The Tailhook scandal broke in the wake of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Tailhook Association, held at the Las Vegas Hilton September 8–12, 1991. Over the course of this weekend, more than 100 Navy and United States Marine Corps aviation officers sexually assaulted 87 women and seven men, or otherwise engaged in "improper and indecent" conduct. In response to media reports about this meeting, on October 29, 1991, the Department of the Navy terminated all ties to the Tailhook Association, launching an investigation led by Rear Admiral Gordon and Rear Admiral Duvall Williams, director of the Naval Investigative Service. Williams' initial report blamed the incident primarily on the behavior of low-ranking enlisted men. However, when Williams subsequently made sexist remarks in the presence of Barbara S. Pope, Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), Pope went to United States Secretary of the NavyHenry L. Garrett III and demanded that he re-open the investigation.[4] As a result, Garrett re-opened the investigation under Derek J. Vander Schaaf, the Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense. In September 1992, Acting Secretary of the Navy Sean O'Keefe revealed the contents of Vander Schaaf's investigation. Vander Schaaf concluded that the initial investigation had been a coverup more concerned with protecting the reputation of the navy than with discovering the role of high-ranking officers in the scandal.[4] Gordon criticized Vander Schaaf's report as "flawed and factually incorrect" and continued to maintain that the initial investigation had been thorough. Gordon retired from the US Navy with full honors.[4]
Later life
After leaving the navy, Gordon took a job at Litton Industries as Vice President for Washington Operations, overseeing the company's interactions with all branches of government. He left Litton in 2001, joining Alliant Techsystems as Vice President (Washington Operations). He retired from Alliant in 2007.
^Register of Commissioned and Warrant Officers of the United States Navy and Marine Corps and Reserve Officers on Active Duty. Bureau of Naval Personnel. 1 January 1970. p. 662.