Traditionally puritanical about sexual matters, Americans have seldom wanted to confront openly the controversial issue of sexuality. Wars, however, by loosening communal bonds and creating new pressures, often have forced Americans to deal with questions of acceptable sexual behavior. The Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II all compelled Americans to reexamine their sexual practices and mores, creating changed sexual conditions for the country.

Americans in the late nineteenth century had anxieties about sex even before the Spanish American War. Anonymity, brought on by the growth of cities, allowed the numbers of brothels and prostitutes and the extent of sexual activity among the unmarried to increase. Social purity advocates sought to eradicate these behaviors and restore the old Victorian moral code. They pushed the Comstock Act of 1873 through Congress, making it illegal to circulate information on contraception, and they persuaded several states to...