-Caveat Lector- an excerpt from: Under Cover - My Four Years in the Nazi Underworld of America- John Boy Carlson LITERARY CLASSICS, INC. E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.�1943 NEW YORK 544 pps. ----- COUGHLIN'S "CHRISTIAN CRUSADE" "Rest assured we will fight you in Franco's way, if necessary. Call this inflammatory, if you will. it is inflammatory. But rest assured we will fight you and we will win." REVEREND CHARLES E. COUGHLIN ON SUMMER EVENINGS in 1939, groups of men used to meet in a basement room beneath the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, at Columbus Circle and 59th Street, New York City. The group numbered about thirty men, ranging in age from eighteen to fifty, wearing small metal crosses in their coat lapels and greeting one another with the Nazi salute. As the local fuehrer stepped up to the table at the front of the room, he raised his arm in a fascist salute and called out, "Pro patria et Christo!" "Pro patria et Christo!" the men answered his salute, rising to their feet. "Members of the Christian Front. . ." the speaker called out. This was the original unit of the Christian Front. Some of those present were also members of the Bund and the American Nationalist Party. Later they joined the Christian Mobilizers. From street corners, pool-rooms and respectable homes they had come to answer the call printed in Social Justice on May 23, 1938: Let your organization be composed of no more than 25 members. After a few contacts with these 25 persons you will observe that two of them may be capable of organizing 25 more. Invite these capable people to do that very thing. "Father Coughlin has sent an important message to us," said the platoon leader. "You and your group are directly affiliated with me. When the proper moment arrives and not before that time, Father Coughlin will assemble all organizations whose leaders care to follow him. Remember that, men of the Christian Front. Every move must count. You're to act on secret orders and only on orders. That's the way the Christian Front works." Meetings like this were common during 1939. Later, as they were ousted from St. Paul's Church, Manhattan units met at Donovan's Hall on 59th Street�just off Columbus Circle. These meetings were the outgrowth of a plan spawned by the priest of a. once obscure parish in Royal Oak, Michigan, whose nation-wide publicity campaign had gathered about him a flock estimated at several million, in the fold of which were blind fanatical followers whose every belief and action was molded by the hand of the Royal Oak cleric. >From among the more fanatical Coughlinites sprang the Christian Front. This facet of the American fascist movement known as Coughlin's "Christian Crusade," had as its ultimate aim the establishment of a so-called "Christian" government modelled upon the corporate-clerical state of Franco. The tactics used by the Christian Front were identical with those of Hitler, even to the organized gangs of strong-arm men. When the low rumble of drums began to sound from the Shrine of the Little Flower, the Christian Front throughout the country fell in step. Jack Cassidy became most widely known because of the publicity he received as fuehrer of the "Sports Club," an ultra-revolutionary gun club founded within the framework of the Christian Front. It is a matter of record that the first unit of the Front held meetings in the Rectory of the Paulist Fathers, and that application blanks were printed by the Paulist Press. Mail was received at P. 0. Box 69, Station G, registered in the name of the Paulist Fathers. Walter Ogden, a worker at the Rectory, became the first executive secretary. The Fathers probably thought they were encouraging a group dedicated to the propagation of "Christianity." As soon as they learned its true nature they severed all connections and Reverend Edward Burke, C.S.P. who had served as advisor, was transferred to another parish. Father Coughlin continued to and direct the incipient fascist movement. Its functioned independently and in secret; only the unit leaders were aware of the plans of the others. By the fall of 1939, there were Front units in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Boston, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Detroit and numerous smaller cities. Like Hitler's Brownshirts, the Christian Front was ostensibly organized to combat the "rising tide of Communism." All Jews were called Communists. All liberals, New Dealers and labor organizations were called Communist; and since the Communist Revolution in America was scheduled to take place "any day now," the Christian Front-always under Coughlin's inspiration and guidance-shouted that a private army was the only means to "save America." The record shows that while Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen, outstanding Catholic spokesman, said: "Hitler ... would destroy Christianity all over the world, if he could," Father Coughlin filled the pages of Social Justice with Hitler's sewerspawned lies. He made direct use of Goebbels' speeches, quoting the Nazi almost word-for-word. He quoted widely from World Service and numerous other Nazi organs and their American imitators. He denounced the "poppycock of Democracy" and branded Democracy as a version of Communism and Communism as an invention of the Jews. "The German hero in America for the moment is the Reverend Charles E. Coughlin," cabled Otto D. Tolischus to The New York Times. And Silver Shirter Pelley wrote in Liberation: "This past week the aggressive Father Coughlin went on the air . . . and delivered what amounted to the prize Silver Shirt speech of the year." Boasting that his "Sixteen Principles of Social Justice" had all been adopted by the Nazi and Italian fascist parties, the would-be reverend-dictator tried to foist his clerical fascist plans on America by organizing the National Union for Social Justice. One William Lemke was candidate for president. In the sphere of Christian religion Father Coughlin injected the contemptibly un-American issue of racialism. By his rash and violent utterances he provoked an increasing wave of anti-Catholic sentiment throughout the country, especially among those who unjustly saw in him a mirror of the entire Catholic clergy. His incitements to treason and conspiracy and the revolutionary overthrow of our Democratic order earned him the censure of his superiors. But he defied them repeatedly. He challenged the censure of George Cardinal Mundelein; the Most Reverend Edward Mooney, Archbishop of Detroit, and other members of the Hierarchy. Coughlin's tactics were denounced by the highest authorities of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XI declared: "Anti-Semitism is a movement in which we Catholics cannot share. It is not possible for Christians to take part in anti-Semitism. We are Semites spiritually." And in a letter to the American Hierarchy, His Holiness added: "No true Catholic will take part in the persecution of his Jewish compatriots. A blow against the Jews is a blow against our common humanity." A New York Times despatch dated September 3, 1936 reported from Rome: "The Reverend Charles E. Coughlin's political activities and his attack on President Roosevelt ... were severely criticized today by the Osservatore Romano, which usually reflects opinions of the Vatican." The Reverend Doctor Francis X. Talbot, editor of America, an important organ of Catholic opinion published by the Jesuit Order, stated: "If Father Coughlin is a thorn in the side of the Jews, he is also a thorn in the side of the Catholics. If he is arousing anti-Semitism, he is also arousing anti-Catholicism." Father James M. Gillis, noted editor of The Catholic World observed: "God forbid! But unless the Jew-baiters, some of them clerics, change their tune, blood will be upon their souls." Even Westbrook Pegler, Catholic layman and columnist, realized the Coughlin "Christian" menace and wrote on January 3, 1940: Both the government and the newspapers for years have handled Father Coughlin far too gently, but now that he has identified himself with the so-called Christian Front he has called for a showdown. . . . The Dies Committee should have treated Coughlin just as it treated Earl Browder, but tiptoed around him for fear he would cry up a holy war. In addition, Coughlin was rebuked by the Most Reverend John T. McNicholas, Archbishop of the Cincinnati diocese. He was also rebuked by Monsignor John A. Ryan, professor of moral theology and industrial ethics at Catholic University. And an apology for Coughlin's political utterances was released to the press by Bishop Michael J. Gallagher of Detroit, Coughlin's immediate superior. In true dictator fashion the black sheep priest of a once obscure parish amazingly defied the entire Hierarchy ... and intensified his Nazi efforts with every criticism. Disgraced before an overwhelming majority of true Catholics, Coughlin continued to exploit his collar and transfer the prestige of the Roman Catholic Church to his own revolutionary and anti-Democratic ideas. Despite the opposition, he achieved enormous influence and became spearhead of the organized assault on Democracy by his spiritual control of hundreds of groups throughout the country dedicated to substituting authoritarian rule. On April 24, 1939, while I was at Stahrenberg's, Father Coughlin wrote in Social Justice: For ten years this country has suffered under a depression. It was not an accident. It was deliberately created.... That depression robbed you of your bank savings account, then of your jobs, and in many cases, of your homes�and nobody in all America shot a banker! We continue without jobs, 12 million of us; 2 2 millions subsist on dole rations-and we do not revolt! HOW MUCH WILL WE STAND? What was the secret of this priest-politician's power over hundreds of thousands of Americans? Why did they follow him in blind, undying loyalty despite the censures of his superiors? That secret is simple when explained. Father Coughlin reached the American family with his assorted hate gospels. With the establishment of Christian Front "neighborhood" auxiliaries, his "Christianized" Nazism penetrated deep into the sanctity of the American home. ". . . The only unbiased source of truth is Father Coughlin," he said modestly, and the gullible took him at his word. At its peak, -the weekly circulation of Social Justice passed the million mark and it was estimated to be on sale at 2,000 churches Sunday mornings and at many Catholic social affairs. This was hardly the "crackpot" but on the contrary, of the most sinister work of a mind of its time in America! At the Tri-Boro Palace in the Bronx in the summer of 1939, I heard John Eoghan Kelly�a promoter of Franco-Nazism in America, address an audience of mothers and children. "You think I'm talking through my hat about the danger of Communism? No blood has flowed yet, but the Communist revolution is going on just the same. One of these days, maybe next month, or the month after, you'll wake up and see blood in the gutters. And it'll be Christian blood, your blood, the blood of Christian boys and Christian leaders! If you think it can't happen here," Kelly shouted, "we'll show you tonight what happened in Spain." After Kelly came Father J., a close-shaven, humble little Spanish priest from Philadelphia, who explained that Franco was fighting a Christian crusade and that Hitler and Mussolini were unjustly criticized. "All they want to get out of their intervention in Spain is the satisfaction of having helped a Christian country. That is all. The same form of satisfaction which France got when Lafayette helped in the American Revolution. Only the enemies of Christ are opposing Franco, Hitler and Mussolini in Spain!" As the tumult of applause died down, a representative of the Christian Front held up a small brochure inscribed "Christian Index. Think Christian. Act Christian. Buy Christian." On the back page were the words: "Christ himself sponsored this little leaflet for your protection." The idea of this brochure originated with the German-American Business League, subsidiary of the Bund. "I want every one of you to have one of these," the Front-er called out. "This is the list of Christian stores that hire Christians only. They are giving us their support and they deserve to get yours." During the main event of the evening�a showing of the propaganda film Spain in Arms�the commentator fanned the passions of the mob by saying that the Jews had inspired a sinister, Bolshevik horde to wipe Catholicism off the face of the earth. A shot of Franco giving the fascist salute brought down the house. John Eoghan Kelly jumped up. "I want to close this meeting by repeating the words uttered by Father Coughlin in his radio speech last Sunday. 'We will fight you in Franco's way if necessary. Call this inflammatory, if you will. It is inflammatory!"' It no longer shocked me to see Father Coughlin place a sword in Christ's hands thereby crucifying him a thousand times and killing Christianity forever! "Here y'are. The finest Christian magazine in the country Anti-Communist. Pro-American. Father Coughlin's Social Justice. Ten cents." I decided to sell it in order to gain the confidence of Carl R. Pinkston, alias Carl Muller, president of the Social justice Distributors' Club, one of a thousand such "clubs" maintained to promote sales. I picked the financial district on lower Broadway to peddle Coughlin's poison sheet and my greatest fear was that I would be seen by friends who knew nothing of my investigations. I moved from corner to corner, keeping a sharp lookout for my respectable friends. Suddenly I met someone I knew. He sneaked up from behind and pinched my arm. Startled, I was relieved to see he was Patrick Finnegan, one of Stahrenberg's closest associates. I was delighted that he heard me selling: "The magazine for the American home. Send Communists back where they came from. America for the Americans. The family magazine. Social Justice. Here y'are. Ten cents." "Good boy, George," Pat winked, buying a copy. I sold ten copies in several hours' time. My customers were elderly folk with the exception of a young, apparently Irish girl. I went out half a dozen times�after my initiation as poison-peddler, each time reporting sales to Pinkston of about ten copies. After my first experience, however, I merely destroyed copies of the magazine and made good out of my own pocket. And when after each "trip" I returned to headquarters I boasted how I had insulted the Jews, pointing to a few self-inflicted scratches to show that "the Jews" had tried to beat me up. The ruse worked. I worked my way into Pinkston's confidence. Behind the scenes I saw how Coughlin worked with clerics who followed him. The Reverend James A. Keeling, participant in the meetings of Crusaders for Social justice, was one of them. The Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, president of the International Catholic Truth Society, was idolized as the "Father Coughlin of the East." Pinkston, alias Muller, was a Protestant but he was trusted by the Royal Oak priest and claimed to carry on correspondence with him in code. He traveled frequently to Royal Oak for conferences. Lawrence Gilpatrick, a Christian Front speaker, burst in one afternoon with the announcement, "I have an important message from Father. . . ." He looked around, saw some strange faces and went into a whispered conversation with Pinkston. Pinkston jumped up and excitedly went to the locked drawer of his desk. From underneath some papers he took out a telegram and placing it in a legal size envelope, handed it to one of his trusted lieutenants of the goon squad. I edged over and saw that it was addressed to the Reverend Peter Baptiste Duffee, of St. Francis of Assisi Church who, incidentally, also kept in close touch with Francis Moran, New England Christian Front leader. The cause of the secrecy was disclosed in a few days. Father Coughlin was sponsoring a mass "Anti-Communist parade in Manifestation of Christianity." When Pinkston divulged that the goon squads would be on hand to "guard Christians from the Jews," I was convinced that the so-called parade would serve as the pretext for another bloody riot, adding to the already shameful record of Coughlinite hooliganism in New York. Pinkston was enthusiastic: "George, we're going to have one hell of a big parade for Father Coughlin. We're getting 25,000 guys to march for us. The Bund boys are going to get all beered up and join us. We're distributing 150,000 leaflets and contacting all the patriotic organizations." "I'll be there with a thousand of my boys," said a man who had been listening intently. He was Walter J. Bailey Bishop who had once been introduced at a Christian Mobilizer meeting as an organizer of Pelley's Silver Shirts. "And if they blame Father we can show 'em this telegram," Pinkston shouted triumphantly. The telegram was signed by Bernard D'Arcy who had sent it while at Royal Oak, forbidding the parade to be held under auspices of Social Justice magazine. Pinkston was delighted at the strategy worked out by the Royal Oak master-mind. "We'll show them this telegram," he repeated. "It says Father has nothing to do with the parade." He winked. "Nothing. He ain't got nothing to do with it.... Not much!" and he broke into laughter. But as the day of the parade drew near and the goon squads went through rehearsals, as the Bundists and Silver Shirt-ers and Christian Front-ers, and members of a dozen other gangs readied themselves for a "Manifestation of Christianity" by the use of brass knuckles and lead pipes wrapped in newspiper, the atmosphere grew tense. It was whispered that Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia would refuse to grant a license, and was quietly urging Father Coughlin to call off the parade. When Father Coughlin finally did call off his goon squads and riot-duty "patriots," they all went back to peddling Social Justice and cussing the "Jewish New Deal" they had got. "Roosevelt won't have a chance if Coughlin opens up on him," someone put in. "Social Justice is too pussyfooting to suit me." "That's what you think," Pinkston answered heatedly. "But that don't prevent Pelley and the Bund from riding on the shoulders of Father. The real purpose of Social Justice is to hand out mild propaganda and prepare the minds of the people for revolutionary action later on." I listened attentively, memorizing Pinkston's statements. Many of about five hundred salesmen of Social Justice in the New York area frequented Pinkston's offices. The rest got their papers from Royal Oak. Many young people of both sexes and elderly folk sold the magazine. One of these, Miss Florence Nash, 42, of Brooklyn, was convicted of disorderly conduct and denounced by Magistrate Michael A. Ford, who said: "There is no place in this free country for any person who entertains the narrow, bigoted, intolerant ideas you have in your head. You remind me of a witch burner. You belong in the Middle Ages. I'm a Roman Catholic myself. I'm ashamed of. you. . . . He who instills such ideas in your head, be he a priest or anyone else, does not belong in this country." Was Social Justice an approved Catholic organ of expression even though published by a priest and circulated widely at Catholic Churches? The answer was provided by Monsignor Edward J. Hickey, Chancellor of the Detroit diocese: "Social Justice is ... not a Catholic paper.... The archdiocese of Detroit has no responsibility, direct or indirect, for Social Justice magazine." Pinkston's office was a hang-out for subversive individuals and a den of seditious thought. Sober fascist minds mixed in with the many crackpots who achieved self-importance by identifying themselves with a nation-wide revolutionary movement to overthrow Democracy. >From George Agayeff, White Russian crew manager of a gang of salesmen, I got the first inkling that the Brooklyn unit of the Christian Front was maintaining a rifle club under the guise of a game-shooting "sports club." I tried to pry more information but Agayeff was pledged to secrecy. I disbelieved the White Russian at first, but upon further reflection I believed anything possible under Coughlin's "Christian Crusade." At that time, the. Front was picketing radio station WMCA because it had ruled Father Coughlin off the air when he refused to submit advance copies of his speeches, The picket line was organized by Allen Zoll�the same Zoll who had sponsored the American Patriots luncheons and, according to reports which were then current, tried to do business with Japanese agent Roy H. Agaki, for the purpose of "winning public confidence" for the Japanese. Failing in this, Zoll flew to Royal Oak, as a result of which he teamed up with Merwin K. Hart of the New York State Economic Council, and the Reverend Edward Lodge Curran, charge' d'affaires of the Christian Front in the East. The trio set out to evangelize the Atlantic coast with the gospel of clerical fascism. Having drummed up protests against the "persecution" of Coughlin, Zoll eventually approached WMCA officials with an offer to call off the picket line. His price was $7500. Zoll received $200 in marked bills from Donald Flamm, president of WMCA, and was indicted for extortion. The picket line Zoll helped organize was a long, straggly mob of six hundred and included many women and children. One of the first persons I met was Mohammed Abed, the Turk whom I had seen buying anti-Semitic stickers at Stahrenberg's. I stepped into line. The WMCA picketing was a, family affair. Children tagged along and more than one woman carried a baby in her arms. When she got tired the father took charge and fed it candy to keep it from crying. "Be a good Christian, baby. Father Coughlin won't like you if you cry." Some of the "Christian patriots" waved small American flags as they marched slowly up and down the block. Several large framed pictures of Coughlin were dressed in a cluster of American flags. There were signs reading: "We Need More Father Coughlins" Keep This A Christian Coun-try Read The Truth In Social Justice." As they marched they chanted a curious mumbo-jumbo: "Let Father Coughlin speak . . . God bless Father Coughlin . . . Let Father Coughlin speak . . . Hitler will free America like he freed Germany . . . Let Father Coughlin speak. . . ." "God bless Hitler, Franco and Father Coughlin," one woman said to her companion. "I pray for them every night." Several clergymen picketed with the laymen; one of them carrying a sign: "Remember, F.D.R., Communism is Russian Cancer." "Keep moving," Coughlin's lieutenants advised as they ran up and down the line. "Keep up the noise." "Keep it high." I shouted louder than the others, eager to impress the strong arm boys that my "allegiance" was second to none. Picketing stopped at five o'clock to permit mothers to feed their children. While the women went home, many of the menfolk retired to taverns to get "all beered up." After this they formed into squads and headed for Times Square "to have some fun." The idea was to provoke rioting to help Coughlin play up the "persecution" angle. Often this sort of thing resulted in curious episodes like the Maynard affair. Lawrence Maynard, a Christian youth, was standing a block from station WMCA one Sunday afternoon in May, 1939, selling a pamphlet exposing the deadly parallel between articles in Social justice and Goebbels' propaganda. Without warning, a Coughlinite named John Dugan stepped up to Maynard and smashed him on the mouth. Maynard fell, bleeding and unconscious. Taken to Special Sessions Court on a charge of assault, Dugan offered no defense. The judge praised him for the frankness with which he had confessed the unprovoked attack, warned him to count thirty before doing the same thing, then suspended sentence. Such justice could have been dispensed with equal honor in Turkey. I had not expected to see it take place in America. In addition to picketing the radio station, Coughlinites had organized to picket shops which advertised over WMCA. On a Saturday night I was asked to 'join a gang picketing Sach's furniture store in the Bronx. It was a comparatively deserted section, a long dark street running under an elevated train. We were ten pickets. The leader carried an American flag, the others carried placards reading: "Refugees Get Jobs in This Country. Why Don't 100% Americans Get Jobs?" . . . "Buy Christian Only." "We want Mayor Hague. He can handle things," we shouted, marching. "Wait till Hitler comes over here." "Heil, Hitler!" one of the pickets yelled every once in a while. About ten feet away from us a woman was passing out leaflets announcing a Christian Front meeting. A tall, distinguished looking elderly German with a military air joined us. His Irish companions kidded him about "doing the goose step" on the picket line. A few weeks later I saw the same man in the uniform of a Bundist goose-stepping at Bund Camp Siegfried. Promptly at eight o'clock the picket lieutenant ordered us to stop and take up stations at another store further up�Michaels Brothers. It was located near "Christian Square" in a well-lighted, busy thoroughfare in the Bronx. Here I dreaded the thought of being recognized and made an excuse not to join the line telling Dan Walker who was selling copies of National American and Social Justice, that I had a sore foot. "Why don't you give out some leaflets?" he asked. "Go ask Van." I couldn't refuse. Van Nosdall was on another comer, his pockets bulging with blue mimeographed slips. "Glad you turned up, George," he called out. "Here, take a batch. I gotta go. I'll be right back." Under the pillars of a roaring elevated train, amid a stream of passers-by I yelled: "Americanism meeting. Tuesday night. All Christians welcome." When a police officer with a gold shield came up, I repeated what I had been instructed to say: "We're working with Father Coughlin." "Let me see what you're givin' out," the police captain said. I handed him one of the leaflets and he read: Attend meetings for Christian Americanism. "NOT TOLERANCE MEETINGS" . . . Edwin Westphal, Rev. Herbert W. Lewis, and other interesting speakers will address you AGAINST embroiling this country in a foreign war. . . . Only one 'ism' in America�AMERICANISM. All ARYAN Christian Men and Women should become Members of Crusaders for Americanism. Only Americans on Guard. The captain shuffled away and I kept on distributing. Gangs of hoodlums loitered in the darkened entrances of shops ready to pounce on anyone who dared talk back to a dozen poison peddlers. Our actions followed a well-laid schedule. At exactly ten o'clock the rabble-rousers finished their deliveries on "Christian Square." The mob which had been listening to them joined the pickets and was augmented by others who, in the meanwhile, had been getting beered up. By ten fifteen P.M. we had been organized, lieutenants had been appointed and orders were given for the march on Times Square, the main battlefield for "Christian" social action. Marching together in formation, heiling Hitler, screaming anti-Jewish slogans, the mob trooped into the subway station and each group pushed its way into a separate car. As soon as the doors closed, the salesmen of Social Justice and National American started up and down the aisle shouting insults at Jews, ramming their way between the strap hangers, stepping on toes and deliberately kicking out at anyone who appeared to be Jewish. The goon squads were on hand to quell comebacks instantly. Most of the passengers looked on sullenly. A few were amused. No one offered physical resistance-to the distinct disappointment of the hard-knuckled toughs ready to pounce on anyone who protested their "Christian" stormtroop tactics. "Them Jews is too yella to fight," one of them hissed. As we approached Times Square I was in mortal fear of being recognized by my respectable friends. "Here, let me take that from you," I called out. "I gotta, do my share for Father Coughlin." I grabbed a large placard from one of the girls and buried my face behind it. It advertised a meeting next Thursday at which William Lemke, candidate for President on the National Union for Social justice ticket in 1936, was to speak under Coughlinite auspices along with Herbert A. O'Brien and Judge John A. Matthews. "Read Social Justice and loin how to solve the Jewish question." "How?" I turned to the pimply youth in his early teens. "Line them up against the wall and give 'em the rat-tat-tat!" He was typical of the youth whom Coughlin had corrupted by his feedings of a corrupt species of "Christianity." He was typical of the younger set of storm-troopers Coughlin was engaged in developing. He was symbol of the "Christian" youth Coughlin was spawning as America's future citizens. At Times Square we poured out of the train, still screaming slogans. As we came up into the street Dan Walker grabbed my sleeve. "Let's get a glass of beer first. I got a feeling there's gonna be trouble." After a second glass, Dan confided that he was a member of the National Guard, Communications Division. "There's plenty of us in the National Guard. It's a good place to be in because they learn ya how to handle a gun. The captain of my division knows all about me giving out literature, but he don't give a damn. He told me to take it easy, play smart and don't get caught. You ought to join up with the National Guard," Dan advised. "They got guns and they teach you how to use them." We moved along to Times Square and stopped in front of Nedick's orange drink stand at the corner Of 42nd Street to watch five Social justice salesmen in operation. Pete Stahrenberg was there, waiting for Dan and me. After a while Dan displayed the National American and began to call out his slogans. "I'll be watching you if anything happens," Pete told Dan. Then it suddenly happened . . . A Jewish youth with thin features and large eyes, goaded by the insults the hawkers were screaming knocked down the pile of National American from Dan's hand. Dan swung with his free right hand and the blow caught the youth on the shoulder. A crowd gathered instantly and I saw the goon squad coming down on the run-eyes blazing, fists ready to pummel the Jewish youth into a bloody pulp. I turned away my face. "C'mon, c'mon, keep moving you. Break it up." By the Grace of God the cops got there first, surrounded the Jewish youth, protectively backing him up against a taxicab fender, and pushed Dan away. More police stepped in and dispersed the crowd. Dan and the Jewish youth were then led away, followed by Pete. When the salesmen for Social Justice resumed their hawking. the goon squads glared menacingly at Jewish passersby. "Those Goddam cops beat us to it," they muttered. "We gotta get there first next time." "Yeah. It ain't no fun if you don't do nuthin'." I stood there alone, leaning against a building, stunned by the nightmarish scene. Again I had that curious feeling of unreality. I kept saying to myself: "This is New York. This isn't Berlin. This is the City of New York, in the United States. You are not in Turkey. You are in New York." I looked up. The clock atop the Paramount Building pointed to midnight. pps. 54-69 ===== AUTHOR'S PREFACE "Thunder on! stride on, Democracy! Strike with vengeful stroke!" WALT WHITMAN "UNDER COVER" is not so much an expose of the work of alien Nazi or Fascist agents as it is, ultimately, a warning to America of those factors which have led to the development of a nativist, nationalist, American Nazi of American Fascist movement which, like a spearhead, is poised to stab at Democracy. Defeatist and dissensionist propaganda continues while our country is at war, despite the arrest of nearly all the known foreign agents. This is not surprising. The Kuhns and Vierecks turned the torch over to the Pelleys and Laura Ingallses, and these American-born operatives of a foreign power symbolically relayed it to the thirty-three men and women indicted on charges of sedition. Unfortunately, the trail that may lead to the destruction of Democracy does not end, but actually begins with these thirty-three men and women. Their missionary efforts and the misguided zeal of a thousand others like them still at large, have permeated deep into the American mind. And after many refining processes, the viewpoints originally promoted by the Kuhns and Vierecks and Shishmarovas have become palatable to many Americans whenever mouthed by neighbors without an accent. In the course of my investigations, I found that many otherwise fine Americans were propagating the lies and the "party line" originally advanced by Hitler's agents and doing it sincerely in what they believed to be good Americanism. This state of mind-the most dangerous obstacle to America's future Democracy-could become a fatal issue when we are seated around the peace table, and be a factor in influencing us to lose the peace after winning the war. It was to help illustrate the many facets of this "clear and present" danger of Nazified "Americanism" that I undertook to live, then write Under Cover. I want my fellow Americans to learn to recognize the American Fascist whenever he drapes the flag around himself, and to detect his Nazi mouthings regardless of how subtle his approach. I have applied the terms fascist, fascist-minded, nationalist, American Fascist and American Nazi to those who, according to the record, have subverted Democracy by morally or financially supporting the racial, political or social doctrines of Hitler's National-Socialism, Mussolini's corporate-state Fascism or Franco's clericalist-Falangism; and have promoted an American species of Axis ideology in the name of super "patriotism" and super "Americanism." Actual membership in authoritarian regimes is not necessary for an American, native-born or naturalized, to qualify as fascist-minded. I regard as blasphemy the stunt of those "super-patriots" who seek to whitewash their native Nazism by falling back on ancestors who died in order that Democracy might live. One need only recall that Major Vidkun Quisling was a "pure-blooded" Norwegian, and Pierre Laval was a "pureblooded" Frenchman from the heart of Auvergne, to realize that "Democracy" like "fascism" is a state of mind, not of physical boundaries or hallowed ancestry. My criterion for true patriotism is found in Elihu Root's definition: True love of country is not mere blind partisanship. It is regard for the people of one's country and all of them; it is a feeling of fellowship and brotherhood for all of them; it is a desire for the prosperity and happiness of all of them; it is kindly and considerate judgment toward all of them. The essential condition of true progress is that it shall be based upon grounds of reason, and not of prejudice. This definition differs so radically from the "patriotism" of American Fascists that if I know them at all, I am certain they will eventually brand Elihu Root either as a Jew, a Communist, or both. They will manage it somehow. I anticipate the same compliment myself. "Under Cover" went through many adventures before it was ready to see the light in the form of printer's ink. I began writing it almost as soon as I started my investigations, since it was with a book in mind that I continued in my work. In nearly four and a half years I estimate that I've written about five million words. My files on the Christian Mobilizers alone contain more than 175 individual reports totalling 250,000 words. It was inevitable that this mass outpouring "in the heat of battle," should have affected my writing. Consequently I tried to work with a collaborator in the preparation of Under Cover, but after a few weeks we parted company and once again I started out from scratch. I've had many offers of help on the part of groups and individuals who, while well-meaning and engaged in the democratic cause, each had an obvious axe to grind. All extraneous "advice" and "suggestions"�one of which included the deletion of three consecutive chapters now in Book II�were politely rejected, and the independence of the writing maintained. For better or worse, this book is the author's own work, though of course it has gone through a certain amount of editorial trimming and pruning. I am grateful for the moral support and foresight of a number of friends, who I hope will remain my friends after reading Under Cover. I am indebted to the publishers of Fortune magazine, and in particular to Russell W. Davenport, then its managing editor, for engaging me early in 1939 to make a preliminary survey of the New York fascist scene. That is how I happened to get my start. I am indebted to the patient and kindly Reverend L. M. Birkhead for his permission to use the extensive and orderly files of his militant organization, Friends of Democracy, for some of my background material. I am indebted to Joseph Roos of Los Angeles for information on West Coast Nazis; to Kenneth M. Birkhead (now in the army), Mrs. Marion Hart and Miss Anne Simmons. I wish also to pay my grateful respects to E. G. Morris for his zealous and untiring efforts in my behalf over a period of two years. He has been my friend as well as my literary agent. And, finally, I wish to pay tribute to the loving inspiration of Marie and Robert, without which this book would never have been realized nor, indeed, could I have survived the experience of living it. April 9, 1943 pps. 9-12 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
