William Dudley Pelley
is surely high in the rankings for most bizarre figures of the
twentieth century. Chiefly forgotten in the early decades of the
twenty-first century, Pelley none the less has had a vast and
long-lasting influence on both far right ideology as well as what would
eventually become known as the
New Age movement.
Pelley's influence on the latter is very rarely acknowledged, and
understood even less. Over the course of this series I would like to
present the reader with a more in depth picture of this strange little
man and the curious influence he still wields on America's culture
nearly 50 years after his death in 1965.
Of Pelley, the acclaimed researcher of right wing extremism Daniel Levitas remarks:
"As the son of a New England Methodist minister, William Dudley Pelley
was a somewhat unlikely candidate to lead one of the largest openly
pro-Nazi groups in America. But he also became a Vermont newspaper
editor, a novelist, a Hollywood screenwriter, and a well-known writer of
pulp fiction before he experienced a 'clairaudient' episode one night
in May 1928 and reported conversations with the souls of the dead.
Metaphysical experiences over the next four years further 'unlocked'
Pelley's 'mental powers,' and led him to Asheville, North Carolina,
where he promoted himself and his eclectic theology. On January 31,
1933, the day after Hitler became chancellor of Germany, he founded the
Silver Shirt Legion of America. Although Pelley claimed twenty-five
thousand members and seventy-five thousand sympathizers, actual
membership in the Silver Shirts probably never exceeded fifteen
thousand. Pelley's avid followers wore shirts emblazoned with an
oversized scarlet L across the left breast signifying Love, Loyalty, and Liberation,
as they denounced President Roosevelt, calling him a Jew, and praised
Hitler as an enemy of communism. The agitations of Pelley's group
concerned government authorities and others who feared the Silver Shirts
might emerge as a fascist fifth column in America. Pelley's rantings
gave them good reason:
"'I propose, from this date onward, to direct an aggressive campaign
that shall arouse America's Gentile masses to a wholesale and drastic
ousting of every radical-minded Jew from United States soil!' Pelley
declared in 1938. He also pledged to establish 'the fullest and
friendliest understanding and international relationships with all
rightist and anticommunist nations abroad – particularly Germany,
Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan...'"
(The Terrorist Next Door, Daniel Levitas, pg. 117)
 |
| Pelley |
Before getting to the notorious
Silver Shirts
let us first consider a few points about Pelley's early life. As noted
above, Pelley initially earned a living as a professional writer. He
began publishing short stories in the late 1910s and eventually
graduated to full-fledged novels. Eventually his successes in these
fields enabled Pelley to find work as a screenwriter in Hollywood during
the end of that decade.
"Pelley's first three films were neither particularly significant nor
overwhelmingly successful. Released in 1917, A Case at Law was a trite
Western that starred Dick Rosson in one of his patented anti-alcohol
'message' films. The June 1919 release of One-Thing-at-a-Time O'Day, based on a Pelley's Saturday Evening Post
story of the same name, featured future 'Lone Wolf' detective series
star Bert Lytell as a well-meaning buffoon who falls in love with the
circus bareback rider, only to have to sway her affections away from the
circus's nefarious strongman. What Women Love provided Pelley
with the most acclaim of the three films. Released in August 1920, the
film starred the notorious Annette 'Diving Venus' Kellerman as bathing
suit-wearing libertine wooed by a chaste young man who saves her from
the clutches of an aggressive professional boxer. Thanks to Kellerman's
drawing power and exciting aquatic sequences (including an underwater
fight and a seventy-five-foot dive into the Pacific by the film's
heroine), What Women Love proved to be a mild critical and commercial success.
"Unlike these earlier films, however, the 'White Faith' project allowed
Pelley to delve into the motion picture business as an active
participant. Contracted to rewrite the serial into workable script,
Pelley quickly realized the money-making potential of turning his
writing attentions towards film. With his short-story career foundering,
Pelley also understood that his seminal style fit better with the
prevailing mood in film than with the magazine fiction market. With The Light in the Dark (the script's new title) Pelley's 'seven-year submergence in movies had begun.'
"Pelley's shift towards motion picture work was aided immeasurably by the one lasting friendship that developed from working on The Light in the Dark.
Although Jules Brulatour intended the film to showcase his wife, he
also understood the need to flesh out the cast with more familiar names.
Therefore, he contacted Lon Chaney, 'the man of a thousand faces,' to
costar. Cheney, who began making films in 1912, became a featured
performer after his appearance in The Miracle Man. Working
together on the film, Pelley and the 'soft-spoken, jovial-mannered'
Cheney became fast friends. When they were not filming, their two
families spend evenings and weekends together in New York (with Cheney
often cooking dinner for them). Their friendship ebbed at that the end
of the decade as Pelley became increasingly anti-Hollywood in his
outlook."
(William Dudley Pelley: A Life in Right-Wing Extremism and the Occult, Scott Beekman, pgs. 37-38)
Horror icon Lon Chaney was but one curious acquaintance Pelley would
make during his lifetime, as we shall see. For now, let me wrap up with
Pelley's time in Hollywood. Naturally the future Silver Shirt fuhrer's
eventual disillusionment with Hollywood was partly driven by his budding
anti-Semitism.
"Pelley's daily interaction with the 'glamorous, cockeyed, crazy gang,
booze-lit, and money-drunk children in Arabian nights palaces of
papier-mache, however, proved significant for the screenwriter.
Increasingly distressed over the actions of screen stars and Jewish
studio moguls, and their influence on American society, Pelley began to
develop the racist attitudes that shaped the rest of his life. Already
deeply troubled by the changes being wrought in America, in Hollywood
Pelley found a ready scapegoat on which to pin the blame for 'isms.' It
was his only extended contact with Jews, but it left a permanent
impression on him. As he later noted, 'for six years I toiled in their
galleys and got nothing but money...'"
(ibid, pg. 41)
 |
| the longstanding
far right obsession with Jewish domination of Hollywood, of which Pelley
did his share to promote, continues to this very day |
This was not, however, Pelley's first brush with anti-Semitism. Like
many Americans during this era, Pelley's impression of Jews seems to
have been heavily influenced by contact he had with
White Russians in the wake of the
Bolshevik Revolution.
Pelley even seems to have aided the White Russian war effort at one
point, possibly on behalf of US intelligence. These events occurred in
1918 while Pelley was on a writing assignment in Japan. After the
Russian Revolution broke out, he was sent to
Siberia to cover the hostilities on behalf of the
YMCA.
"Stranded in Japan, Pelley undertook a cross-country tour, traveling to
as many missions as possible to obtain material for his articles. While
in Karuizawa he was approached by George S. Phelps, International YMCA
Secretary for the Far East. Phelps offered Pelley the chance to see the
war firsthand by going to Siberia under the auspices of the YMCA. The
organization would help underwrite his journey and arrange for
transportation in return for Pelley's writing reports on YMCA activities
in the region and scouting out possible locations for canteens the
organization hoped to establish for American servicemen stationed in
Russia.
"Pelley sailed for Russia aboard the Penza from the Japanese port
city of Tsuruga. He later claimed that it was while spending a few days
in Tsuruga waiting for the ship that he was first exposed to the
'world-wide Jewish question.' According to Pelley, it was an unnamed
American surgeon heading for Siberia, previously attached to Polish
forces, who explained the cause of the war to the young New England
newspaperman. The surgeon told Pelley the Jews had orchestrated the
assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand in order to bring
about a bloody and profitable war. Jewish plans during the war involved
overthrowing the Russian czar and creating a Jewish homeland in Russia.
From this Russian base of operations, Jews would launch their plan for
world domination. Pelley's confidant informed him that the Russian
Revolution was part of this program (and entirely funded by the
Jewish-American banker Jacob Schiff), and that V. I. Lenin was also a
Jew.
"Pelley debarked in Vladivostok (which reminded him of the docks of
Hoboken, New Jersey) to receive specific instructions from the staff at
the headquarters of the YMCA's Red Triangle in the Siberian city. He
later claimed he was immediately besieged with anti-Semitic
pronouncements in Vladivostok. Pelley noted that these sentiments
prevailed among the American and Czech troops in Russia as well as with
his traveling companion from Japan, George Gleason.
"Pelley's commission with the Red Triangle involved traveling throughout
Siberia in a canteen car attached to Allied troop trains. He was
instructed to take pictures of conditions in the region and to write
reports for the YMCA on the most efficient means of turning the youth of
Russia away from 'satanic Leninism.' Pelley claimed he was a
combination 'Red Triangle secretary, war correspondent, espionage agent,
secret photographer, canteen proprietor, and consular courier...
Striving to plant sanity, decency, and political stability in a land
being slowly mutilated and mangled by Communism.'
"Pelley's excursions kept him primarily behind the Allied lines, but the
frequently shifting positions of the front often left him dangerously
close to combat. His first and most significant experience in a combat
zone occurred in the city of Blagoveshchenck. Pelley's car was attached
to a Japanese troop train sent in as reinforcement during the fight for
the city. Arriving after most of the fighting ended, Pelley witnessed
the entire city go up in flames. He was deeply moved by this 'terrible
and unforgettable sight... as magnificent as it was tragic.'
"In November 1918 the most picturesque episode of Pelley's Siberian
adventure began while he was staying in Irkustsk to watch the ceremonies
that gave Admiral Aleksander Kolchak formal control of all the White
Russian forces. At the American consulate he was persuaded to accompany
two representatives of the International Harvester Company,
three-quarters of a million dollars in company funds, and
Washington-bound diplomatic documents from American bastard David R.
Francis to Harbin, Manchuria. Harvester officials sought to rush the
money out of the country before it fell into Bolshevik hands. Pelley's
credentials, local authorities believed, would prevent the funds from
seizure along the road to Harbin. Pelley chaperoned a money-loaded
canteen for twenty-six days. Already fearful of being robbed, Pelley
found the journey even more harrowing because of the vicious weather of
the Siberian winter. When the cold and hungry trio reached Harbin, they
learned that the war had ended during their treacherous trip.
"While he possessed nothing but scorn for either the red Bolsheviks or
the white Cossacks ('predatory hetmen'), Pelley's accounts demonstrated
genuine sympathy for the Russian peasants. He decried the treatment of
these people caught in the middle of a war they neither understood nor
wished to participate in. Much as he did the rural folk of the American
southwest, Pelley found the Russian peasants to be hard-working,
friendly, and quietly noble. To Pelley they were the 'prototypes' of the
generous New Englanders he grew up with, and their wholesale
dislocation was a pitiable consequence of the Revolution.
"Pelley blamed only the Jewish Communist for the tragic destruction of
the peasantry. He argued that the boxcar loads of refugees he traveled
with were victims of a revolution perpetuated by 'two hundred and
seventy-six Jews from New York's East Side.' Pelley later claimed that
witnessing the actions of the 'scavenger Jews' in Siberia led him to
understand the Jewish plot to take over the world, the Russian
Revolution being merely the first step in this program. He used his
experience in Siberia as first-hand 'evidence' of the fate awaiting
Americans at the Communists took over the country. Pelley believed that
Russian atrocities could 'happen in Kansas, Indiana, New Jersey... if
this Communist peril becomes guerrilla warfare.'"
(ibid, pgs. 26-28)
 |
| the legendary city of Harbin prior to 1945 |
That Pelley would pop up in Harbin,
Manchuria, China is most curious. Manchuria is of course the name of the region that inspired the name of
Richard Condon's
The Manchurian Candidate. Some researchers such as the great
John Bevilaqua
have insisted that Condon's use of Manchuria as a brainwashing center
had a basis in reality. What's more, Bevilaqua has noted that Harbin
became one of the chief centers of Russian fascism after the Russian
Revolution.
"... Also recalled that the headquarters of Vonsiatsky's Russian Fascist
Organization was Harbin, Manchuria, China. The birthplace of George
deMohrenschildt's wife was also Harbin, which makes it highly likely
that her parents were expatriate Russian Fascists who must have known
Vonsitsky as the leader of their klan during their disporia there.
George's favorite pseudonym was Philip Harbin."
(J.F.K. -The Final Solution, John Bevilaqua, pg. ci)
George de Mohrenschildt is a curious figure frequently linked to the
JFK assassination. I addressed him briefly before
here.
"Count" Anastase "Annie" Vonsiatsky was America's premier Russian fascist in the years between the World Wars, with his
All-Russian Fascist Organization (VFO) being based out of
Putnam, Connecticut.
Like Pelley, he was imprisoned for sedition in 1942. Harbin, Manchuria
was in fact home to a Russian fascist organization --the
All-Russian Fascist Party --but there is some dispute as to how closely linked this organization was to Vonsiatsky's.
 |
| the headquarters of the All-Russian Fascist Party, which was located mere miles from the Siberian border in Manchuria |
Unsurprisingly, there is evidence that the organizations of Pelley and Vonsiatsky were linked in some way. The
FBI's official website notes:
"During the FBI's investigation of Vonsiatsky's activities, evidence was
obtained that he had had some dealings with William Dudley Pelley's
organization. In fact, upon one occasion Vonsiatsky sent several copies
of his publication, 'The Fascist,' to Pelley's organization in
Asheville, North Carolina. On one occasion at least, Vonsiatsky ordered a
hundred copies of Pelley's publication. During 1936, a representative
of the Pelley Publishers wrote Vonsiatsky stating, 'Your work for the
Cause we are mutually serving, publishing your Russian Fascist, has just
come to our attention. From reports given us it seems you are fighting a
rather lone battle, and a little camaraderie is not amiss.' The letter
further stated that Pelley's organization had been in battle
'militantly' for over four years and was 'determined to block Judah in
government and the Jewish bankers by the coming national election.'"
Even biographer John J. Stephan, who generally goes out of his way to
depict Vonsiatsky in the most buffoonish light possible, grudgingly
acknowledges there was some type of contact between Pelley and the Count
from a relatively early date. A Pelley representative, for instance,
approached the Count during the onset of one of his world tours to forge
an international Russian fascist network.
"... John Eoghan Kelly, New York representative of Pelley's Silver Shirts, was also on hand to wish the vozhd
well. Pelley had approached Vonsiatsky in January 1934 with an offer to
get together, but Alex preferred to postpone any meeting until after
his global pereginations. Kelly's appearance at the Vanderbilt probably
reflected his chief's desire to be remembered as a friend – and
beneficiary."
(The Russian Fascists, John J. Stephan, pg. 140)
 |
| "Count" Vonsiatsky |
Naturally this encounter occurred just before Vonsiatsky was setting off
to meet with the All-Russian Fascist organization in Harbin, Manchuria.
Perhaps Pelley's representative was there to pass off contacts the
Silver Shirt head had made there during his time in Harbin as well.
Regardless, it is curious how many bizarre figures appear in Harbin,
Manchuria between the World Wars. But back to Pelley and his Silver
Shirts organization.
While there were over 700 pro-fascist groups in these United States in
the 1930s Pelley's Silver Shirts remain among the most notorious. No
doubt this was partly due to Pelley's grandiose vision for the
organization.
"... The Legion was to be headed by the national commander (Pelley), a
treasurer, and a secretary. Pelley was to be assisted by the General
Staff, consisting of the chief, the chamberlain, the quartermaster, the
sheriff, and the censor. Elected for ten-year terms, the General Staff
possessed the authority to appoint Divisional Executive and Local
Executive Staffs. The Legion maintained its headquarters in Asheville
and divided administrative duties, handled by the Divisional Executive
Staff (DES), into nine divisions. Each DES was presided over by a
Divisional Commanding Officer, assisted by a treasurer and clerk.
Although answerable to officials at the national headquarters, each
division maintained Departments of Local Posts, Silva Rangers,
Industrial Relations, Junior Activities, and Foreign Affiliates. The
Silver Rangers, consisting of paramilitary bands of one hundred
'arsonists,' would, in particular, cause Pelley future difficulties.
"Anticipating that the Legion would serve as the foundation of a new
theocratic state, Pelley also created departments to handle specific
issues, including Public Enlightenment, Patriotic Probity, Crime
Erasement, and Public Morals and Mercy. The Department of Public Morals
and Mercy was seen by Pelley as especially important as it would be in
charge of placing all 'vagabonds' in concentration centers, censoring
the press, and arresting persons responsible for motion pictures that
depicted violence.
"Membership in the Legion was open to all, save Jews and Blacks, over
the age of eighteen who could afford the $10 annual dues and the $6 for a
uniform. Prospective members submitted a photograph and personal
information, including racial heritage, military experience, financial
records, and the exact hour and minute of birth, and signed a document
agreeing to abide by the organization's principles. These 'Christian
American Patriots' pledged to 'respect and sustain the sanctity of the
Christian Ideal, to nurture the moral tradition and Civic, Domestic and
Spiritual life and the culture of the wholesome, natural and
inspirational in Art, Literature, Music and Drama; to adulate and revere
an aristocracy of Intellect, Talent and Characterful Purpose, and the
Body Politic; to sponsor and acclaim aggressive ideals and pride of
Craftsmanship rather than the golden serpent of profit, that the
lowliest individual may aspire to a life of fullest flower; to exalt
Patriotism and Pride of Race, and in the interest of progress and
evolution, to recognize the integrity of every nation and seek to
preserve his place in the Fellowship of Peoples...'
"New recruits attended nine weekly indoctrination meetings. Local
Councils of Safety directed the proceedings at these meetings. The
recruits received instruction on the threat of Jewish Communism and
their responsibilities as Christian patriots. The bulk of these nine
meetings was discussions of the 'four primers' with which all Silver
Shirts must be familiar: the anti-Semitic standards The Hidden Empire and The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion and two Pelley works. The Pelley writings, The President Knows and No More Hunger, outlined the theocratic (or 'Christ Democracy') state the Silver Shirt chief hoped to create in the United States.
"No More Hunger detailed Pelley's program for establishing the Christian
Commonwealth. With moderate alteration, Pelley maintained this
governmental plan, like his religious system, throughout his public
career. The Commonwealth, then, should be considered one of the twin
pillars of Pelley's thought (Liberation/Soulcraft doctrine is the
other). He never let the book go out of print during his lifetime and
claimed it had sold over eighty-thousand copies by the early 1950s.
"Pelley claimed that the Commonwealth was 'a social system that is
neither Capitalism, Socialism, Fascism, or Communism.' In fact, the
Commonwealth blended elements of all these ideas into a composite, not
unlike the ideas expressed by his adolescent hero Edward Bellamy and the
iconoclastic Populist-Social Gospeler Richard T. Ely. The system meshed
a theocratic, corporate state; centralized production control of
government-owned industry; civil service-style employment protection
with private ownership of personal property; and an all-encompassing
social welfare program."
(William Dudley Pelley: A Life in Right-Wing Extremism and the Occult, Scott Beekman, pgs. 81-83)
 |
| some Silver Shirts |
Easily the most militant branch of the Silver Shirts was the one based
in California. It was this section that would generate much of the
organization's (somewhat over exaggerated) reputation for violence.
"Of all the large state organizations, California created the most
problems for Pelley. The first Silver Shirt branch opened in Los Angeles
in 1933 and met with surprising initial success, with statewide
membership reaching a peak of three thousand in 1934. Pelley was so
pleased with the progress in southern California that in February 1934
he moved the Silver Ranger, his newest magazine, from Oklahoma
City (which had become the organization's 'second headquarters') to Los
Angeles. That city eventually house six different local branches. This
concentration of units in one city, the most in the country, allowed
Pelley to organize the branches with specializations. For example, there
was a Los Angeles branch for those most interested in Pelley's
religious system (the astrology-minded Nazi William Kullgren was
associated with this group) and another unit, headed by 'Captain' Eugene
Case, for the violent 'arsonists'...
"While the Los Angeles branches created internal strife for Pelley and
his organization, the San Diego branch foisted a surfeit of
complications on the Silver Shirt chief. The San Diego group leader,
Willard Kemp, had little use for Pelley's esoteric writings and focused
his membership on preparing for armed struggle with Communist invaders.
Not content to wait for the Communists to strike first, the San Diego
chief proposed a series of violent schemes to his followers. In
anticipation of bloodshed, Kemp armed his two hundred followers with
rifles allegedly bought illegally from unscrupulous attendants at the
North Island Naval Base armory and drilled them at a heavily fortified
ranch near El Cajon. To ensure that his men were ready for action, Kemp
hired to U.S. Marine Corps drill instructors (Virgil Hayes and Edward T.
Grey) to train his men in military tactics and offered to buy any
stolen weapons the two could procure.
"Kemp's indiscretions proved costly. Hayes and Grey reported Kemp's
offer to their superiors, who instructed the two to infiltrate the
Silver Shirts and report their findings to Naval Intelligence. The two
marines and a number of Silver Shirts eventually testified about the San
Diego unit's actions before an executive session of the Special House
Congressional Subcommittee on Un-American Activities (the
McCormick-Dickstein Committee) in August 1934. Already investigating
Nazi propaganda in the United States, committee members were appalled by
the schemes of the San Diego Silver Shirts, which included
assassination of Jewish public officials and an armed march on San Diego
during a May Day celebration. It proved to be the beginning of close
governmental scrutiny of Pelley's organization. Investigators quickly
discovered irregularities in Pelley's financial activities. As 1934
dawned, Pelley began twenty years of legal entanglements."
(ibid, pgs. 102-104)
And it is here that I shall wrap things up for now. With an outline of
Pelley's background and the Silver Shirts out of the way, I shall focus
my attention upon Pelley's ties to Nazi Germany as well as his extensive
links within far right circles at the onset of the next installment.
From there I will then address the metaphysical parts of Pelley's life, a
dominate if little examined aspect of it. Stay tuned.
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