The Bohemian Grove Action Network was founded in 1980 in Occidental, California. A prominent member of the group, Mary Moore states that the purpose is “to expose that there is a ruling class in this country, and who they are.”[1] It is hard to determine how many members are in the group but it fits into a larger movement of conspiracy groups that in their most extreme cases work to expose The New World Order, with varying theories on who the New World Order is.  

Specifically The Bohemian Grove Action Network protests against the Bohemian Club, which is a yearly meeting of some of the most powerful men in the world in Monte Rio, California.[2]  Formed in 1872 the Bohemian Club is an all-male invitation only group that has included every Republican and some Democratic U.S. presidents since 1923, many cabinet officials, directors and CEOs of large corporations including major financial institutions. 

Groups like The Bohemian Grove Action Network believe that these meetings are being held to make policy decisions and manipulate world affairs.  Moore believes that the Bohemian Club serves as an opportunity for powerful men to make back door deals. More extreme groups see the Bohemians as satanists who rule the world and make human sacrifices. Although many members are powerful people The Bohemian Club seems mostly to function as a vacation retreat for powerful executives with some strange traditions. One such tradition is the Cremation of Care[3], which involves dark hooded figures paddling boats across a lake and burn effigies in front of a 40-foot owl shrine.

There is really not enough space here to expand on this further, but there are extensive conspiracies developed around the Bohemian Club. I suggest trying the Jon Ronson book “Them: Adventures with Extremists” in which he covers the Bohemian Club in a chapter or this video documentary also made by Ronson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dahQCEzjkfM. 

Bohemian Grove Action Network (1984)

Weathermen Clipping (Boston Herald 1980)

On March 6, 1970, a bomb went off in a Greenwich Village apartment in New York. The bomb detonated accidentally as it was being constructed by members of the Weather Underground. Three members of the group (Ted Gold, Diana Oughton and Terry Robbins) were killed in the explosion. Two other members Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson were at the scene of the crime but avoided prosecution as fugitives for ten years.

The Weather Underground existed from 1969 until 1977 and functioned as an extremist left-wing, anti-imperialist and communist group known for a string of bombings throughout the 1970s including the detonation of bombs at the Pentagon and New York City police headquarters. The group formed as a faction of the Student for a Democratic Society and as some points aligned itself to the Black Power Movement. The group became very well known in popular culture and was very active in the 1970s. The group eventually dissolved due to pressures from the federal government and internal fracturing.

Read more about the  more information on the Weather Underground on Wikipedia. I have included a clipping from the Boston Herald from July 1980 that outlines Cathy Wilkerson’s surrender to the police ten years after the apartment bombing.

There are over 60 boxes of newspaper clippings in the Hall-Hoag Collection. Many of them are unlabeled and very hard to process. Even at the end of this project most of the newspaper clippings will be unavailable for research because it would take far too much time and effort to organize them. In addition, items like the image at this post can be found in the Boston Herald’s archives. I chose a clipping today to show the scope of Gordan Hall’s work. He closely followed the mentions of extremist groups in publications throughout the country. For example, the folder this item came from had clippings about the Weather Underground from 19 different newspapers from Mississippi, Florida, Delaware, Massachusetts and many other. It must have taken considerable effort to find all of these clippings at the time considering they most likely had to be collected in their home state and shipped to Hall or collected by Hall on location.

The item today is from the National United Committee to Free Angela Davis. Thirty-two years ago this week Angela Davis was released from prison. Davis was arrested in 1970 for her involvement in the eventual killing of Judge Harold Haley after his kidnapping by  Jonathan Jackson in Marine County, California. Jackson, Judge Haley and two others were killed in a gun fight with police as they tried to flee the courthouse during the kidnapping. The guns used in the kidnapping by Jackson belonged to Angela Davis. [1] Soon after her arrest protests were arranged and groups (more than 200 local committees in the United States[2])were formed in defense of Davis. This became a massive movement and Davis became a well-known political figure in the U.S.[3] Davis was found not guilty of all charges against her in 1972. Davis is well-known as an activist in a variety of areas including human rights, civil rights, socialism and communism.

There are many more details about the trial and Angela Davis that I have not covered here. For more information about the incident and trial:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marin_County_courthouse_incident and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis#Arrest_and_trial

National United Committee to Free Angela Davis Cover (1971)

National United Committee to Free Angela Davis Back Cover (1971)

National United Committee to Free Angela Davis Inside (1971)

Today marks the 32-year anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s visit to China. To mark the occasion I have selected an item from The Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Communist China to the United Nations. The Committee of One Million Against the Admission of Communist China to the United Nations existed from 1953 until 1971. In 1971 China was admitted into the United Nations.[1] After its founding the organization later changed its name to the Committee of One Million in 1955. The group started with a petition that actually received one million signatures. The signatures included the following prominent politicians: Democrats Paul Douglas of Illinois, William Proxmire of Wisconsin, and Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, and Republican Thomas H. Kuchel of California. [2] Generally speaking the group fit into a larger history of anti-communist groups that started after the Korean War, many of which focused on US-China relations.

The group was run by Marvin Liebman, who was involved in many anti-communist groups throughout the 1950s including The Marvin Liebman Associates, Inc. that was a fundraising and public relations group with a focus on anti-communism.  Liebman was a long time friend of William F. Buckley and later in life came out as homosexual and worked as a gay rights activist.[3]

Committee of One Million Declaration (Undated)

Operation Rescue, also known as Operation Rescue National and currently known as Operation Save America is a Pro-Life group started in Dallas, Texas, in 1986 by Randall Terry. The group’s slogan is “If you believe abortion is murder, act like it’s murder.” The group is known for extensive anti-abortion protests at political events and abortion clinics around the country that have resulted in thousands of arrests. In addition to abortion protests the group has also been involved in anti-gay demonstrations and anti-muslim demonstrations. The group has a large and active following which continues to this day.

Operation Rescue National Outside (1992)

Operation Rescue National Inside (1992)

In his efforts to gather information on extremism, Gordon Hall would often record audio interviews with the members of groups. The images in this weeks post show Gordon Hall interviewing a man named Richard Clerici in Walpole, Massachusetts.  It is very difficult to find any information about Richard Clerici, but in one photo there is a poster titled “Kidnapped” with a picture of Bobby Seale, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party (The poster is a reference to the time Bobby Seale was taken by U.S. Marshals from California to Chicago on charges related to the 1968 Democratic National Convention). So my guess is that Clerici was involved in some sort of left leaning group, but it would be hard to guess precisely which one. I chose these images for a few reasons. 1) I wanted to show some of the hands on work that Gordon Hall did, which is well documented in the collection. 2) It can be very difficult to classify a lot of this material because it is hard to find information about the people involved. This means that even after this project there will be a lot of material in the collection that remains unorganized. 3) It can be a lot of fun to spend time with this collection, because you never know what you will find. Although I could not find any information about Clerici being a member of an extremist group, he was a member of a little known band called The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump who formed in Walpole in the late 1960s. They have a few songs on YouTube. It is pretty good.

Gordon Hall and Richard Clerici, Marpole, MA (Late 1960s)

Richard Clerici, Marpole, MA (Late 1960s)

Richard Clerici and Friends, Marpole, MA (Late 1960s)

The Liberty Bell Press is a publishing company out of Missouri founded by John A. Stormer, a Korean War veteran born in 1928. Starting in 1965 Stormer became a pastor and Christian educator. Stormer was involved in the Republican Party, particularly in the 1960s during Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign. Stormer is one of the best selling right wing self publishers, selling millions of copies of his first book None Dare Call It Treason (1965) which depicted the US as losing the Cold War due to the communist sympathies of the elites in the country.

The post today contains images from Stormer’s second book The Death of a Nation (1968), which “links collectivism to the work of Antichrist and discussed signs of the End Times.”[1] The Liberty Bell Press still exists today and books can still be purchased.

More on Stormer:

http://www.libertybellpress.com/john_stormer.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_A._Stormer

The Death of a Nation Cover (1968)

The Death of a Nation Back Cover (1968)

The Mantooth Report was a self-published newspaper from Salem, Indiana, by Don Mantooth. The Mantooth Report is a right wing, conspiracy based newspaper. It could almost be considered a tabloid newspaper for extremism.

Don Mantooth, a WWII veteran, passed away in 2012 but ran for political office in Indiana for governor and representative.[1] Additionally he was the state chairman of the American Party, a nativist party that stressed limited government, individual rights and traditional values.[2][3]

Mantooth Report 1989

Mantooth Report 1991

It was hard to find much about Labor Today, a publication based out of Chicago that focused on union and labor issues. However, I thought I would share this image because I was born in Chicago in January 1985 and this was printed during the same month.

Labor Today January 1985

Today’s post is Christmas themed. Below is a poster titled “Will You Be Free To Celebrate Christmas In The Future?” from 1957 distributed by The Allen-Bradley Company of Milwuakee, Wisconsin, which still exists today and manufactures automation equipment for factories. The poster contains the testimony of a Dr. Frederick Schwarz before the House Un-American Activities Committee of the House of Representatives which mostly covers his views on the dangers of Communism. I have also included some close ups from the poster which is rather large.

Happy Holidays! This will be the last post for a couple weeks.

Allen Bradley Christmas Poster (1957)

Close Up 1

Close Up 2

Close Up 3

Close Up 4