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Deatherage testifying before Congress in 1939

George Edward Deatherage (November 15, 1893 – March 31, 1965) was an American political agitator and a promoter of nationalism. A native of Minnesota and an engineer by training, he authored several books on construction. He is best remembered for his political activities. He wrote speeches for General George Van Horn Moseley as well as being the founder of a later version of the Knights of the White Camellia and the American Nationalist Confederation.[1] Deatherage testified before the Dies Committee in 1939.[2]

Deatherage was an important player in domestic and international anti-Jewish circles in the 1930s and 1940s, including collaboration with the Welt-Dienst/World-Service propaganda agency headed by German Ulrich Fleischhauer. Both were also defendants in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944. In 1938, Deatherage had been invited to Germany to attend an international antisemitism conference. At the conference, Deatherage had called America the greatest Jew ridden country on earth, and requested support to overthrow the U.S. government and install a Nazi regime.

Deatherage planned to launch a violent coup after the 1940 elections. He created 13-man armed cells throughout the country which procured weapons. After the elections, the plan was for the cells to strike all over the country and launch it into chaos. According to documents found in one of Deatherage's briefcases, he, Leslie Fry, and another white Russian fascist emigrant had discussed the possibility of recruiting retired general George Van Horn Moseley into the plot. The plot was later uncovered by American Jews, including Leon Lewis and his spy ring,[3] and then handed over to U.S. intelligence authorities.[4][5][6] It was exposed to the public in Ken magazine; the editor, Arnold Gingrich, testified in front of the Un-American Activities Committee.[3]

Assistant Attorney General Brien McMahon repeatedly encouraged J. Edgar Hoover to look into Deatherage's plot, but Hoover declined, claiming that investigating communism was more urgent.[3] Finally, the FBI investigated Deatherage after a tip from an amateur printer in Charleston, West Virginia, who had printed materials for Deatherage before realizing the danger they posed to the United States.[3] Deatherage was cooperative, and the investigation was very brief, revealing no information that had not already been published by Ken and the amateur printer.[3]

Deatherage also testified in front of the Un-American Activities Committee regarding Dudley Pierrepont Gilbert and James Campbell's falsified accusation of a conspiracy between Harmonie Club members to set into motion a Jewish communist revolution.[3] He went into great detail about Ku Klux Klan history and his own life, despite representatives' statements of disinterest and irrelevance; he also made many antisemitic remarks.[3] He claimed to have a list of communists working for the Roosevelt administration, and offered it to the Committee.[3] They accepted, and offered him a month to collect the documentation and bring it to the Capitol.[3]

In 1942, the United States Navy declared Deatherage to be a person "undesirable to have access to the work of the Navy Department" and directed his discharge from employment as chief engineer for private contractors on a $30,000,000 expansion project at the Norfolk Naval Base.[7]

In November 1952, Deatherage was living in Baltimore when he wrote to J. Edgar Hoover alleging ties between Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, referring to Tom Clark as a "Texas pussywillow". He further suggested that Huey Long was assassinated with "Washington" being aware "eleven minutes ahead of time". Birch later joined the John Birch Society.[8]

References

  1. ^ Under Cover, p. 140, by John Roy Carlson, (1943)
  2. ^ "In spotlight at Dies hearing. Washington, D.C., May 24. George Deatherage, Chief of the Knights of the White Camellia, today told the Dies Committee Investigating Un-American Activities that he once received a $200 contribution from Howland Spencer at Newport, R.I. Deatherage described Spencer as the 'man who sold Father Devine that property on the Hudson River near President Roosevelt's Hyde Park home.' He also testified that he had dinner on a yacht with Frazier Jelkeo Leomargerine King". Library of Congress.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Maddox, Rachel (2023). Prequel (1st ed.). Crown. pp. 120-124. ISBN 978-0-593-44451-1.
  4. ^ Ross, Steven J. (2017-10-24). Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-62040-564-2.
  5. ^ Rosenzweig, Laura B. (2017-09-19). Hollywood’s Spies: The Undercover Surveillance of Nazis in Los Angeles. NYU Press. p. 127. ISBN 978-1-4798-5517-9.
  6. ^ Philip Jenkins, Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania 1925-1950 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), especially chapter 8: "Fascism and anti-war activism in the United States 1939-45" online at [1]
  7. ^ "Navy Says Deatherage is "undesirable Person," Orders His Dismissal from Navy Work". 24 February 1942.
  8. ^ FBI Subject File 58-HQ-2000: Charles Gioe

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