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Home , Elizabeth Dilling, Extremism, National Security League

191

A BRIEF SURVEY OF AMERICAN POLITICAL EXTREMiSM FROM PO$T TO 1960

John H. George Department of Goverment, Central State College, Edmond, Oklahoma 73034

Contrary to widespread , the decade of the sixties was not one of un­ precedented extremist activity. During the 20th Century there were three periods prior to 1960 in which extremists of and right were both numerous and active. Too easily forgotten or overlooked, it seems, are the post World War I "Red Scare" period, the overt of the 1930's, the large size of the Communist Party USA in the thirties and forties, and the McCarthy era of the early fifties. The principal reason that the sixties appeared to be overburdened with extremism is directly related to advancements in the communications media.

Many Americans believe that the period 20th CENTURY EXTREMISM PRIOR TO 1960 of the 1960's represents an era of unprece­ During the 20th century, prior to 1960, dented extremist activity. The early part of there have been in the three the decade saw a revival of the extreme right periods which were high points of the ex­ sparked by the appearance of the John Birch treme right and three which were high Society (which was founded in December points of the extreme left. 1958, but did not achieve national notorietY until 1960), and by the middle of the de­ Periods of extreme rightist activity cade over 1,000 far right groups were in I. Post World War I to the early 20's: Red Scare period, Palmer Raids, and strong re­ operation. The middle and late '60's saw, surgance of the . in addition to the continuing actions of the 2. Mid·1930's to early 40's, period of overt far right, the greatest amount of extreme fascism: German-American Bund. Silver left activity since the 1940's. This was due Shirts, Father Coughlin, Gerald L. K. Smith. largely to the increase in radical left activity 3. Early 1950's: McCarthy Era. among college students and other young people. Many of these persons started as Periods of left extremism non-violent reformers, but when the ma­ 1. Post World War I to early 20's: Founding jority of the nation did not follow their lead, of the U.S. Communist Party: violence by a significant number became violent revo­ anarchists; radical left aligned with and to some extent influential in labor movement. lutionaries. A good example of this phenom­ 2. Mid-1930's: Many intellectuals and writers ena is illustrated by the way in which many joined the Communist Party U.S.A. or Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) became fellow travelers during the depres­ members throughout the United States sion years. changed from noncommunist reformers in­ 3. Mid-1940's: Communist Party more respec­ table because of wartime alliance with Soviet fluenced by C. Wright Mills, Paul Good­ Union; some influence in labor unions man, and Albert Camus, to nco-Stalinist until late 1940's. influenced by Marx, Lenin, Note that the first two periods of the Stalin, Mao, and Che. Currently, SDS is right and the left overlapped, while the ,plit into three warring factions, each claim­ third periods occurred during different dec­ 'ng to be "more Mao than thou." At any ades. ate, radical left youth movements gave re­ The period immediately following World ICWed vitality to some segments of the "old War I was one in which the social climate eft" and Americans are witnessing frenzied was conductive to the rise and spread of lCfformances by political deviates at both extremist thought and action. With the Dds of the spectrum. end of the war, Americans looked forward The principal aim of this paper is to show to resuming the old pattern of life, but nat sueh activity is not unique in the history there was little idea or agreement upon just f U.S. . what this "old pattern" was. This factor gave Pmc. Okla. Acad. Sci. 50: 191-19" (1970) 192

rise to alienation of many individuals, for spoke of a "frame-up" which was perpetrated "nostalgia had glorified peacetime living in order to have an excuse to "get" radicals until it appeared much more attractive than and labor leaders. it realJy had been" (1, p. 3). During the war During this time Ralph Easley, a well· there had been strong social pressures fa­ known super-patriot, "persistently invented voring unquestioning loyalty; two independ­ fantastic conspiracies and imminent bloody ent agencies and one sponsored revolutions: .. In the late spring of 1919, group had aided in changing a great number Easley ran a series of startling exposes on of fairly reasonable persons into "super­ in the schools, press, churches, patriots and self-styled spy-ehasers by spread­ universities, and organized labor, and he ing rapid propaganda which maximized the subsequently led a movement to scrutinize dangers of wartime sabotlge and sedition" textbooks ... for breaches of loyalty" (I, ( I, p. 12). The two independent organiza­ p. 87). These same measures are attempted tions were the National Security League and today by right extremist groups. the American Defense Society. The govern­ The was founded in ment sponsored group was the American May of 1919 and had among its goals "to Protective League. By the end "of the war foster and perpetuate a one hundred per they ... had become a repository of ele­ cent Americanism" (1, p. 88). While the ments which were much more interested in Legion could be called an extremist group strengthening a sympathy for economic and during that period, it has evolved into a political than in underwriting responsible, conservative organization to­ a healthy patriotism" (I, p. 12). A mistrust day, although in some of its Posts extremists and hatred of foreigners already existed, an~ are in control. a large number of leftists were foreign born. The modem version of the Ku Klux Klan Under conditions such as these, there was was established in 1916 and grew to very not a great deal of tolerance for such people large size by 1920. Then, as now, it per­ as Communists, Anarchists, IWW mem­ petrated a hatred of Negroes, Catholics, bers, or even socialists, and all were looked Jev..s, and foreigners. According to several upon as potential "bomb-throwers." Indeed, reliable sources, including a congressional some were, but they comprised a minority investigating committee, the Klan had about of the members of a group which was al­ four million members in the early 1920's. ready a smalJ minority. This "bomb-throw­ During late 1919, several hundred persons ing" group was responsible for bringing were deported because of their radical activi· down even more wrath upon the left-Wing ties, and in early 1920 raids were carried out radicals than they would have received under in which several thousand leftists and sus­ the prevailing conditions. The bombs were pected leftists were arrested. These arres,ts not always thrown. In several of the more were made without the use of warrants; pns­ spectacular instlnces they were sent through oners were held incommunicado and denied the mail. A total of 36 bombs were sent, but the right to legal counsel. Such was the tem­ only 2 reached their destinations. The other per of the time. 3"f were discovered by postal authorities. In the 1930's, the depression, coupled Among the intended victims were Oliver with what some called "the success of the W. Holmes, Jr., Attorney General A. Mit­ Russian experiment," caused a fair number chell Palmer, the Postmaster General, the of writers and intellectuals, along with a Secretary of Labor, two United States Sen­ few working-class people, to become dj'il· ators, John D. Rockefeller and J. P. Mor­ lusioned with the American system of g. i\'­ gan. No bomb kiJJed its intended victim, emment and sympathetic toward Comr. LI' although one seriously burned an ex-sma­ nism. In fact, it was during this period tl at tor's wife and caused her maid to lose both someone coined the phmse "MatXism, t'Ie hands. opiate of the intellectuals." This, of cou: .e, Newspaper headlines played up the idea was a "take off' on Marx's statement ":.f­ of a Red plot, while mdica1left publications ligion, the opiate of the masses." Such Yo' n- 193

known writers as Richard Wright, Edmund GERALD L. K. SMITH -A close associate of \Vilson, John Dos Pasos. Howard Fast, and Huey Long, Smith was also a member of the others were either Communists or fellow­ Silver Shirts 0, p. 319). Still quite active, Mr. Smith is perhaps, rnometarily speaking, the most travelers. successful Je..... and Negro haiter in this nation's At this same time, o\"ert fascism existed. history. Many groups and individuals had great ad­ HAROLD LORD VARNEY - An early associate miration for Hitler and Mussolini. Anti­ of Lawrence Dennis, Merwin Hart, and Joseph Kamp (3, pp. 467-69), Varney has written for Jewish attitudes were prevalent, and therc the John Birch magazine American Opinion for was talk of building a "fascist America." several vears. Several books were written on the subject, GERALD B. WINROD - Known as the "Jay· the most prominent of which was The hawk Nazi", Re\'erend Winrod was a defendant in the Sedition Trials of the 19iO's. His son, Coming American Faeism b\' Lawrence Den­ Gordon, carries on in the tradition of his deceased nis, one of the few intellectuals among father b}' serving as chaplain of the quasi·fascist American fascists. National States Rights Party. It was during the 1930's that the activi­ ALLEN ZOLL - An old line anti-Semite. whose ties of se\'cral of the nation's more activc now defunct American Patriots Ine. was desig­ nated by the U. S. Attorney General as a "Fascist right extremists came into public view. Organization" (i, p. 236). Among these werc the following: This period is especially interesting be­ COURT ASHER -A defendant at the Mass Sedi­ cause some factions of the extreme left today tion Trials of the 1940's and one of the most blatant anti-Semites this nation had seen. He was arc stiJI fighting the same ideological bat­ author of the poem (?) "The Jew-Nited Nations tles (Trotskyists vs. Stalinists, etc.) and Red Rag." Asher claimed to have been a very using slogans of the 1930's. TIle extreme close friend of the gangster, Roger Tuhey right of today, while claiming to be anti­ in the 1920's. He further maintained that he was then known as "the fastest gun slinger in Chi­ fascist to some extent, is still using the writ­ cago" and that he once "beat Legs (Diamond) ings and services of some of the pro-fascists half to death in Cicero .. ." Asher died in of yesteryear. For example, Joseph K'amp's late 1967. One of his last statements was that writings were distributed at the New Eng­ the Mayo Clinic is "now Jew dominated." Dur­ land Rally for God, Family, and Country ing his last year he strongly believed that the Je.....s were trying to obtain his collection of baek held in Boston in Jlily of 1966 (5). This copies of his crude hate sheet, The X-Ray (2). rally is a "front" of the John Bireh Society. FATHER - The radio At the 1967 edition of the same Rally, Allen priest who was quite prominent throughout the Zoll managed an exhibit and made a speech thirties. Though still living, Father Coughlin no longer broadc:asts diatnbes against Jews. in which he cxtolled the virtues of some ELIZABETH DILLING -A leader of the "Moth­ deceased extremists of years past, including er's Movements" to prevent war with fascist na­ Elizabeth Dilling and Joseph Kamp (6). tions. A Seditions Trials defendant. Mrs. Dilling While World War II was in , the believed the YMCA to be Communist controned. extreme right was relatively quiet except MERWIN K. HART -A John Bireh Society chapter leader in until his death in that several rightist leaders were tried for 1963, Hart was described by the Late Supreme sedition (7). The extreme left, however, Court Justice Robert H. Jackson as pro-fascist" reached what was perhaps its greatest prom­ (3, p. i59). Hart was once quoted as saying, inence during the middle 1940's. FBI es­ ". .. while Communism infests the country, fascism is almost nowhere to be found. Nobody timates put Communist Party membership heard of it until Communism came along" (3, at about 80,000 during this period, and at p. i59). the end of the war about one-fifth of the OSEPH KAMP - An associate of the fascist in­ CIO membership "was in unions controlled tellectual, Lawrence Dennis (3, pp. 468-70), Kamp was a prolific pamphleteer who once "urged by Communists or pro-Communists" (8, patriots to withhold infonnation regarding Com­ p. 45). In addition, the Communist Party munist activities from J. Edgar Hoover's FBI and U.SA. started planning the Progressive submit it instead, either to Martin Dies or to Party in 19'f5 (8, pp. 113-1 H) and sup­ him" (3, pp. 470-71). \'IUIAM DUDLEY PElLEY -A Sedition ported Henry Wallace's candidacy in every Trials defendant who headed the Nazi organiza­ possible way during tile 19'f8 campaign. tion known as the Silver Shirts. Starting in 1946, the Communist Party made 194

some bad tactical moves which, in effect, McCarthy as a martyred hero. The differ­ began its isolation from the general Ameri­ ence is that, during his heyday, the senator can public. First, they maintained strict had at least the acquiescense of millions of adherence to the Soviet Union's line on persons who were not right extremists. As foreign policy. Second, they did not main­ late as mid-1954, 34% of a national sam­ tain frequent contact with non-eommunists ple expressed at least mild or qualified ap­ after the war, and, third, while the thinking proval of him (11, p. 42). His popularity de­ of the general public shifted to the right clined greatly after he was censured by his ideologically, the Communist line shifted fellow senators in late 1954. further to the left (8, p. 35). Moreover, dire In conclusion, it should be made dear that Communist predictions, such as an im­ the decade of the 1960's is not unique with pending depression, did not come true; pe0­ respect to extremist activity. I believe many ple were caught spying for the Soviet Union; persons regard it as such because of advance­ the United States economy was sound. Thus, ments in the media of communication. Communism's appeal has declined in the especially television. United States since the 1940's. The period from 1950-54, commonly REFERENCES AND NOTES called the "McCarthy Em," is we]] known 1. R. K. MURRAY, Red Scare, Univ. Minnesot2 to Americans who are politically aware. The Press, Minneapolis, 1955. term "McCarthyism" has virtually become Z. gained through written and tele· phone communications with Mr. Asher. a synonym for smear tactics. Just what did l J. R. CARLSON, Undercover, Dutton, New the senator do to merit this? Brieflv, he York, 1943. made a large issue of the idea that Commu­ oJ. Guide to Subversive Organizations and Publi· nists had infiltmted high positions in gov­ cations, U.s. Govt. Printing Office, Wash· ernment, principally the Department of ington, D.C. 5. Personal observation. State. In fact, after 1950, he seldom spoke of 6. Personal communication with a Rally observer. anything else and claimed to have a list of Also see July·August, 1967 issue of Home· these persons. The number of names varied front and a news release of July 20, 1967, from 57 to 205 according to McCarthy, but both published by the Institute for Ameri· can , 1330 Massachusetts Ave., the list itself was never produced. However, NW, Washington, D.C. persons singled out for attack by the sena­ 7. In addition to Asher, Dilling, Pelley, and Win· tor included General George Marshall, Sen­ rod, about 30 more persons were tried. A ator Millard Tydings, Professor Phillip Jes­ hung jury and the death of the judge char· sup, and Anna Rosenberg, whom McCarthy acterized two of the trials. Although most defendents were eventually acquited, Pelley was attempting to stop from being con­ was among those who served time in prison. fimled as Assistant Secretary of Defense. 8. D. SHANNON, The Decline of American Com· In the last case, the senator was so clearlv munism, Stevens, London, 1959. Shannon proven wrong that he eventuallv voted for states (p. 217) that by the "spring of 1950 ... Communist influence in the CIa was her confinnation. The actual Communist, all but completely eliminated." it seems, was another woman of the same 9. D. BELL (ed.), The Radical Right, Doubleday name who lived on the West Coast. Anchor Bb., New York, 1964. See the essays on McCarthyism. Several persons who have written on the 10. N. POLSBY (00.), Politics and Social Life, McCarthy phenomenon indicate that his Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1963. See the followers differed to some extent from those article entitled "Toward an Explanation of who compose the extreme right of today McCarthyism." (9, 10). It should be noted that virtually all 11. S. A. STOUFFU, Communism, Conformity a' d Civil Liberties, Doubleday, Cardcu Ci:::, right extremists of the 1960's look back on New York, 1955.