This diary entry is the result of an afternoon's research into the connections between the publisher of the Kerry-bashing book (Regnery) and those associated with the Regnery's ideology. Family patriarch, William Regnery, was a founder of the American Security Council. His son, Henry Regnery had associations with the Radio Priest Charles Coughlin and the America First Committee. More recently, Al Regnery left the publishing house in March 2003 to publish the American Spectator. The Regnery family has long been spoken of in association with some highly questionable ideological groups.
Details and links are given below.
That Regnery Press is publishing the book attacking John Kerry's war record should come as no surprise to those who have followed the growth of right wing organizations since the 1920's. The Regnery Press was founded by Henry Regnery, Sr. in 1947, and was acquired by Eagle Publishing Company in 1993. In March 2003 Al Regnery left the firm to become publisher of the American Spectator. Al Regnery's father, Henry Regnery Sr., associated with the American First Committee, and the "Radio Priest" Charles E. Coughlin, was the founder of the Regnery Press. This association led to his participation in the American Security Council.
The American Security Council was founded by Robert R. McCormick (Chicago Tribune), Robert Wood (CEO of Sears & Roebuck), William Regnery (father of Henry Sr.), and several FBI agents in Chicago in 1955. Note that prior to World War II Robert Wood chaired the America First Committee and allowed the inclusion of the German American Bund, and Fr. Coughlin and his followers. One of the orginal aims of the ASC was "to weed out employees and prospective employees deemed disloyal to the free enterprise concept." Wood is also remembered for founding the publication Human Events, which called the Nuremberg Trials "a travesty of justice." The magazine is still published by Regnery Press.
The original American Security Council was formed from a coalition of the America First Committee, the American Vigilante Intelligence Federation, and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies. The ideology and activities of the America First Committee are relatively well known, the others may require more attention.
The American Vigilante Intelligence Federation was organized originally in 1927 by Harry Jung, who perceived a Jewish-Communist conspiracy, especially with regard to organized labor, was also the first major distributor of the bogus "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in the United States.
The American Coalition of Patriotic Societies was formed by John Trevor in 1924 as an umbrella organization opposing the immigration of eastern Europeans, Italians, and Jews. The names of Trevor, Jung, and another right wing organizer Walter Steele, appeared in a 1933 Nazi Party publication, recommending the book to American readers.
The American Security Council, and its mouthpiece the Regnery Press, have been deeply involved in U.S. politics since the 1960's. A 1964 ASC publication "Guidelines for Cold War Victory" listed board members and cooperating organizations from the Far Right such as the John Birch Society, and the Willis Carto's Liberty Lobby. In the 1970's the ASC formed the Coalition for Peace Through Strength, the "personification of the military-industrial complex." The ASC targeted those opposed to Nixon's Viet Nam policy, with labels like "soft on Communism." The ASC spin off Coalition for Peace Through Strength put much effort into opposition to the SALT II treaty. A CPTS video called the "SALT Syndrome" was shown eleven times on the three major networks broadcasting in South Dakota during the Abdnor-McGovern senatorial race. Paul Laxalt, Republican campaign chair, and Coalition co-chair lauded the CPTS for its "TV blitz, Speakers Bureau, and PAC for the 1980 election results."
Also supported by the American Security Council/Coaltion for Peace Through Strength were: Charles Grassley, Alphonse D'Amato, Steve Symms, Jake Garn, and Dan Qualye.
Activities of the ASC/CPTS continued through the 1980 and included support for Reagan Administration policies in Central and South America, in addition to vocal support for Oliver North (and others) during the Iran-Contra investigation proceedings. As the American Security Council spawned the Coalition for Peace Through Strength, so the CPST spun off the National Confederation of American Ethnic Groups. This organization formed from a collection of Nazi collaborators, émigré fascists, and anti-Semites. Associated with these groups are such diverse, but ideologically bonded, organizations as the Catholics for Christian Political Action (Gary Potter, 1983, which attacks "Zionist wealth," the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (claiming to be the real Knights of Malta), the Heritage Groups Council for Citizenship Education (a subsidiary of the German-American National Congress/Nazi), the Conservative Alliance (Terry Nolan, NCPAC, funded by the Unification Church), and the Committee to Unite America (Lady Malcolm Douglas Hamilton's subgroup of the Cliveden Set of which the Hunt Brothers and Jesse Helms were members.)
The American Security Council still exists, and has a rating system for members of Congress. The ASC, and the National Coalition of Peace Through Strength are proponents of the positions taken by the Committee on the Present Danger. Disinfopedia takes the connection one step further saying, "The CPD is a member of the Coalition for Peace Through Strength (CPTS), an ad hoc lobby group of the American Security Council which is modeled after the Emergency Coalition Against Unilateral Disarmament" (Disinfopedia)
The overlap between the Committee on the Present Danger, the Project for a New American Century, and the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, is extensive. Several notable Americans serve in at least two of these groups, including that of Jeane Kirkpatrick.
To return to our beginning: Regnery Press seems pleased to report that many of its books are on the best seller lists of late. Presenting itself as a conduit for conservative views in an enlightened democracy hides the connections between the ideology of its founders and subsequent company officers, the intricate bonds of coalitions and organizations with ideologies antithetical to American values, and their relationship to some truly dark times in our Nation's past.
The following sources provided the information given above:
source
American Security Council ratings for members of Congress
here
Disinfopedia article American Security Council
National Coalition for Peace Through Strength
Committee on the Present Danger
Committee for the Liberation of Iraq