Rally was a conservative magazine created by Timothy J. Wheeler in Wisconsin in the 1960s. Wheeler never became a well-known conservative activist but wrote for various magazines including The National Review.[1] Wheeler was an Army veteran known for writing humor columns. Wheeler helped found Insight & Outlook, the nation’s first student conservative journal [2] and in addition he worked as a speechwriter for Richard Roudebush, co-produced the Financial Book Digest, wrote for the Silver and Gold Report and was also a staff member of the Saturday Evening Post. [3]

Rally (November 1967)

Wheeler started Rally as a magazine for young conservatives. The issue highlighted in this post comes from November 1967. I have also included an insert, which is the “Exciting Game of Profits” a fake board game that illustrates the various ways that profits are taken from business and citizens.

Rally Insert

[1] http://www.pbase.com/csw62/image/85861087

[2] http://humanevents.com/2007/08/24/friends-remember-tim-wheeler/

[3] http://www.pbase.com/csw62/image/85861312

It was hard to find much information about Hillcrest Publications but it was a publishing house based out of McDonald, Ohio that we know existed in the 1960s and 1970s. Hillcrest sold publications and pamphlets that seem to fit mostly under survivalism. A lot of the items they sold deal with protecting yourself and your family against an unforeseen disaster whether it be environmental, political or social. The items range from gun catalogs, military training manuals, self-defense manuals and also include guides to surviving in the wilderness. Survivalist groups became prominent in the 1960s due to increased inflation rates, tensions between the US and the USSR and supply shortages in urban areas.[1] In more present times, there was an increase in survivalist groups after the attacks of September 11 and the economic recession that started in 2007. [2]

Hillcrest Publications (1975)

Hillcrest Publications Sample Page (1975)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivalism

Today’s post is about Liberty Bell Publications, not to be confused with The Liberty Bell Press that we previously posted about. Liberty Bell Publications was based out Reedy, West Virginia, and printed various Neo-Nazi texts. The item below is a text which disputes many of the claims from the Holocaust and in particular the concentration camp at Auschwitz and is wildly disputed and disregarded by historians. This text was written by Thies Christophersen who fought for the German military in WWII. Christophersen, among other things disputed the fact that gas chambers existed at Auschwitz and became a somewhat well known Holocaust denier.

Liberty Bell Publications (1975)

Liberty Bell Publications Back Cover(1975)

This weeks post contains two issues of the Black Liberation Journal from 1983 and 1984. The issues cover affirmative action and the presidential election of 1984. The Black Liberation Journal was affiliated with the Communist Party USA and had Charlene Mitchell on its editorial board who ran for president in 1968 on the Communist Party ticket. It is hard to find much information about the journal but it seems to have run from the late 1970s through the 1980s. Topics include the struggle for equality, workers rights and unions, voting, politics, socialism and communism.

Black Liberation Journal (1983)

Black Liberation Journal (1984)

The above image was printed by the Dianetics Testing Center. Enclosed is a personality test, which would be filled out and sent to the center. The pamphlet presents itself as a scientific test to determine your personality and areas in which you could use improvement.

“Dianetics is a set of ideas and practices regarding the metaphysical relationship between the mind and body which was created by L. Ron Hubbard and is practiced by followers of Scientology and separate independent Dianeticist groups.”[1]

Personality tests continue to be commonly used as a means of recruitment by Scientologists. The idea is that you would fill out the test and then receive scientific data describing your personality and then by becoming a Scientologist you would be helped on the path the self-improvement. Although it is hard to tell from this printing, I believe this test is from the 1980s.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dianetics

The item for this week is a 1948 reprinting of a treatise by Martin Luther titled The Jews and Their Lies originally written in 1543 and published by The Christian Nationalist Crusade. [1]

The Christian Nationalist Crusade was an anti-Semitic and pro-segregation organization that was founded by Gerlad L.K. Smith in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942 and disbanded in 1977 having moved to Glendale, California.[2]  Smith’s political life started during the Great Depression as part of the Share Our Wealth movement and later he began to move this into the realm of white supremacy. Smith also joined various pro-Nazi groups during and after WWII.[3] The repurposing of historical texts is not uncommon in many extremist organizations, especially religious based groups.  In Luther’s original text, which is said to have had a major influence on Nazi dogma he proposes seven actions Christians can take against Jews:

1. to avoid Jewish synagogues and schools and warn people against them;
2. to refuse to let Jews own houses among Christians;
3. for Jewish religious writings to be taken away;
4. for rabbis to be forbidden to preach;
5. to not offer protection for Jews on highways;
6. for usury to be prohibited, and for all silver and gold to be removed, put aside for safekeeping and given back to Jews who truly convert; and
7. to give young, strong Jews flail, axe, spade, spindle, and let them earn their bread in the sweat of their noses

Christian Nationalist Crusade (1948)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Jews_and_Their_Lies

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Nationalist_Crusade

[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_L._K._Smith

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) was founded by students and faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969[1] and still exists today. The group has primarily focused on environmental and nuclear energy issues. In its founding document the UCS states that it intends:[2]

1. To initiate a critical and continuing examination of governmental policy in areas where science and technology are of actual or potential significance.
2. To devise means for turning research applications away from the present emphasis on military technology toward the solution of pressing environmental and social problems.
3. To convey to our students the hope that they will devote themselves to bringing the benefits of science and technology to mankind and to ask them to scrutinize the issues raised here before participating in the construction of destructive weapons systems.
4. To express our determined opposition to ill-advised and hazardous projects such as the ABM system, the enlargement of our nuclear arsenal, and the development of chemical and biological weapons.
5. To explore the feasibility of organizing scientists and engineers so that their desire for a more humane and civilized world can be translated into effective political action.

In the pamphlet shared in this post outlines the environmental and health risks that plutonium (used in power plants and atomic bombs) can cause if it is left unmonitored. It is hard to determine when this was published but they mention plutonium being a “recent” element (it was discovered in 1940). My guess is that this was printed in the 1950s or 1960s.

Union of Concerned Scientists

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Concerned_Scientists

[2] http://www.ucsusa.org/about/founding-document-1968.html

MERIP Reports or The Middle East Research and Information Project was founded as a non-profit in 1971 to cover various conflicts in the Middle East.  The paper was started by student activists in the U.S. including Joe Stork, a member of The Human Rights Watch who has been criticized by some for anti-Israel rhetoric.[1]

MERIP reports still exists today: http://www.merip.org/?ip_login_no_cache=1692ed761b2f6107ab27af4aa2016d3c

MERIP Report Cover (1982)

MERIP Report Back Cover (1982)

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Stork

We have begun our summer processing work again! There will be 14 students working this summer to organize the Hall Hoag collection. We have been coming across some really interesting items.

I wanted to share one in particular this week. We found a letter from Howard Zinn written to Grace Hoag. Zinn became well known for writing The People’s History of The United States. He was also a professor at Boston University, where he was working when he wrote this letter. This is a response, dated June 3, 1968 to a letter written by Grace Hoag to Zinn asking about the “communist manipulation of demonstrations.”

The Hall Hoag collection is named in honor of Grace Hoag who was a collaborator of Gordon Hall. Hoag attended meetings and rallies of various groups and brought back their literature and was instrumental in the sorting and organizing the materials.

Howard Zinn Letter 1968