William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce | |
---|---|
Born | William Luther Pierce III September 11, 1933 |
Died | July 23, 2002 | (aged 68)
Other names | Andrew Macdonald |
Education | Allen Military Academy |
Alma mater |
|
Occupations |
|
Organization | National Alliance |
Notable work |
|
Movement | |
Spouses | Patricia Jones
(m. 1956; div. 1982)Elizabeth Prostel
(m. 1982; div. 1985)Olga Skerlecz
(m. 1986; div. 1990)Zsuzsannah
(m. 1991; div. 1996)Irena
(m. 1997) |
Children | 2 |
Signature | |
William Luther Pierce III (September 11, 1933 – July 23, 2002) was an American
Born in
Pierce's novel The Turner Diaries (1978) depicts a violent revolution in the United States, followed by a
At the time of Pierce's death in 2002, the National Alliance was bringing in more than $1 million a year, with more than 1,500 members and a paid national staff of 17 full-time officials. After Pierce's death, it entered a period of internal conflict and decline.
Life and career
Early life and education
William Luther Pierce III was born in Atlanta, Georgia.[2] The son of William Luther Pierce Jr. and Marguerite Farrell, his Presbyterian family was of Scotch-Irish and English descent. Pierce's younger brother, Flournoy Sanders, an engineer, assisted Pierce in his political activities.[11]
His father was born in
Pierce performed well in school; his last two years in high school were spent at the Allen Military Academy in Bryan, Texas.[16] As a teenager, his hobbies and interests were model rockets, chemistry, radios, electronics, and reading science fiction.[14]
After finishing military school in 1951, Pierce worked briefly in an oil field as a roustabout. He was injured when a four-inch (10 cm) pipe fell on his hand, and he spent the rest of that summer working as a shoe salesman.[18] Pierce earned a scholarship to attend Rice University in Houston. He graduated from Rice in 1955 with a bachelor's degree in physics.[3][4] He worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory before attending graduate school, initially at Caltech during 1955–56.[3][19] At the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado, he earned a master's degree and a doctorate in 1962.[2][4] He taught physics as an assistant professor at Oregon State University from 1962 to 1965.[20]
Early political activities
His tenure as assistant professor at
After a brief membership in the anti-communist John Birch Society in 1962, he resigned because the Society was uninvolved in race issues.[16][21] After he moved to Washington, D.C. he became an associate of George Lincoln Rockwell, founder of the American Nazi Party. During this time he was the editor of the party's quarterly ideological journal, National Socialist World.[19][21] When Rockwell was murdered in 1967, Pierce became one of the leading members of the National Socialist White People's Party, the successor to the ANP.
In 1968, Pierce left the NSWPP and joined Youth for Wallace, an organization supporting the
National Alliance
The
In 1978, claiming the National Alliance was an educational organization, Pierce applied for and was denied,
An
In 1985, Pierce moved his operations from Arlington County, Virginia, to a 346-acre (1.40 km2) location in Mill Point, West Virginia, which he paid for with $95,000 in cash. At this location, he founded the Cosmotheist Community Church.[4] In 1986, the church applied again, this time successfully, for federal, state, and local tax exemptions. It lost its state tax exemption for all but 60 acres, which had to be exclusively used for religious purposes.[27] The other 286 acres (1.16 km2) parcel was used for both the National Alliance headquarters and the National Vanguard Books business and warehouse, and was denied state tax exemption.[citation needed]
In 1990, the documentary series Different Drummer produced a portrait of Pierce, which was aired on PBS.[28] He later participated twice on a public-access television cable TV live talk show hosted by Ron Doggett, Race and Reality and aired from Richmond, Virginia.[29][30]
Pierce was frequently described as a neo-Nazi,[2][3][4][26][5][31][6] although he personally rejected this label.[32] When confronted with the issue by Mike Wallace on 60 minutes, Pierce described the term as a slander:
- I admire many things that Hitler wrote, many of the programs and policies that he instituted in Germany, but we do not blindly copy anyone else's policies or programs. We've formulated our own program in view of the situation that we face here in America today.[32]
In 1998, Pierce was a contributor to a documentary produced by the
Pierce's last public speech was made in Cleveland, Ohio on April 28, 2002.[35] On July 23, 2002, he died of renal failure, three weeks after being diagnosed with cancer that had spread through his body.[7]
At the time, the National Alliance was bringing in more than $1 million a year, with more than 1,500 members, a paid national staff of 17 full-time officials, and was better known than at any time in its history, after which it entered a period of internal conflict and decline.[citation needed]
Novels
The Turner Diaries
Part of a series on |
Antisemitism |
---|
Category |
Pierce gained attention following the
The part most relevant to the McVeigh case is in an early chapter, when the book's main character is placed in charge of bombing the FBI headquarters.[4] Some have pointed out similarities between the bombing in the book and the actual bombing in Oklahoma City that damaged the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and killed 168 people on April 19, 1995. When McVeigh was arrested later that day, pages from the book were found in his car, with several phrases highlighted, including "But the real value of all of our attacks today lies in the psychological impact, not in the immediate casualties" and "We can still find them and kill them."[37][38]
The Turner Diaries also inspired a group of white revolutionary nationalists in the early 1980s who called themselves the Silent Brotherhood, or sometimes simply
On May 19, 1996, Pierce was interviewed on 60 Minutes,[32][40] during which Pierce was asked by Mike Wallace if he approved of the Oklahoma City bombing, and he replied "No. No, I don't. I've said that over and over again, that I do not approve of the Oklahoma City bombing because the United States is not yet in a revolutionary situation."[32] A year earlier in a telephone interview with The Washington Post, he was quoted as saying: "the Oklahoma City bombing didn't make sense politically. Terrorism only makes sense if it can be sustained over a period of time. One day there will be real, organized terrorism done according to plan, aimed at bringing down the government."[41]
Hunter
In 1989, again under the Andrew Macdonald pen name, Pierce published another novel, Hunter, which tells the story of a man named Oscar Yeager, a veteran of the Vietnam War who begins by killing multiple interracial couples.[42] He then assassinates liberal journalists, politicians and bureaucrats in the D.C. area. In interviews, Pierce called Hunter more realistic, and described his rationale for writing it as taking the reader through "an educational process".[43]
Religion
In the 1970s, Pierce adopted the religious philosophy of
Personal life
Pierce was married five times. His first marriage was to Patricia Jones, a mathematician whom he met while he was attending the California Institute of Technology. They were married in 1957 and had twin sons, Kelvin and Erik, born in 1960. Kelvin was an aerospace engineer, while Erik is a computer scientist.[11] According to Kelvin Pierce, his father had been emotionally and physically abusive.[44] In 2020, Kelvin coauthored Sins of My Father: Growing Up with America's Most Dangerous White Supremacist, which chronicled his experiences with his father.[45]
William Luther Pierce's marriage with Patricia Jones ended in divorce in 1982.[46] The same year, Pierce married Elizabeth Prostel whom he met in the National Alliance office in Arlington. The marriage ended in 1985 and Pierce moved his headquarters to southern West Virginia.[4] Preferring immigrant women from Eastern Europe,[3] in 1986 Pierce married a Hungarian woman named Olga Skerlecz. She is a relative of Iván Skerlecz, Governor of Croatia-Slavonia; the marriage lasted until 1990. Olga moved to California after their divorce.[46] Pierce then married another Hungarian woman named Zsuzsannah in early 1991. They met through an advertisement that Pierce placed in a Hungarian women's magazine aimed at arranging international marriages. Leaving him in the summer of 1996, Zsuzsannah moved to Florida. His last marriage in 1997, which lasted until his death, was to another Hungarian woman, Irena, toward whom he was reportedly "sharp and condescending" and who had been miserable living with him.[3]
Death
Pierce died of kidney failure at his Hillsboro, West Virginia compound on July 23, 2002.[7]
Works
As William Luther Price:
- "Who We Are" (2012)
- "Cosmotheism: Divine Aryan Consciousness from Man to Super-Man" (2013) (with Fred Streed & Kevin Alfred Strom)
As Andrew Macdonald:
- The Turner Diaries (1978)
- Hunter (1984)
In 1993, Pierce wrote the script of the comic book New World Order Comix #1: The Saga of White Will!! which was illustrated by Daniel "Rip" Roush and colored by William White Williams.[47]
References
Notes
- ^ "FOIA: Pierce, William L.-HQ-1" – via Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c d e f Reed, Christopher (July 25, 2002). "William Pierce". The Guardian. London. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "William Pierce". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
America's most important neo-Nazi for some three decades until his death in 2002.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Extremism in America: William Pierce". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on January 16, 2013.
As founder of the National Alliance, the largest and most active neo-Nazi organization in the United States, Pierce used several media [outlets] ... to promote his vision of a whites-only homeland and a government free of 'non-Aryan influence.'
- ^ a b c Johnston, David Cay (July 24, 2002). "William Pierce, 69, Neo-Nazi Leader, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
Throughout nearly 40 years as a promoter of white supremacy, Dr. Pierce argued on his radio program, in his newspaper and in books that just whites should live in the United States, because 'white people must have living space exclusive to ourselves if the white race is to survive.'
- ^ a b Henry, Schuster (July 24, 2002). "Neo-Nazi leader Pierce dead at 68". CNN. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
- ^ a b c Gettleman, Jeffrey (July 24, 2002). "William L. Pierce, 68; Ex-Rocket Scientist Became White Supremacist". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
William L. Pierce, a rocket scientist turned neo-Nazi writer who used a mix of intellect and hate to rise to the top of the American white supremacist movement and become the 'godfather' of skinheads, died Tuesday in his West Virginia compound.
- ISBN 9781305633773.
- ^ a b "The Turner Diaries". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
Days before he bombed the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and wounding 500 others, McVeigh mailed a letter to his sister warning that 'something big is going to happen,' followed by a second envelope with clippings from The Turner Diaries.
- ^ a b "National Alliance Leader William Pierce Hopes to Acquire Hate Label, Resistance Records". Intelligence Report. No. Fall 1999. Southern Poverty Law Center. December 15, 1999. Retrieved January 15, 2019.
- ^ a b Griffin 2001, p. 33.
- ^ Griffin 2001, p. 30
- ^ Griffin 2001, p. 36
- ^ a b Griffin 2001, p. 31
- ^ Virginia Certificate of Death, State File No. 00414
- ^ ISBN 9780739191057.
- ^ a b Griffin 2001, p. 28
- ^ Griffin 2001, p. 34
- ^ a b c d Sutherland, John (May 22, 1997). "Higher Man". London Review of Books. Vol. 19, no. 10. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-85986-273-5.
- ^ ISBN 9780398083083.
- ^ Beirich, Heidi (November 30, 2008). "Willis Carto: The First Major Biography". Intelligence Report. No. Winter 2008. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Griffin 2001, p. 128
- ^ "- YouTube". youtube.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017.
- ^ Race and Reason 1 (Talk show). PBS. 1980s. Archived from the original on June 30, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on YouTube.
- ^ a b c d "William Pierce, founder and leader of National Alliance, dead at 68". Anti-Defamation League. 2004. Archived from the original on December 3, 2006. Retrieved July 18, 2007.
- ^ "The National Alliance: A History". Anti-Defamation League. 2007. Archived from the original on August 19, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2007.
- ^ Dr. No? (Documentary). PBS. 1990. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2010.Removed from YouTube.
- ^ Race and Reality (Talk show). PBS. 1990s. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on Vimeo.
- ^ Race and Reality (Talk show). PBS. 1990s. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on Vimeo.
- ^ "William Pierce, America's Leading Neo-Nazi, Dies". Southern Poverty Law Center. July 24, 2002. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
- ^ a b c d Dr. William Pierce Interviewed on CBS 60 Minutes (Reportage). CBS. 1996. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on YouTube.
- ^ Discovery Channel – William Luther Pierce (Documentary). Discovery Channel. 1998. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on YouTube.
- ^ America is a Changing Country (Documentary). National Alliance. 2000s. Archived from the original on April 1, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on Vimeo.
- ^ Last Public Speech of Dr. William Pierce (Speech). National Alliance. April 28, 2002. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2010. Accessed on YouTube.
- ^ Berger, J.M. (September 16, 2016). "Alt History". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ "'Turner Diaries' introduced in McVeigh trial". CNN.com. April 28, 1997. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ^ Jackson, Camille (October 14, 2004). "The Turner Diaries, Other Racist Novels, Inspire Extremist Violence". SPLC. Retrieved October 21, 2014.
- ^ Ramirez, Anthony (June 26, 2006). "Lyle Stuart, Publisher of Renegade Titles, Dies at 83". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Goodman, Walter (May 24, 1996). "Critic's Notebook: For '60 Minutes,' New Dueling Voices". The New York Times. Retrieved September 18, 2007.
- ^ Fisher, Marc; McCombs, Phil (April 25, 1995). "The Book of Hate". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ^ Mills, David (May 16, 1993). "Don't Think Twice, It's All White". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
- ISBN 0-8223-3071-7
- ^ Darby, Seyward; Kelso, Johnathon (March 31, 2021). "The father, the son and the racist spirit: being raised by a white supremacist". The Guardian. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ISBN 979-8-6093-6191-2.
- ^ a b Griffin 2001, p. 39.
- ^ "New World Order Comix - The Saga Of White Will!!" – via Internet Archive.
Bibliography
- Griffin, Robert S. (2001). The Fame of a Dead Man's Deeds. ISBN 0-7596-0933-0.
- Lee, Martin A. (2002). "Sympathy for the Devil: A Vermont academic writes a fawning biography of America's late neo-Nazi leader". Intelligence Report (107). Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on April 5, 2004. Retrieved May 3, 2004.
- Pierce, William L. (1976–2002). American Dissident Voices.
Further reading
- Swain, Carol M.; Nieli, Russ (March 24, 2003). Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81673-4.
External links
- National Vanguard, a publication of the National Alliance
- Pierce's entry Archived December 23, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at History Commons
- William L. Pierce's FBI files, obtained under the FOIA and hosted at the Internet Archive: