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Two prominent men died on the Titanic. Were they secretly a couple?
RETROPOLIS
Two prominent men died on the Titanic. Were they secretly a couple?
By Gillian Brockell
August 7, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Presidential aide Archibald Butt in 1909, left, and artist Francis Davis Millet in 1910. (Library of Congress/Archives of American Art/Smithsonian Institution)
Let’s be clear up front: No one knows for sure whether Archibald Butt and Francis Davis Millet were in a romantic relationship. In the times and society in which they lived, for such a thing to become known would have meant ruin.
Here’s what we do know. Butt never married. Millet was estranged from his wife and had a previous relationship with a man. Butt and Millet lived together in a mansion in Washington’s tony Georgetown neighborhood, where they threw parties for the city’s elite — including Butt’s boss, President William Howard Taft. ... And in the weeks before they died on the Titanic, they were vacationing together in Europe.
“The enduring partnership of Butt and Millet was an early case of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’ " historian Richard Davenport-Hines wrote in 2012, referring to the policy that once required gay members of the military to keep their sexuality secret. A National Park Service page for the White House memorial fountain in their honor says they were “widely believed to have been romantically involved with one another.”
{snip}
Newsboys hold copies of The Washington Post with headlines about the Titanic and the disappearance of Maj. Archibald Butt and another prominent Washingtonian. (Lewis Hine/National Archives and Records Administration)
The Washington Times quoted a friend who said “the two men had a sympathy of mind which was most unusual.” The Post said they were the “closest of friends,” comparing them to ancient Greek figures Damon and Pythias, who were willing to die for one another. Historian James Gifford, writing for OutHistory, suggested this comparison may have been an oblique way of signaling they were gay.
{snip}
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3QvcDkt
By Gillian Brockell
Gillian Brockell is a staff writer for The Washington Post's history blog, Retropolis. She has been at The Post since 2013 and previously worked as a video editor. Twitter https://twitter.com/gbrockell
Two prominent men died on the Titanic. Were they secretly a couple?
By Gillian Brockell
August 7, 2022 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Presidential aide Archibald Butt in 1909, left, and artist Francis Davis Millet in 1910. (Library of Congress/Archives of American Art/Smithsonian Institution)
Let’s be clear up front: No one knows for sure whether Archibald Butt and Francis Davis Millet were in a romantic relationship. In the times and society in which they lived, for such a thing to become known would have meant ruin.
Here’s what we do know. Butt never married. Millet was estranged from his wife and had a previous relationship with a man. Butt and Millet lived together in a mansion in Washington’s tony Georgetown neighborhood, where they threw parties for the city’s elite — including Butt’s boss, President William Howard Taft. ... And in the weeks before they died on the Titanic, they were vacationing together in Europe.
“The enduring partnership of Butt and Millet was an early case of ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell,’ " historian Richard Davenport-Hines wrote in 2012, referring to the policy that once required gay members of the military to keep their sexuality secret. A National Park Service page for the White House memorial fountain in their honor says they were “widely believed to have been romantically involved with one another.”
{snip}
Newsboys hold copies of The Washington Post with headlines about the Titanic and the disappearance of Maj. Archibald Butt and another prominent Washingtonian. (Lewis Hine/National Archives and Records Administration)
The Washington Times quoted a friend who said “the two men had a sympathy of mind which was most unusual.” The Post said they were the “closest of friends,” comparing them to ancient Greek figures Damon and Pythias, who were willing to die for one another. Historian James Gifford, writing for OutHistory, suggested this comparison may have been an oblique way of signaling they were gay.
{snip}
Gift Article
https://wapo.st/3QvcDkt
By Gillian Brockell
Gillian Brockell is a staff writer for The Washington Post's history blog, Retropolis. She has been at The Post since 2013 and previously worked as a video editor. Twitter https://twitter.com/gbrockell
42 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Especially when the last name is one to make a 12 year old boy giggle. 
Butt and Millet lived together in a mansion in Washington’s tony Georgetown neighborhood...
It might be tony now, but it wasn't always. It used to have a large black population, and it was considered industrial.
Our Black History … in Georgetown
BY ROBERT DEVANEY • FEBRUARY 20, 2019
Georgetown young men at home on 32nd Street on a Sunday afternoon, about 1916. Courtesy Cynthia Jackson.
{snip}
At the turn of the 20th century, black Georgetowners lived mostly in Herring Hill (named for the fish in Rock Creek) near Rose Park, along Volta Place — Pomander Walk was known as “Bedlam Lane” — and south of M Street in Cherry Hill Lane. Framed wooden houses are reminders of what once was.
Blacks and whites lived — and played — side by side in many blocks, although with segregation they did not attend the same schools or churches. The Phillips and Wormley schools (for blacks only) are now condos. The Jackson School (for whites) is an arts studio cooperative. Hyde-Addison School (once for whites only) is Georgetown’s only public elementary school. Francis Junior High on N Street in the West End was for blacks only.
By the early 20th century, Georgetown had lost its luster and seemed lost in time. With the C&O Canal slowly hauling barges of coal, its port long silted up and its waterfront with a rendering plant and a power plant, the town was classified as industrial.
Nevertheless, in the face of segregation and racism, black Georgetowners established a community that included a variety of clubs, sports teams and black-owned businesses. At 28th and P Streets, Stachowski’s used to be Pride Pharmacy; the Washington Fine Properties office, Burke’s Tailor Shop. Almost every corner near Rose Park boasted a business.
{snip}
BY ROBERT DEVANEY • FEBRUARY 20, 2019
Georgetown young men at home on 32nd Street on a Sunday afternoon, about 1916. Courtesy Cynthia Jackson.
{snip}
At the turn of the 20th century, black Georgetowners lived mostly in Herring Hill (named for the fish in Rock Creek) near Rose Park, along Volta Place — Pomander Walk was known as “Bedlam Lane” — and south of M Street in Cherry Hill Lane. Framed wooden houses are reminders of what once was.
Blacks and whites lived — and played — side by side in many blocks, although with segregation they did not attend the same schools or churches. The Phillips and Wormley schools (for blacks only) are now condos. The Jackson School (for whites) is an arts studio cooperative. Hyde-Addison School (once for whites only) is Georgetown’s only public elementary school. Francis Junior High on N Street in the West End was for blacks only.
By the early 20th century, Georgetown had lost its luster and seemed lost in time. With the C&O Canal slowly hauling barges of coal, its port long silted up and its waterfront with a rendering plant and a power plant, the town was classified as industrial.
Nevertheless, in the face of segregation and racism, black Georgetowners established a community that included a variety of clubs, sports teams and black-owned businesses. At 28th and P Streets, Stachowski’s used to be Pride Pharmacy; the Washington Fine Properties office, Burke’s Tailor Shop. Almost every corner near Rose Park boasted a business.
{snip}
