POLICING SEXUALITY Local White Slave Offi cer Badge of William T. Jackson, Jr., Jackson Family Papers, WH1017, Western History Collection, Th e Denver Public Library, Denver, Colorado. P O L I C I N G S E X UA L I T Y The Mann Act and the Making of the FBI Jessica R. Pliley Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, En gland ◆ 2014 Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First Printing Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Pliley, Jessica R., 1977– Policing sexuality : the Mann Act and the making of the FBI / Jessica R. Pliley. page cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978- 0- 674- 36811- 8 (alk. paper) 1. Prostitution— United States— History—20th century. 2. Human traffi cking— United States— History—20th century. 3. United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation— History. 4. Vice control— United States— History—20th century. 5. United States— Moral conditions— History—20th century. I. Title. HQ125.U6P62 2014 364.15'3409730904—dc23 2014007800 For my mother, Toni Lynn Staffi eri, 1953– 2013 Contents Introduction 1 Th e Mann Act and Federal Sexual Surveillance 1 Th e American Myth of White Slavery 9 2 A National White Slavery Squad 32 3 Endangered Daughters 60 4 Creating a Moral Quarantine 84 5 Defi ning Immoral Purposes 106 6 Policing Seduction and Adultery 131 7 Coerced Sex and Forced Prostitution 159 8 Th e FBI’s Assault on Sex Traffi cking 183 Conclusion 207 Can the Country’s Moral Borders Be Policed? Note on Sources 219 Notes 221 Ac know ledg ments 277 Index 281 POLICING SEXUALITY