Did you know America spawned its very own homegrown fascist movement in the 1930s? Yup. The Silver Legion’s William Dudley Pelley was the original Man in the High Castle. Or… at least he dreamed himself to be.
Be sure to support the show at www.patreon.com/deadideaspod to get your portrait drawn!
Music by Rachel Westhoff. Pics, references and more at http://www.deadideas.net.
Time/place: Worldwide, early 20th cen. CE
Dead Idea: Fascism
Co-hosts: Nick and Anna
Main Sources
Alonzo-Zaldivar, R. (2019, May 24). “Administration Moves to Revoke Transgender Health Protection.” AP News. Retrieved Nov 3, 2019, from: https://apnews.com/44494a468abe4e009b0388798c16a197
Albright, M. (2018). Fascism: A Warning. New York: HarperCollins.
Beekman, Scott. William Dudley Pelley: A Life in Right-wing Extremism and Occultism. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2005.
Blitzer, J. (2016, Nov 4). “A Scholar of Fascism Sees a Lot That’s Familiar With Trump.” The New Yorker. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-scholar-of-fascism-sees-a-lot-thats-familiar-with-trump
Buhres, E. (2019, Nov 2). “Don’t Call Trump a Fascist.” Foreign Policy. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/11/02/donald-trump-fascist-nazi-right-wing/
Daley, J. (2018, Oct. 3). “The Screenwriter Mystic Who Wanted to Be the American Fuhrer.” Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-screenwriting-mystic-who-wanted-be-american-fuhrer-180970449/
Deconstructed. (2019, May 9). “Is Trump a Fascist?.” The Intercept. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://theintercept.com/2019/05/09/is-trump-a-fascist/
D’Souza, D. (2017). The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing.
Guyette, C. (2019, Sep 11). “Is Trump a Fascist? The F Word.” Detroit Metro Times. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/is-trump-a-fascist/Content?oid=22617920
Gawthorpe, A. (2019, Jul 31). “Is This Fascism? No. Could It Become Fascism? Yes.” The Guardian. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/31/is-this-fascism-no-could-it-become-fascism-yes
Kagan, R. (2016, May 18). “This Is How Fascism Comes to America.” Washington Post. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/this-is-how-fascism-comes-to-america/2016/05/17/c4e32c58-1c47-11e6-8c7b-6931e66333e7_story.html?noredirect=on
Kessler, G., et al. “Trump Has Made More Than 10,000 False of Misleading Claims.” The Washington Post. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/04/29/president-trump-has-made-more-than-false-or-misleading-claims/
Lewis, Sinclair. It Can’t Happen Here. New York: Penguin, 2014/1935.
Matthews, D. (2016, May 19). “I Asked 5 Fascism Experts Whether Trump Is a Fascist. Here Is What They Said.” Vox.com. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/12/10/9886152/donald-trump-fascism
Namier, L. (1947). “The First Mountebank Dictator.”
Olsen, H. (2019, Jun 5). “Trump Isn’t a Fascist, He’s Just a Bully.” The Washington Post. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019,from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/05/trump-isnt-fascist-hes-just-bully/
Pelley, W. D. (1031/2011). No More Hunger. Noblesville, IA: Trafford Publishing.
Pelley, W. D. (1929, Mar/1952). “Seven Minutes in Eternity.” The American Magazine. SoulCraft Press.
Porter, T. (2017, Sep 27). “Is North Korea Communist? Experts Warn Failure to Understand Kim Jong Un’s Regime Could Spell Catastrophe.” Newsweek. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.newsweek.com/north-korea-communist-critics-warn-failure-understand-kim-jong-uns-beliefs-672399
Reimann, M. (2017, Feb. 6). “The Heyday of American Nazism Was Led by a Prize-winning Hollywood Screenwriter.” Timeline.com. https://timeline.com/silver-shirts-nazi-history-cf3080eb2da2
Rindskopf, J. (2018, Jun 15). “20 of Trump’s Worst Tweets (So Far).” CheatSheet. Retrieved Nov 2, 2019, from: https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/trumps-worst-tweets-so-far.html/
Schivelbusch, W. (2006). Three New Deals: Reflections on America, Mussolini’s Italy, and Hitler’s Germany, 1933-1939. New York: Picador.
Serwer, A. (2019, Jul 3). “A Crime by Any Name: The Trump Administration’s Commitment to Deterring Immigration Through Cruelty Has Made Horrifying Conditions in Detention Facilities Inevitable.” The Atlantic. Retrieved Nov 3, 2019, from: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/border-facilities/593239/
“Silver Shirt Legion of America, Washington State Division Photograph Collection, circa 1930s.” Archives West. 2018.
“Silver Shirts.” Holocaust Online. http://www.holocaustonline.org. Retrieved Aug. 11, 2019.
Stanley, J. (2018). How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. New York: Random House.
“William Dudley Pelley.” American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Audio Credits
“Nazis Auf Speed” by Die Krupps
“Battle Hymn of the Republic” performed by the Capitol Symphony Orchestra