GLR September-October 2024

ESSAY Secrets & Truths & Claude Schwob D AVID L. C HAPMAN

T HE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB used in warfare was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The explosion, which had the force of more than 15,000 tons of TNT, in stantly vaporized the center of the city and eventually killed some 100,000 from the blast and radiation poisoning. Working under the direction of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientists who developed the bomb, having undergone rigorous security clearances, did so in iso lation and secrecy. One of the men who toiled away at the task was a handsome thirty-something chemist named Claude René Schwob, and as it turned out he was keeping more se crets than most of his coworkers. He not only had to keep silent about the job he was doing for the war effort, but he also had to avoid drawing undue attention to himself, because he was homosexual. But despite the need for secrecy, Schwob refused to deny or be ashamed of his sexuality, which was unusual in this pre Stonewall era. He was fortunate to be a brilliant scientist at a time when the government needed such men, and while he had to be discreet, he was determined never to live a furtive or frus trated existence even in that intolerant age. In this way, he demonstrated that it was possible for a gay man to lead a happy and productive life without compromising his values—or fore going an active sex life. Claude Schwob was born in the small Hudson River town of Dobbs Ferry, New York, in 1910. Both of parents were immi grants to the U.S., his father Jules having come from Switzer land and his mother Suzanne from France. Soon after he was born, the family moved to New York City, where they lived in several residences. Between 1924 and 1930, Schwob took at least four summer trips to France. It’s not clear what he was doing there, surely visiting his mother’s family, undoubtedly improving his French, and perhaps enjoying the delights of gay Paree. According to one of his friends, it was in Paris, at age fifteen, that Schwob began collecting erotic photographs. He seems never to have had any serious doubts about his sexual desires or the means to satisfy them. What’s certain is that he was a precocious student: in 1926, at the age of sixteen, he en rolled at Fordham University, the famed Jesuit institution in the Bronx. He stayed there until 1933 when he earned his doctor ate in chemistry (at age 23). It is also highly probable that the young man found time between his scientific experiments to ex periment with the delights of man-to-man sex. A university that was restricted only to men may have been a perfect spot for such dalliances. David L. Chapman, based in Seattle, is the author of over a dozen books on male photography and bodybuilding, including The Kings of Wrestling (2024).

§ T HE S AN F RANCISCO GLBTH ISTORICAL S OCIETY archive holds a large selection of Schwob’s papers. In it, there’s a very curious, undated letter written by Aloysius J. Hogan, the Jesuit priest and president of Fordham from 1930 to 1936. It is curious for several reasons: first, Schwob chose to keep this missive until his death; second, one has to wonder why the president of a large, presti gious institute would take an interest in the problems of an un dergraduate; and finally, the vague reference to “the matter” sounds like a way to avoid naming whatever it is that Schwob is concerned about, while the reference to “rehabilitation” adds to the suspicion that he was caught with another boy. My Dear Claude: I wish to thank you for your letter of May 31st, relative to the matter which we have already discussed. Let me assure you that there is no need for any worry in this matter, since I have investigated and have discussed the matter in a very impersonal way. Hence, you must not feel that there is any necessity for rehabilitation of yourself in my esti mation. I am confident, dear Claude, that everything will succeed in your case, and for this I pray and hope most earnestly. With very kind personal greetings to you, I am

Very sincerely yours, Aloysius J. Hogan, S.J.

After earning his degrees from Fordham, it was time to get a job, and with his sterling academic record, Schwob soon found

TheG & LR The price of secrecy: this appears to be the only known photo of Schwob.

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