Robert Jay Mathews

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Robert Jay Mathews
Born(1953-01-16)January 16, 1953
Marfa, Texas, U.S.
DiedDecember 8, 1984(1984-12-08) (aged 31)
Whidbey Island, near Freeland, Washington, U.S.
Cause of deathSmoke inhalation and fire
Organization(s)Sons of Liberty
The Order
SpouseDebbie McGarity (m. 1976)
Children2 (1 adopted)

Robert Jay Mathews (January 16, 1953 – December 8, 1984) was an American neo-Nazi activist and the leader of The Order, an American white supremacist militant group.[1][2] He was burned alive during a shootout with approximately 75 federal law enforcement agents who surrounded his house on Whidbey Island, near Freeland, Washington.[3]

Mathews was characterized in the 1999 television film Brotherhood of Murder.[4]

Life and activities

Early years

Robert Mathews was born in

Chamber of Commerce, as well as a businessman and leader for the local Methodist church. His mother was the town's Cub Scout den mother
.

The family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Though he was an average student in grade school, history and politics interested him. At age 11, he joined the John Birch Society, a right-wing advocacy group supporting paleoconservatism, anti-communism and limited government. Mathews was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1969.[5]

Mathews formed the Sons of Liberty, an anti-communist

tax fraud, tried, and placed on probation for six months.[3]
After a falling out between the Mormon and non-Mormon members of the Sons of Liberty, the organization stagnated and Mathews withdrew from it.

After his probation ended in 1974, he moved to Metaline Falls, Washington, where Mathews and his father purchased 60 wooded acres for their home.

Mathews and Debbie McGarity were married in 1976. He raised Scottish

Galloway cattle
. He and Debbie McGarity adopted a son in 1981. Mathews later had a biological daughter with his mistress, Zillah Craig.

The Order

Main article: The Order

Mathews became a

white supremacist and in 1982 he made an effort to recruit white families to the Pacific Northwest, or the White American Bastion.[3]

In 1983, Mathews delivered a speech at a

yeoman farmers and independent truckers," to his White American Bastion group.[6] Mathews was a fan of the far-right extremist 1978 novel The Turner Diaries written by National Alliance founder William Luther Pierce.[7]

In late September 1983, at a

David Lane
; and the National Alliance: Richie Kemp and Bill Soderquist.

The group's first task, according to Mathews' plan, was to obtain money to support

counterfeiting. They printed some counterfeit
$50 bills, and 28-year-old Bruce Pierce was arrested after passing off a few of them.

To raise Pierce's bail, Mathews, acting alone,

Brink's truck of $3,600,000.[8]

The group distributed some of the stolen money to the North Carolina-based White Patriot Party and other white nationalist organizations.[9]

Final days

Prior to his death, Mathews wrote a long letter declaring war on the

better source needed
]

Mathews and the other members of The Order were eventually betrayed by Martinez, who became an FBI informant after his arrest for

hand grenades and a stockpile of ammunition. Mathews continued to fire an assault rifle at agents as the house burned, but then suddenly stopped. After the wreckage had cooled enough to be searched, agents found the burned remains of 31-year-old Mathews' body, with a pistol still in his hand.[citation needed] An autopsy concluded that Mathews had died from a combination of burns and smoke inhalation. Mathews had fired over 1,000 rounds at law enforcement, but no agents were injured.[citation needed
]

Mathews' remains were cremated and the ashes scattered by his family on his property in Metaline, Washington.

Eventually, dozens were convicted of crimes connected to The Order, on charges that included

civil rights. Sentences of up to 252 years were imposed.[3] Also prosecuted were members of The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, a far-right paramilitary allied with The Order which had declared war on the federal government as well. Most of their leading members received lengthy prison terms for illegal weapons possession and racketeering.[12]

Later, ten people connected to the case, including Butler, Lane, and Pierce, were tried for sedition, but were acquitted by a jury.[13]

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-8147-3155-0
    . Retrieved February 4, 2016. The C18 hit lists, bomb-making instructions and escalating racial violence indicate the influence of American Nazi ideology and methods. In The Order, the magazine named after the U.S. terrorist group, editor John Cato paid fulsome tribute to its martyred leader, Robert Jay Mathews. It quoted Mathews's "declaration of war" against a "Jewish controlled mongrelized society, which is depriving White Aryans of their existence and homeland."
  2. ISBN 978-1-135-28131-1
    . Retrieved February 5, 2016.
  3. ^ Mark Deming (2007). "Brotherhood of Murder (1999)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 4, 2007. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  4. ISBN 978-1-317-46109-8
    . Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. ^ "A Call to Arms, Part One of Two". WNTube.net. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  6. ISBN 0-07-040699-5
    .
  7. ISBN 1-56670-355-7
    .
  8. ^ "Extremist Ex-Cons Back on the Street: A fresh batch of extremist ex-cons hits the streets". Intelligence Report (116). Southern Poverty Law Center. Winter 2004. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  9. ^ "Robert Jay Mathews' Last Letter (archive.org)". Supreme White Alliance. Archived from the original on February 2, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2009.
  10. ^ Krikorian, Mark (October 19, 2003). "FBI Informant Helped Put Hate in Its Place". Los Angeles Times. On the World Wide Web. Retrieved April 28, 2023.
  11. ISBN 978-0275985448
    . Retrieved May 2, 2021 – via Google Books.
  12. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved November 11, 2023.
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