Harvey Milk and the Trauma of Assassination

In: Cultural sociology, Band 6, Heft 4, S. 399-421

Abstract

This article sets out to explain why after the 1978 assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk, it is the latter who has achieved world recognition. At the time of their assassination Moscone was the more well-known figure, an American politician with a national reputation. The theories of social drama and cultural trauma are applied in this explanatory process. These theories provide a framework for analyzing how this incident became a significant event locally and nationally. The fact that Milk was one of the first openly gay people to hold public office in the United States meant that his life and death would have significance for a wide group of people. Individuals and organizations associated with gay liberation became carrier groups which created the Harvey Milk story and how it was told. Such carrier groups saw to it that Milk was remembered, and remembered in a particular way.