Is Hawkins Fuller a real person? Fellow Travelers True Story Inspiration Explained

The historical romance political thriller miniseries Fellow travelers Follows the forbidden romance between Hawkins Fuller (Matt Bomer) and Timothy Laughlin (Jonathan Bailey) and much of the story is taken from the unfortunate history between LGBTQ+ people and the United States government. Fellow travelers is a television miniseries that premiered on October 27, 2023 on Paramount+ and follows two government employees in the latter half of the 20th century, Hawkins “Hawk” Fuller and Timothy “Tim” Laughlin, who fall in love during these volatile times .

Set in the 1950s, but jumping around the 60s, 70s and 80s, Fellow travelers Examines how LGBTQ+ people were treated during the height of the McCarthyism panic, then during Vietnam, and then in the disco and drug-fueled era of the 1980s. throughout the show, Fellow travelers Returning to a frame story in the 1980s during the AIDS crisis, a sobering reminder of how an already tragic story ended for many gay people and other people who identify as LGBTQ+. All of Fellow travelers Can’t be historicalBut his story was the reality for many at the time.

Fellow Travelers is not based on a true story but set during real periods of U.S. history. it. History

Fellow Travelers is based on a fiction book

Fellow travelers is based on the 2007 novel of the same by Thomas Mallon And most of the characters in the show are fictional. The situations they find themselves in are very real, however. In the 1950s, Hawkins and Tim work near and with Senator Joseph McCarthy (Chris Bauer) and Roy Coun (Will Brill). These two men, and others introduced in the show, are real, as is the Red Scare depicted in the show, a historical period that saw anti-communist hysteria grip the United States (via The MarySue).

While the anti-communist sentiments of the era and things like the infamous Hollywood Blacklist are well-documented and known to the general public with movies like Trumbo And Hail, Caesar!The lavender scare is a much less discussed part of the time period. The Lavender Scare was a component of McCarthyism, specifically targeting LGBTQ+ people in the US government (via DigitalSpy). During the paranoia-fueled witch hunts of the time, Some people believed that strange employees of the government could not be trusted with state secrets.

Anyone suspected of being gay or lesbian is closely investigated and their private lives and intimate details are revealed. There was, of course, no basis for the concept. They were a result of the heightened moral grandstanding of the time combined with a historical hatred and distrust of those in the LGBTQ+ community. The other critical period of Fellow travelersThe AIDS crisis is also, tragically, a real story. The first cases of what would become known as AIDS first appeared in 1981 (by KFF) and it was the leading cause of death for young people in the decade.

Hawkins Fuller and Timothy Laughlin are fictional characters

The main characters are not based on any historical characters

The capital letters in Fellow travelers are completely fictional, however Their stories are emblematic of what many men and women who worked for the government at the time would have experienced. Hawkins and Tim’s romance begins in the 1950s in secret and goes through decades, with both men having to pretend to be straight to avoid being pariahs in a homophobic American society. Fellow travelers‘ The last episode of Fire Island shows how someone’s life can split apart after being forced to hide for so long, a sadly relatable story for many people of the time.

Roy Cohn, Joseph McCarthy and more are real-life historical figures

Many iconic people from history appear in the show

Despite most of Fellow travelers be fictitious, There are also many real-life figures in the story. Cohn, McCarthy, David Schine (Matt Visser), and Stormé (Chelsea Russell) are historical figures in the supporting cast of the series. Linus Roche plays Senator Wesley Smith in the main cast, which is based in part on real-life Wyoming Governor Lester C. Hunt. McCarthy and Cohn assisted the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which investigated government employees they suspected of pro-Communist sympathies; That definitionally included anyone in the LGBTQ+ community (via City & Country).

David Sheen was an Army private who became a consultant on McCarthy’s staff and was a central figure in the Army-McCarthy hearings which are widely recognized as bringing down McCarthy. Stormé DeLarverie was a real-life performer and activist whose altercation with the police reportedly started the Stonewall riots. Senator Hunt was an outspoken critic of McCarthy who was blackmailed into not running for the Senate again after his son was arrested for soliciting a prostitute. He ended up killing himself, shaking the “law and order” image that McCarthy was trying to project to the public.

Other notable historical events mentioned in fellow travelers

Fellow travelers Covers important LGBTQ+ events

There are many notable events peppered throughout Fellow travelers What were major moments in the history of the United States and the history of the LGBTQ+ push for equality in America. Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office, is shown in the latest episode, as is his assassination. The White Night riots that followed the death of the visionary champion of gay rights were also shown through news clips.

Milk is not a main character in the show, but his importance as a formidable opponent to anti-LGBTQ + sentiment cannot be understated, and his appearance in the miniseries punctuates his influence as a martyr and an icon. Another iconic piece of history featured in Fellow travelers The AIDS quilt is shown at the end of the series. This quilt, made by Milk protégé Clive Jones, is A 54-ton tapestry honoring 110,000 victims who died of AIDS.

The patchwork assortment was planned by Jones, who asked those attending the 1985 memorial march for Harvey Milk to share the names of the people they knew affected by AIDS. The list of names inspired Jones to create the tapestry. Hawkins Fuller and Timothy Laughlin may not be real people, but they and Fellow travelers Presenting a critical and often ignored piece of dark American history that should be much more prominent as part of the ongoing discussions about civil rights in the country.