Millennium Approaches 1.2: Difference between revisions

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 ==Commentary==
+''Angels in America'''s Roy Cohn is based on the real-life American lawyer of the same name; however, Kushner's play is not as much "about" Cohn as it is about what "Cohn represents socially and historically" (Borreca).
+Roy Cohn became famous during Senator Joseph McCarthy's investigations into Communism in the government and especially during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. Cohn was widely unpopular during his lifetime, yet he still gained tremendous political power. He was most famous for his role in the 1951 trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. His cross examination of Ethel's brother produced the testimony that was mainly responsible for the defendents' conviction and execution. Cohn took great pride in the case, claiming to have played an even greater role than was realized. In his autobiography, he wrote that his influence had led to the appointment of Judge Irving Kaufman to the case, and that Kaufman, who was a family friend, had imposed the death penalty on Cohn's personal advice.
+It was because of the Rosenberg trial that Cohn, at the age of twenty-four, had been recommended and appointed as McCarthy's chief counsel. In 1954, when McCarthy was censured, Cohn resigned and went into private practice, beginning a thirty-year career as a high-powered attorney in New York City. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was charged three times with professional misconduct but never convicted. However, eventually the New York Bar association brought disbarment proceedings against him for unethical and unprofessional conduct, which caused him to lose in license in August 1986, the last month of his life.
+Although he was extremely conservative in politics, Cohn was rumored to be a homosexual, and it was widely believed that he and G. David Schine, whom he appointed chief consultant, had a sexual relationship. However, Cohn continued to deny he was gay and he even lent his support to anti-gay political campaigns. In 1984, he was diagnosed with AIDs, but he attemped to keep it secret by saying he had liver cancer. Despite aggressive drug treatment, he died on August 2, 1986 at the age of 54.
 ==Study Questions==