American Apologies

Conservative lawyer Roy Cohn first gained prominence doing numerous anti-Communist cases in the 1950s, including the conviction of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. He was enlisted by Joseph McCarthy (yes, the batshit insane one) to investigate Communist infiltration. Cohn became known for his aggressive questioning of suspected Communists, as he targeted many government officials and cultural figures not only for suspected Communist sympathies, but also for alleged homosexuality. What many suspected was really true, however, and Cohn was in fact also a homosexual as well. This only makes what he did all the more wrong. After McCarthy and Cohn’s investigations were criticized heavily for their ethically questionable nature, Cohn would later resign from his post and go into private practice. After years of success, numerous investigations would put into question his business ethics and his practice of law. In 1984, Cohn was diagnosed with AIDS, but still refused to have his homosexuality or disease recognized by the public, and said he was dying of liver cancer. He lost his law license during the last month of his life in 1986. Cohn’s infamous persona was later referenced in an episode of The Simpsons, where money management guru Chuck Garabedian explains that he got his suit cheap “because Roy Cohn died in it.”