SOURCE: "Sad Story of Gays in Military," in The Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1993, p. A16.

Lehman served as secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration. In the following review, he responds negatively to Conduct Unbecoming, maintaining that many of Shilts's facts and personal accounts are inflated, slanted, and often erroneous.

On March 14, 1778, George Washington personally ordered Lt. G. F. Enslin drummed out of Valley Forge "with abhorrence and detestation" after he was found guilty of sodomy. From that day on such activity has never been tolerated in the military. While the severity of enforcement and punishment has varied, the emphasis was always on behavior, not preference or inclination. That policy was changed by the Carter administration.

The nature of the present tempest over gays in the military springs from two Orwellian initiatives by Democrats in the early 1980s. The first of these was Department of Defense Directive...