Sofia Hosseinzadeh
2nd Place
Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences, 2025
I looked at secondary sources’ footnotes to start my primary source research. From the sources cited in secondary literature, I identified the newspapers, FBI files, and gossip magazine articles that I needed to read.”
— Sofia Hosseinzadeh
“How that Stevenson Rumor Started”:
The 1952 Election and Cold War Gender and Sexuality
Honors thesis in History
Project Description
Hosseinzadeh’s research sheds new light on the role of gender and sexuality in Cold War-era American society. She examined newspaper articles, gossip magazines and FBI transcripts to unpack the origins of the rumor that 1952 presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson was gay. She consulted with a librarian, used the library’s news databases and interlibrary loan service, and contacted the Houston LGBT Archive to obtain sources to complete her honors thesis.
In Their Own Words
Read Sofia’s reflective essay (pdf) from their Lang Prize application.