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The Profumo Affair: The British Political Scandal that Shook the Nation

The Cold War

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a look at the Profumo Affair, a British sex scandal that involved serious allegations of Soviet spying but also shook at the very foundations of the British class structure.

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#ColdWar #ColdWarHistory #History #ModernHistory #Profumo #ProfumoAffair #Scandal #Keeler #Ricedavies #Macmillan #England #UK #UnitedKingdom #Parliament

*SOURCES*
Frank Mort, “Scandalous Events: Metropolitan Culture and Moral Change in Post-Second World War London,” Representations 93, no. 1 (2006): 106–137.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/...

Graham Fuller, “Britain’s Big ‘Scandal’: Undercovers,” Film Comment 25, no. 2 (1989): 56–62.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43458445

Lord Denning, Report of the Tribunal Appointed to Inquire into the Circumstances Leading to the Resignation of the Former Secretary of State for War, Mr. J. D. Profumo (1963).
https://archive.org/details/op1263rep...

John Profumo statement to the House of Commons, Hansard, March 21, 1963.
https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons...

British Library, “The Profumo Affair.”
https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-litera...

History Hit, “The Scandal That Rocked the British Establishment: Facts About the Profumo Affair.”
https://www.historyhit.com/the-scanda...

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Profumo Affair.”
https://www.britannica.com/event/Prof...

BBC News, “The Profumo Affair: 50 Years On.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-...

Richard Davenport-Hines, An English Affair: Sex, Class and Power in the Age of Profumo. London: HarperPress, 2013.

Christine Keeler, The Truth at Last: My Story. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 2001.

Mandy Rice-Davies, Mandy. London: Panther Books, 1980.

Stephen Ward trial records, The National Archives (UK).
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Rebecca West, “The Trial of Stephen Ward,” contemporary reporting collected in various newspaper archives.

Shelley Ross, Fall From Grace: Sex, Scandal, and Corruption in American Politics, 1702–1987. New York: Ballantine Books, 1988.

20 Comments

@andromeda331 2 months ago

It made it into Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire "Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politican sex"

@xanderles 2 months ago

In a weird way this was like the British Watergate, exposing the truth made the people cynical and distrusting of the political class, just as so many were in the aftermath of Nixon's resignation. People's perspectives were never the same again in both cases.

@PotatoRadius 2 months ago

Last time I was this early, no one had ever suspected any British politician of sexual impropriety.

@bernardkealey6449 2 months ago

Interestingly, it freed Profumo to embark on a truly redemptive arc.

@johnwood6750 1 month ago

The reaction to the Profumo Affair was shaped by the prior Vassall scandal in 1962 - a gay civil servant in the Admiralty, blackmailed over his sexuality into spying for the Soviets. My father was an AB in the Royal Navy at the time, and said that once the Vassall scandal broke, the Admiralty ordered that anyone even suspected of being gay was immediately discharged from the service in a sort of 'reds under the beds' panic. One crewman on his ship at the time, widely suspected of being gay, was paid off and left standing at the quayside as they put to sea.

@anchovyundpraline3052 2 months ago

❤ One of those great historical things that just happened to give birth to the British Satire Boom of the 1960s.

@blanchjoe1481 2 months ago (edited)

Dear THE COLD WAR,
Thank you for another well researched and presented piece. In a larger context the Profumo Affair took place at around when John Le Carres' novel "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" take place ( this work was based upon "The Cambridge Five" ).
The UK intelligence community was reeling from the effects of these betrayals within their own ranks directly effected their relationship with the United States at the very time it was developing ( quite possibly ) the largest intelligence gathering system in the world, with a focus away from HUMINT and to SIGINT, GEOINT, MASINT, and IMINT.
While some in MI6 still firmly believed in the primacy of HUMINT, they realized they could not lose the trust, relationship, and more importantly the vast resources being spent by the United States. Needless to say the Profumo Affair did not improve this relationship.

@bmp456 2 months ago

I learned about this from the Pet Shop Buys song lol

@crak6776 1 month ago

2:03 The OG 'British public figure in crisis looking weird in back of car' photo.

@christianweibrecht6555 2 months ago

Profumo seems dedicated to validating stereotypes British people have about Italians

@hendersongriffith3990 2 months ago

Too familiar with the Monroe Kennedy saga of the same period😅😅😂😂😂😂

@RayFloyd-z4z 2 months ago

Right now 7 prime minsters in 10 years. I think that’s more embarrassing.

@AyushmanMajumder-f8o 1 month ago

This is the elite's hobby: working in the day, drinking, partying and having sex at night

@annehersey9895 2 months ago

Do NOT forget that 1963 was the same year the Defection of Kim Philby, previous head of MI6 to the Sviet Union was mad public. Not a good year for British Government!

@davidk7324 2 months ago

Thank you, I was vaguely aware of this scandal as a 60s youngster watching TV news and reading magazine stories where it was often mentioned almost like a cultural touchstone. It's like a few other watershed events of the era where one can couch subsequent changes as "before" and "after."

@danielwillens5876 2 months ago

I can't believe you didn't feature THE photo.

@cloudyview415 2 months ago

Wow Great episode! (I've been watching since covid.) This is one of the most fascinating stories I've seen at the Cold War. I think most Americans my age are totally unaware of the parallels between post-war Britain and America's declining influence in the world due to our insular and inaccurate view of our role in global affairs. It's very hard to see the world through the perspective of people in the past. I wonder how people in the future will view our time now.

@Dimeropepe 1 month ago

I could be wrong, but wasn't this broke up the MacMillan Government which forced Queen Elizabeth II to asked one of the members of the House of Lords to be temporary prime minister until the following election in 1964?

@CelestialCaesar 2 months ago

The reaction to this scandal compared to the Epstein one is mind-blowing. It's like we just don't care.

@davidatrakchi2707 1 month ago

Mandy Rice Davis landed in israel around 1965, married an israeli business man and they held several clubs in Tel Aviv, back than this glamor from abroad was revolutionary, she was described as the night queen of Tel Aviv