingly allowing the behavior in question to occur. Observers noted that the scandal highlighted the US military culture's attitude and treatment towards women in the areas of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and equal treatment of women in career advancement and opportunity.

Incident

In September 1991, the 35th annual symposium in Las Vegas featured a two-day debrief on Navy and Marine Corps aviation in Operation Desert Storm. It was the largest such meeting yet held, with some 4,000 attendees: active, reserve, and retired personnel.

According to a Department of Defense (DoD) report, 83 women and 7 men stated that they had been victims of sexual assault and harassment during the meeting. Several participants later stated that a number of flag officers attending the meetings were aware of the sexual assaults, but did nothing to stop them.^[1]

On October 29, 1991, possibly responding to political pressure, and well before completion of any investigations, the Department of the Navy terminated all ties to the association.^{[citation needed]} Although the association cooperated fully in the ensuing investigations and had never held authority over military personnel, ties were not restored with the Navy until January 19, 1999.^{[citation needed]}

A series of official investigations was conducted, but all were widely criticized, involving official cover-ups by senior Navy and civilian officials, and denial of due process to hundreds of individuals, most of whom were not accused of any wrongdoing.^{[citation needed]} Aviators spoke of a "witch-hunt" mentality in the George H. W. Bush Administration, even though President George H.W. Bush had been a Navy pilot.^{[citation needed]}

Indeed, most of the 4,000 male military attendees were interviewed several times, many as much as five times or more.^{[citation needed]} Initial investigations by the former NIS (Naval Investigative Service) were often botched applications of techniques such as the use of a single bright lamp in a dark room and asking the pilots questions such as "When was the last time you masturbated?" in an effort to apply psychological pressure.^{[citation needed]} The tactic backfired: the pilots were not intimidated and threatened legal action in return for the "guilty until proven innocent" atmosphere they were forced to endure.^{[citation needed]} The investigation evolved into such a disaster the NIS was dissolved and eventually replaced by the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service). DoD investigators officially declared the Tailhook 1991 investigation closed.

The issues were never quite settled, and as late as 2002, the Tailhook chairman spoke of "the alleged misconduct that occurred in 1991".^[2] For several years after Tailhook '91 Promotion board results were delayed while a special reivew was conducted to ensure that any person with an adverse connection to Tailhook '91 was not promoted.

Frontline on PBS reported:

Ultimately the careers of fourteen admirals and almost 300 naval aviators were scuttled or damaged by Tailhook. For example Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett III and CNO Admiral Frank Kelso were both at Tailhook '91. Garrett ultimately resigned and Kelso retired early two years after the convention.^[3] Vice Admiral Richard Dunleavy, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air Warfare, was demoted to a two-star Admiral (from a three-star Admiral) and retired because of the scandal. ^[4]

Author Jean Zimmerman developed the thesis that the scandal underscored the shifting status of women in the military and particularly the role of women in combat.^[5] As such, Tailhook can be seen as part of the evolution of the armed forces that continued through the losses of female soldiers in Iraq.

In popular culture

The scandal was satirized on two episodes of The Simpsons, in which a character, Waylon Smithers, confessed that:

"I feel about as low as Madonna when she found out she missed Tailhook."

and an admiral that would have thrown the book at Homer in Simpson Tide did nothing because he was indicted in the Tailhook Scandal.

In an episode of The X-Files ("Detour"), Dana Scully visits her FBI partner Fox Mulder in his hotel room and reminds him that they are violating the FBI policy of male and female agents consorting in the same hotel room. Mulder jokingly warns her not to "try any of that Tailhook crap" on him.

The scandal was also referenced in The West Wing, during a debate about "Don't ask, don't tell". When arguing with a Congressman about the issue, Sam Seaborn says:

There's something I'd always wanted to ask you. Why does being gay mean you can't keep your hands to yourself? Over what kind of gentlemanly pride are the Armed Forces willing to lay claim the restraint in that area? You want me to get the file on sexual harassment on the D.O.D.? Do you want me to ask these guys about Tailhook?

The scandal was also referenced in JAG on numerous occasions, usually in a negative comparison with comments along the lines of the season 1 episode "Black Ops" when said "This will ruin more careers than Tailhook."

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tailhook Association

Further reading

• McMichael, William (1997). The Mother of All Hooks: The Story of the U. S. Navy's Tailhook Scandal. Transaction Publishers. ISBN 156000293X. 
• Office of the Inspector General, United States Department of Defense (1993). The Tailhook Report. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-10392-8. 
• Vistica, Gregory (1997). Fall From Glory: The Men Who Sank the U.S. Navy. Touchstone. ISBN 0684832267. 
• Zimmerman, Jean (1995). Tailspin. Doubleday. ISBN 0385477899. 

External links

• "Tailhook (bothsides) The Dream and the Reality". compilation by Dee Finney. 2001-07-18. http://www.greatdreams.com/tailhook.htm. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
• "The navy blues: Tailhook '91". Frontline, PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/navy/tailhook/. Retrieved 2007-08-13. 
• "Tailhook Affair Brings Censure Of 3 Admirals". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/16/us/tailhook-affair-brings-censure-of-3-admirals.html. Retrieved 2009-05-30.