Archive/File: people/b/bellant.russ bellant.pt2

From: cberlet@igc.apc.org (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Message-ID: <1299600118@igc.apc.org>
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:27:00 GMT
References: <1299600110@igc.apc.org>
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Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet    Dec 11 18:27:00 1992

[Editor's note: Part Two of the Bellant Report was originally posted in five
parts. I have removed all but the Message-ID and References from the
articles and concatenated them here. knm Dec 14, 1992]

/* Written  9:10 pm  Dec  8, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */
/* Written  8:30 pm  Dec  6, 1992 by cberlet in igc:p.news */
/* Written  6:50 pm  Mar  4, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Am. Sec. Council 1
	     
PART TWO - SECTION 1
	
[ The American Security Council ]
	
     "In the councils of government we must guard against the 
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, 
by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the 
disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We 
must never let the weight of this combination endanger our 
liberty or democratic processes."
	
(President Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961)
	
     - Cold Warriors -
	
          It's been called "The Cold War Campus" and "The Heart 
of the Military-Industrial Complex." [f-71] Both are names the 
American Security Council wears with pride. Its boards are filled 
with retired senior military officers, executives of major 
corporations, including some of the largest military contractors, 
and some New Right leaders. Wes McCune of the Washington, 
D.C.-based Group Research, which monitors the political right 
wing, says the ASC "is not just the representative of the 
military-industrial complex, it is the personification of the 
military-industrial complex." [f-72]
	
      The ASC focuses on foreign policy, military and 
intelligence issues. It is the clearinghouse for U.S. political 
rightists on arms control, aid to the Contras, new weapons 
programs and lobbying for special projects, such as aid to Jonas 
Savimbi's UNITA in Angola. In its specialized areas, the ASC 
probably has had more influence with the Reagan Administration 
than the well-publicized Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think 
tank in Washington, D.C., which produced massive studies 
suggesting conservative policies to the Reagan Administration 
following each election. However, the ASC is less visible than 
the Heritage Foundation.
	
      Little noticed by the press, the ASC is extremely 
influential among right-wing groups and within the Reagan 
Administration. In spite of the veneer of respectability its 
board members' credentials might provide in some circles, the ASC 
is in some respects more extremist than the Republican Heritage 
Groups Council. It also serves as a connecting point between Nazi 
collaborationists and fascists on one hand, and Reagan 
Administration policymakers on the other.
	
      The key outreach arm of the ASC is the Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength. Composed of 171 organizations that are supposed 
to form a grassroots lobby for ASC political priorities, the 
Coalition is where many of the ASC extremist ties are 
established. The Republican Heritage Groups Council and some of 
its component elements, such as Galdau's Romanian-American 
Republican Clubs, are members of the Coalition. These ties to the 
authoritarian, collaborationist and fascist Right are consistent 
with the history of the ASC.
	
     - Origins of the ASC -
	
      The ASC began in Chicago in 1955, staffed primarily by 
former FBI agents. In its first year it was called the 
Mid-American Research Library. Corporations joined to take 
advantage of what former FBI agent William Turner described in
 as "a dossier system modeled after the 
FBI's, which was intended to weed out employees and 
prospective employees deemed disloyal to the free enterprise 
concept." [f-73]
	
      Before the founders of the ASC got into the business of 
collecting dossiers on Americans, however, they had another sort 
of political interest. Their political histories go back to the 
racialist and anti-Semitic groups in the 1930's that were working 
in concert with Hitler's war aims. Three groups in particular 
would later provide elements of the future ASC: the America First 
Committee, the American Vigilante Intelligence Federation, and 
the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies.
	
     - The America First Committee: -
	
      The person most responsible for establishing the ASC was 
General Robert Wood, then Chairman of Sears Roebuck. [f-74] Prior 
to Pearl Harbor, Wood was also the chairman of the America First 
Committee, an organization committed to opposing all efforts to 
aid Allies besieged by Nazi Germany. [f-75]
	
      As national chairman, Wood made no effort to keep out 
openly pro-Nazi groups known to have been supported by Germany, 
such as the German-American Bund. Radio priest Father Charles 
Coughlin's anti-Semitic and pro-Axis followers were also 
permitted by Wood to work within America First. A 1942 FBI report 
indicated that Wood's "patriotic" group had "been called upon to 
accept financial assistance from pro-Nazi sources." [f-76]
	
      After Pearl Harbor and Germany's declaration of war on the 
United States, the America First Committee didn't go out of 
business as it officially declared on December 12, 1941. Five 
days later, a secret meeting of certain key leaders of America 
First took place in New York to plan for what they assumed (and 
hoped) would be the Axis victory in Europe and the Far East. 
[f-77] "[T]he Committee has in reality gone underground," FBI 
Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to the White House. [f-78] It 
began planning for the day when they would be the Americans with 
whom the victorious Nazis would negotiate a surrender. Finally, 
when the defeat of the Nazis by Allied powers was a foregone 
conclusion, the America First Committee secretly dissolved itself 
in 1944.
	
      William Regnery, an incorporator and early leader of 
the Committee with Robert Wood, [f-79] helped Wood to found the 
ASC. His son, Henry Regnery, replaced him at their book 
publishing company and at the ASC. The younger Regnery told an 
interviewer several years ago that "I was very much opposed to 
our getting into the war; and I published this book, which was 
highly critical of Roosevelt and of the whole realm of American 
policies involving World War II. Very gladly, I must say." 
Regnery said that the book, published in the early 1950's, 
reflected his "personal tastes." [f-80]
	
     - American Vigilante Intelligence Federation: -
	
       The ASC began collecting dossiers in the McCarthy era in 
what was often seen as a blacklisting operation against union 
organizers and those with "suspect" political orientations. Files 
and documents were collected from the House Committee on 
Un-American Activities and several private file collections. One 
such collection originally was compiled by Harry Jung, [f-81] 
whose research was motivated by a search for what he saw as a 
Jewish-Communist conspiracy. [f-82]
	
      Jung founded the American Vigilante Intelligence Federation 
(AVIF) in 1927 as an anti-union spy operation. [f-83] With the 
rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, Jung became the first major 
distributor in the U.S. of the anti-Semitic forgery, "The 
Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion." [f-84] The "Protocols" 
text had been used as a pretext by Russian Czars and European 
Nazis to conduct pogroms and extermination campaigns against 
European Jewry. His AVIF became involved with German Nazi agents 
in the U.S. In 1942, Jung's East Coast operative, a Col. Eugene 
Sanctuary, was indicted by the Justice Department for sedition. 
[f-85] One can only wonder at the purpose and content of the 
files collected by Jung, and purchased by the ASC. The Jung file 
collection reportedly had one million names indexed when the ASC 
acquired it some thirty years ago.
	
     - American Coalition of Patriotic Societies: -
	
      The American Coalition of Patriotic Societies (ACPS) is 
another "patriotic" group that flourished during Jung's heyday 
and still exists as a member of the Coalition for Peace Through 
Strength. The ACPS was founded by John Trevor in 1929 to support 
and maintain tight U.S. immigration restrictions enacted into law 
in 1924. [f-86] Trevor was the behind-the-scenes architect of the 
1924 Immigration Restriction Act, designed to exclude East 
Europeans, Italians, Jews and other non-Nordics. [f-87]
	
 The American Coalition of Patriotic Societies leadership included 
Harry Jung and others with links to German National Socialism. 
One associate of Trevor, Madison Grant, explicitly repudiated 
"democratic ideals and Christian values in the interest of a 
Nordic philosophy," according to John Higham's . [f-88] Another ACPS director, Harry Laughlin, was 
given an honorary Ph.D. in 1936 by a Nazi-controlled German 
university for his work in the area of racial eugenics. [f-89]
	
      John Trevor, Jung and a third ACPS official, Walter Steele, 
were among 15 Americans whose names appeared inside a 1933 German 
Nazi book, recommending it for an American audience. Begun with 
an endorsement by Adolph Hitler, the book contains such 
statements as "The total contrast to Jewish-Marxist-Bolshevism is 
exclusively represented by German National Socialism." [f-90] In 
1942, U.S. Army Intelligence called Walter Steele's  "fascist." [f-91] In the same year, the 
American Coalition of Patriotic Societies was named by the 
Justice Department as "a factor" in the sedition charges brought 
against those thought to be aiding the Axis. [f-92]
	
      General Wood, John Trevor, Walter Steele and their 
associates all became patriotic anti-Communists after World War 
II, however, aiding Senator Joe McCarthy, lobbying for a more 
intense Cold War, and supporting reprieves for convicted 
Nazi war criminals.
	
      General Wood helped establish , then a 
monthly magazine, that in late 1945 called the Nuremberg Trials 
a "travesty of justice." [f-93] Involved in a number of 
other rightist groups after the war, he recruited John M. Fisher, 
a World War II bomber pilot, from the FBI as a security 
consultant for Sears Roebuck in 1953.
	
      John Trevor was a leader of a group, Ten Million Americans 
Mobilizing for Justice, attempting to prevent the censure of Joe 
McCarthy. Its leadership represented a Who's Who of American 
anti-Semitism. [f-94] At their 1954 rally for McCarthy, a female 
photographer taking pictures of the special guest section for 
 magazine was physically assaulted amid shouts of "Dirty 
Jew" and "Hang the communist bitch!" [f-95]
	
      John B. Trevor, Jr. became acting secretary of the American 
Coalition of Patriotic Societies after his father's death in 
1956, but the political character of the group showed no 
noticeable change. [f-96] The ACPS in 1962 condemned the 
Nuremberg war crimes trials as a "dreadful retrogression into 
barbarism," and called for the release of those "who may still be 
suffering imprisonment." [f-97]
	
      John B. Trevor, Jr. was one of eight members of the 
American Security Council Board of Directors until several years 
ago. The current president of the American Coalition of Patriotic 
Societies is John Fisher, and their address is the same as the 
ASC. [f-98]
	
     - The Emergence of the Military-Industrial Complex -
	
      Although the ASC began as an anti-labor operation with 
support from Sears (Fisher was on the Sears payroll the first 
five years he headed ASC) [f-99] and other businesses, it soon 
became involved in foreign policy issues. It cosponsored a series 
of annual meetings from 1955 to 1961 called National 
Military-Industrial Conferences in which elements of the 
Pentagon, National Security Council and organizations linked to 
the CIA discussed Cold War strategy with leaders of many large 
corporations, such as United Fruit, Standard Oil, Honeywell, U.S. 
Steel, and, of course, Sears Roebuck. Robert Wood was the key 
organizer of these events. [f-100] One conference "cooperating 
organization" was the CIA-linked Foreign Policy Research 
Institute. [f-101]
	
      The Institute's foreign policy thesis during this period 
was spelled out in a book,  by 
Robert Strausz-Hupe, William Kintner and Stefan Possony . In 
discussing nuclear option scenarios in a hypothetical expanding 
U.S.-Soviet conflict, the book makes the following statement:
	
     "Even at a moment when the United States faces defeat 
because, for example, Europe, Asia and Africa have fallen to 
communist domination, a sudden nuclear attack against the Soviet 
Union could at least avenge the disaster and deprive the opponent 
of the ultimate triumph. While such a reversal at the last moment 
almost certainly would result in severe American casualties, 
it might still nullify all previous Soviet conquests. [f-102]"
	
      Another sponsor of the conferences was the Aircraft 
Industries Association (AIA). According to Clarence Lasby's 
, the AIA pressured the U.S. government in the 
1950's to get Nazi scientists into the United States. 
[f-103] Werhner von Braunwho worked on the Nazi rocket 
program, and General John Medaris, who supervised the Nazi 
scientists in the U.S. (and has opposed the investigations of the 
program by the Justice Department's OSI), were both conference 
participants. [f-104]
	
      Influential private groups such as the National Association 
of Manufacturers, Chambers of Commerce, and several university 
institutes also participated in the conferences. In 1959 the 
National Military-Industrial Conferences established an Advisory 
Committee on Foreign Affairs that included a number of 
representatives of big business. Also included, however, were 
three political figures of the anti-Semitic extreme right. One of 
these was Mark M. Jones, who followed Mervin K. Hart as head of 
the anti-Semitic National Economic Council. Also a member of the 
Advisory Committee was Martin Blank, from Germany. Blank's 
entries in  described him as having worked 
in Berlin for a mine and steel mill business group from 1922 to 
1945. [f-105] A study of backers of German Nazism, , says that Blank represented a secret group of 
12 Ruhr industrialists called the , "the most 
powerful secret organization of big business that existed during 
the Weimar period." [f-106]  and its political 
emissary, Martin Blank, became involved in funding the rise of 
Hitler. The 1959 Military-Industrial conference bulletin 
identifies him as a representative of German industry.
	
      A third member of the committee was Baron Frederich August 
von der Heydte, who had also been active with the 1958 
conference. His entry in  and other sources 
say that he was an "active officer 1935-47" in the German army. 
[f-107] Heydte, whose family was close to the exiled 
Hohenzollen monarch, [f-108] was reported to have written in 1953 
that "democracy is linked with collapse, defeat and foreign 
uniforms stalking German soil," and that "democracy was brought 
by the victorious enemy together with the army of occupation." 
[f-109] Von der Heydte was a co-founder and ideological leader of 
the Christian Democratic Union, a party that brought a variety of 
Nazi elements into its fold after the first post-war German 
elections. [f-110] In recent years von der Heydte has formed an 
association with Lyndon LaRouche's neo-fascist cult group. 
[f-111] The only foreign members of the National 
Military-Industrial Conference's Foreign Affairs Committee during 
this period were Blank and von der Heydte.
	
Message-ID: <1299600119@igc.apc.org>
References: <1299600110@igc.apc.org>

PART TWO - SECTION 2
	
     - Eisenhower's Nightmare -
	
      In 1958, the Military-Industrial Conference formed the 
Institute for American Strategy (IAS) to conduct ongoing Cold War 
propaganda. It was left to the American Security Council and the 
University of Pennsylvania's Foreign Policy Research Institute to 
administer the IAS. [f-112] The IAS became a center of 
controversy in 1961, however, because of its role in political 
indoctrination of the military and its ties to active duty 
military organizations that were beginning to conduct propaganda 
in civilian forums. The concern of IAS critics was that an 
emerging military-industrial complex could begin to dominate 
politics and government policymaking, as was noted by President 
Eisenhower in his 1961 farewell address. Senator William 
Fulbright and President John F. Kennedy began to share that 
concern, especially when it became clear that it was liberalism 
itself that was under attack.
	
      In 1961, the  reported that a 1958 National 
Security Council> directive recommended that "the military be 
used to reinforce the cold war effort." The NSC decided that the 
>military should conduct indoctrination campaigns for the 
American public on cold war and foreign policy issues. The 
Institute for American Strategy became the vehicle for the NSC 
program, organizing "National Strategy Seminars>." The  noted:
	
     "What is particularly striking about the National Strategy 
Seminars is that through the authorization of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, the Institute for American Strategy, in effect, took over 
from the services the responsibility for training reserve 
officers on active duty, even though the National War College, 
whose facilities were used, had been giving courses on strategy 
to senior officers of the three services as well as civilians for 
the past ten years. "
	
     "At the same time, while the government paid for allowance, 
travel, facilities and services, the Richardson Foundation 
provided the funds for other expenses, including the cost of 
developing a curriculum for the seminar, hiring a staff, securing 
speakers, and purchasing books and other materials to be 
distributed to the students without charge. [f-113]"
	
      Fulbright warned of the dangers implicit in the situation:
	
     "The relationships between the Foreign Policy Research 
Institute, the Institute for American Strategy, the Richardson 
Foundation, the National War College, and the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff, should be re-examined from the standpoint of whether these 
relationships do not amount to official support for a viewpoint 
at variance with that of the Administration. "
	
     "These relationships may give one particularly aggressive 
view a more direct and commanding influence upon military and 
civilian concepts of strategy than is desirable. [f-114]"
	
      Frank Barnett was Director of Research for the Richardson 
Foundation (now the Smith-Richardson Foundation) and Program 
Director of the Institute for American Strategy. Barnett 
advocated "political warfare" abroad that included fomenting 
"diverse forms of coercion and violence including strikes and 
riots, economic sanctions, subsidies for guerrilla or proxy 
warfare and, when necessary, kidnapping or assassination of enemy 
elites." [f-115] Riled by those who did not share his militant 
foreign policy outlook, Barnett told attendees at one Cold War 
seminar that "it is within the capacity of the people in this 
room to literally turn the State of Georgia into a civilian war 
college," in order to overcome their opponents. [f-116]
	
      William Kintner, a 25-year ASC veteran who left the CIA 
after 11 years as a planning officer and joined IAS in 1961, 
attacked the critics of extreme rightism in the , 
May, 1962. He said the campaign against extreme rightists, 
including the John Birch Society, began when "dossiers in 
Moscow's espionage headquarters were combed for the names of 
unsuspecting persons in the United States who might do the 
Kremlin's work." In other words, Presidents Eisenhower and 
Kennedy were dupes of the KGB. . .or worse. In the jargon of 
today's extreme right, those concerned over the growing 
military-industrial complex were spreading "Soviet disinformation."
	
      Despite the controversy, the NSC directive authorizing the 
military's role in Cold War propaganda remained in effect.  
Edward Lansdale became Administrative Director of IAS in the 
mid-1960's, serving while John Fisher was president of the 
organization. Lansdale was also an architect of CIA covert 
operations in Vietnam. [f-117] The Institute for American 
Strategy later changed its name to the American Security Council 
Foundation. 
	
      In the early 1960's the ultra-right was planning 
Goldwater's presidential campaign effort, helping to build the 
political base of extreme right groups. In concert with the 
Goldwater campaign, the American Security Council in 1964 
published a book called  which 
listed board members and cooperating organizations from several 
far-right groups, including some linked to the John Birch 
Society. At least one ASC official was even associated with the 
quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby. [f-118]
	
      These relationships take on greater significance as one 
learns more about the nature of groups such as Liberty Lobby and 
the John Birch Society. For instance, the founder of the John 
Birch Society, Robert Welch, once called President Eisenhower "a 
dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy," while 
the leader of Liberty Lobby, Willis Carto, edited a publication 
in 1960 calling for voter support for the American Nazi Party.
	
      In his book , 
author Frank P. Mintz outlines the "overlap in ideology and 
clientele" between Liberty Lobby and the John Birch Society as 
well as the important differences:
	
     "The John Birch Society in the early 1960's aspired to the 
leadership of a `radical right' that strongly defended national 
sovereignty and opposed American membership in international 
organizations such as the United Nations. Closely related to the 
nationalist stance was a conspiratorial interpretation of U.S. 
history that made the Council on Foreign Relations an ally of the 
`Communist conspiracy.'"[f-119]
	
      But while the Birch Society trumpeted jingoistic patriotism 
via conspiracy theories, Mintz says that the "Lobby voiced racist 
and anti-Semitic beliefs in addition to conspiracism." 
Mintz explains:
	
     "Structurally, the Lobby was a most unusual umbrella 
organization catering to constituencies spanning the fringes of 
Neo-Nazism to the John Birch Society and the radical right. It 
was not truly paramilitary, in the manner of the Ku Klux Klan and 
Nazis, but was more accurately an intermediary between racist 
paramilitary factions and the recent right. The pro-defense 
network being created by the American Security Council in the 
1960's offered a respectable and anonymous way for members of the 
radical right John Birch Society and quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby to 
pursue the pro-military anti-communist portions of their ideology 
in a setting where the less savory portions of their views could 
be ignored in the spirit of coalition building. "
	
     - The Coalition for Peace Through Strength -
	
      The ASC's role in elections wasn't highly visible until 
1970. That year it targeted opponents of Richard Nixon's Vietnam 
War policies for defeat through the distribution of a "national 
security vote index" which claimed liberals were soft on 
communism. The ASC warned voters, "Did  vote for. . .a real 
missile gap? A new Cuban missile crisis?. . .Well, that's what 
you got! And a powerful coalition of members of Congress is 
trying to further reduce our defenses." [f-120]
	
      After Jimmy Carter became President in 1977, the ASC began 
to organize opposition to his plans to ratify the SALT II treaty. 
The ASC formed the Coalition for Peace Through Strength in 
August, 1978 for that purpose, and to put together a network to 
defeat the Democratic Party's nominee in 1980. In a Coalition 
report issued immediately after the 1980 elections, Coalition 
co-Chair Paul Laxalt,  who was also Reagan's 1980 campaign 
chairman, praised Fisher and the ASC: "The combination of all 
your efforts--particularly your TV blitz, Speakers Bureau and 
Political Action Committee--had a powerful impact on the election 
results." [f-121]
	
     - The ASC Role in the 1980 Elections -
	
      In 1980 the American Security Council Foundation produced a 
film, "The SALT Syndrome," to oppose Senate ratification of the 
SALT treaty and to suggest that Jimmy Carter was unilaterally 
disarming the U.S. Its use by the tax-exempt ASC Foundation was 
described by Fisher: "In the last three months of the campaign. . 
.ASCF increased its average TV showings from 30 a month to 180 
bookings per month for a total of 1,956 showings during this 
election year." Fisher claimed that the purchased commercial air 
time, cable showings and screenings by private groups reached 
anywhere from 50 to 137 million people.
	
      The ASC was also active in realigning the Senate toward the 
GOP. Fisher, for instance, celebrated the victory of James Abdnor 
of South Dakota, by noting Abdnor had "unseated the 18-year 
super-dove incumbent, Senator George McGovern."  Fisher also 
reported Abdnor expressed pleasure with the help he received. 
"Aside from my own campaign committee itself, no organization was 
more helpful in my successful Senate race than the Coalition for 
Peace Through Strength/American Security Council," Abdnor is 
quoted as saying.
	
      In the South Dakota race, according to the  (the newsletter of the Coalition for Peace Through 
Strength), the film "The SALT Syndrome" was shown 11 times on the 
three major television stations in South Dakota and as a 
projected film or videotape it was screened to 1,000 audiences. 
Making the ASC film his own, "Abdnor prepared an opening and 
closing statement that was incorporated in the 16mm version of 
`The SALT Syndrome.'" ASC organizers "along with Abdnor's staff 
were responsible for these more than 1,000 showings of the film. 
. .throughout the state," reported the .
	
      The ASC-PAC also gave Abdnor's campaign $8,000. Other 
pro-military Senate candidates for whom the ASC made special 
efforts included Charles Grassley, Alfonse D'Amato, and Steven Symms.
	
      According to Fisher:
	
     "Coalition Co-chairman Major General [Ret.] John (Jack) 
Singlaub played a continuing role in the Grassley campaign, first 
visiting Iowa in the early summer. Singlaub's radio and 
television ads made for Grassley became an important part of the 
campaign's thrust. In addition, Singlaub filmed a special 
introduction to "The SALT Syndrome" for Grassley, who used the 
film widely in his campaign."
	
      The report notes that Grassley's Democratic opponent, 
incumbent Senator John Culver, moved ahead in the polls, so 
Grassley asked retired Lt. General Daniel O. Graham, former CIA 
deputy director and ex-head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, 
to campaign for him. Graham, who was executive director of the 
ASC's PAC, was carried by private plane on "a whirlwind tour of 
Western Iowa." A rally and press meetings were arranged. Grassley 
pulled ahead in the polls and held the lead through the November 
4 elections. The ASC PAC also gave the Grassley campaign $8,000.
	
      Another all-out effort was made by ASC in behalf of 
Alphonse D'Amato against Elizabeth Holtzman in New York's Senate 
race. "ASC staffers were in there pitching from the start. A 
whole contingent went to help the D'Amato campaign with the 
press. . . ." According to the report, Gen. Graham, retired Brig. 
Gen. Robert Richardson and several Admirals represented the 
Coalition for Peace Through Strength on D'Amato's behalf. The ASC 
PAC also gave his campaign $1,000. The Fisher ASC election report 
notes that Graham enjoyed most his campaign against Frank Church, 
who had led the Senate investigation of illegal CIA activities. 
Graham called Church, in typical ASC overstatement, "the 
architect of the destruction of our intelligence system" for 
investigating the CIA illegalities.
	
      Both Graham and Singlaub (who also had worked for the CIA) 
"campaigned vigorously for Steve Symms. . .each paying Idaho 
three separate visits. They were together for the Idaho Republican 
State convention." One headline, typical of the ASC style of rhetoric, 
read "Singlaub blames Church for Soviet supremacy." Symms received 
$2,000 from ASC-PAC. Fisher claims that in 1980 the Coalition and ASC 
"briefed and/or campaigned for 67 candidates." He said ASC 
staffers served as media consultants, researchers, and aided 
candidates in making introductions and closing statements to the 
ASC's film, "The SALT Syndrome."
	
      The ASC-PAC also aided Republican Senators Jake Garn and 
Dan Quayle [now vice-president Quayle] with $3,000 each, as well 
as Paula Hawkins, Paul Laxalt, Mack Mattingly and Don Nickles 
with $1,000 each. In the House, Jack Kemp, Robert K. Dornan and 
Gerald Solomon were Republicans who received $1,000 each, as did 
Democrats Sam Stratton, Andrew Ireland and Bill Chappell.
	
Message-ID: <1299600120@igc.apc.org>
References: <1299600110@igc.apc.org>

PART TWO - SECTION 3
	
     - Not Exactly a Peaceful Coalition -
	
      While the Coalition for Peace Through Strength became more 
involved in elections and lobbying for Reagan Administration 
priorities, the number of organizations in the Coalition grew 
from about 40 in 1978 to 171 in 1986. As the Coalition grew, more 
bizarre groups were brought in. Many of the groups mentioned 
earlier are part of the Coalition: the Republican Heritage Groups 
Council and its Slovak, Romanian, Italian, Chinese and Cossack 
Republican units; the Slovak World Congress, the Bulgarian 
National Front, the Byelorussian-American Association and several 
other emigre fascist groups. But one organization that is a 
Coalition member and brings together, under ASC auspices, the 
Republican Heritage Groups Council and more ardent Nazis is the 
National Confederation of American Ethnic Groups (NCAEG).
	
      The NCAEG is an organization which becomes active about a 
year before presidential elections. Treasurer Richard Kolm says 
of the NCAEG "We don't have contact with the Democratic Party. 
NCAEG has a reputation as Republican." It is also called "Szaz's 
personal springboard" by one of its officers, in reference to 
Executive Vice President Z. Michael Szaz's dominance. Szaz is an 
official of the Virginia Republican Heritage Groups Council, an 
associate of racialist Roger Pearson (see Part 3), and a director 
of the ASC's American Foreign Policy Institute. In mid-1983, the 
NCAEG began operating out of the ASC's Washington office in 
preparation for the 1984 elections. [f-122]
	
      The NCAEG presents itself as a congress of American 
ethnicity with a mandate to fight for the interests of millions 
of ethnic Americans, which some NCAEG leaders say are treated as 
second class citizens. It is, however, an organizational forum 
for, and dominated by, Nazi collaborationists, emigre fascists 
and anti-Semites. A number of the groups and leaders within the 
NCAEG are also affiliated with the National Republican Heritage 
Groups Council. [f-123]
	
      One of the exceptions is the Romanian affiliate of the 
NCAEG, the Romanian American National Congress. Unlike the 
reticent Galdau, who denies being an Iron Guardsman, Dr. 
Alexander Ronnett, head of the Romanian American National 
Congress, has written a defense of the Iron Guard. [f-124]
	
      Throughout its sixty-year history, the Iron Guard has 
maintained a mystical, morose Romanian volkish nationalism and 
anti-Semitism. [f-125] The Iron Guard's links to the German SS 
and their attempted 1941 coup against the Romanian monarchy were 
evidence of the violent nature of the Guard. Their macabre ritual 
assassination practices were given full play during the three-day 
coup attempt, when thousands were rounded up and many murdered. 
Jews were a special target. [f-126]
	
      Today, Ronnett talks of "Jew-Communists" and the need for 
the American military to destroy the Warsaw pact. In his suburban 
Chicago M.D.'s office, Iron Guard symbols hang on the wall along 
with autographed photos of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet 
meeting with Ronnett and other Iron Guard leaders. The message of 
the Iron Guard is still taken seriously in some circles. [f-127]
	
      An Illinois ethnic advisor to the Reagan-Bush campaign in 
1984, Ronnett spoke at the February, 1986 annual meeting of the 
Institute for Historical Review, where he claimed Jews were 
enemies of the Iron Guard. [f-128] The IHR is the 
Holocaust-denial group in Los Angeles that attempts to rewrite 
the history of World War II in favor of the Axis powers and 
present Nazism in a favorable light. The IHR is sponsored by 
Willis Carto who also leads the anti-Semitic and quasi-nazi 
Liberty Lobby. Ronnett's Romanian American National Congress, 
which has long-standing ties to The World Anti-Communist League 
(WACL), [f-129] recently joined the Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength.
	
      Another NCAEG leader who was active with IHR was Austin App 
of the German American National Congress (also known by its 
German acronym "DANK"). App, a pro-Nazi activist for decades, 
wrote , [f-130] asserting that 
the Nazi extermination of Jews didn't happen. Until his death in 
1986, App was also active with extreme rightists based in 
Germany. App was a founder of the NCAEG. DANK is its German 
affiliate. DANK was active in the Republican Heritage Groups 
Council in the early 1970's, but the GOP German slot has had no 
affiliate in recent years. DANK, a group that glories in the 
memory of the Third Reich, is also a member of the Coalition for 
Peace Through Strength, despite the fact that App had written in 
1946 that "the German armies [were] the most decent armies of the 
war." In his 1974 pamphlet, , App wrote, 
"The truth is that in WWII the Third Reich fought for justice, 
and the Allies fought to prevent justice." [f-131] Writing 
in , December 1980, Lucy Dawidowicz bluntly called 
DANK "pro-Nazi," a characterization easily justified by the 
content of the group's literature.
	
      When NCAEG held a meeting in the fall of 1983, 
representatives of the White House and Republican National 
Commitee were participants. Republican Heritage Groups Council 
Executive Director Radi Slavoff was identified in the program as 
also being the NCAEG's Secretary/Director of Activities. One of 
the activities planned was to honor NCAEG founders Austin App and 
Slovak Josef Mikus, the former Tiso diplomat. [f-132]
	
      In 1985, Slavoff and Pasztor were replaced by American-born 
ethnics in order to campaign against the Justice Department's 
Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the Nazi prosecution 
unit. New Jersey NCAEG chair Joseph Plonski, who is also 
vice-chair of the New Jersey Republican Heritage Groups Council, 
says that the "Soviets are using OSI as a vehicle to divide and 
conquer America." He said they wanted NCAEG leaders to be 
American-born so they couldn't be accused of "war crimes." [f-133]
	
      NCAEG's anti-OSI campaign put together a booklet that has a 
friendly note from White House Communications Director Patrick 
Buchanan. [f-134] NCAEG credibility on the OSI question is 
further complicated by the public assertions of some of its 
associates that the Holocaust never happened.
	
      Other Republican Heritage Groups Council leaders who have 
been active with the NCAEG include Walter Melianovich, Nicolas 
Nazarenko, Alexander Aksenov, and Laszlo Pasztor. In a 1971 
 story on some of the extreme elements within 
the NCAEG and Republican Heritage Groups Council, Pasztor's 
attitude was described as uncritical of the fascists he was 
working with: "He talks to all of them, he says, and praises the 
concept of an umbrella organization for ethnics. He denounces no 
one." [f-135]
	
     Ethnic groups are not the only extremists in the Coalition 
for Peace Through Strength. Other groups include:
	
     ***{Catholics for Christian Political Action}. A lobby and 
newsletter operation run by Gary Potter. Its February-March 1983 
newsletter attacked "Zionist" wealth, and "skillful playing on 
the Holocaust theme." The proposed solution is stated thus: "The 
nation does not necessarily have to become Christian again to 
shake off the Zionist power. Germany didn't. Germany also 
ultimately failed. . .following Him [Christ] is the course the 
U.S. should take to be free." [f-136]
	
     ***{Order of St. John of Jerusalem}. Although it poses as a 
Catholic organization, the Order of St. John is a Masonic group 
that claims to be the real Knights of Malta. [f-137] Its Grand 
Master for 50 years until his death several years ago was Charles 
Pichel, an adviser (via correspondence from the U.S.) to Hitler 
aide Ernst Hanfstaengl. [f-138] Pichel's Order is a secret 
society led by anti-Semites who have worked with the quasi-Nazi 
Liberty Lobby and with neo-fascist Lyndon LaRouche groups. [f-139]
	
     ***{Heritage Groups Council for Citizenship Education}. A 
subsidiary of the pro-Nazi German American National Congress 
(DANK), the Council is headed by Karol Sitko. Active in NCAEG, 
Sitko was described in the  as an ally of Austin 
App and Ivan Docheff. [f-140] Sitko was also the 
organizer for the West German branch of the Western Goals 
Foundation, a far-right political organizing and research group 
which, until the death of its founder, Congressman Larry 
McDonald, was essentially a front for the John Birch Society's 
private intelligence network. In Germany, Sitko organized rallies 
in Nuremberg and Hanover drawing 240,000 people. He was supported 
by billionaire H.L. Hunt and General John Singlaub. [f-141] His 
activities were conducted in concert with the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc 
of Nations (See Section 3, part 4).
	
     ***{Conservatives Against Liberal Legislation}. Renamed 
Conservative Alliance (CALL), this group was organized by the 
late Terry Dolan's National Conservative Political Action 
Committee (NCPAC is also in the Coalition for Peace Through 
Strength). CALL receives major funding through groups affiliated 
with Rev. Sun Myung Moon, according to the  
and other reports. [f-142] CALL started The National 
Coalition for America's Survival, which includes the 
newly-reincarnated America First Committee. [f-143] The current 
America First Committee, related only by name to the earlier 
group, is a Chicago-based racist and anti-Semitic organization 
headed by neo-Nazi Art Jones. Jones alternates Nazi uniforms with 
Klan robes and participated in a Klan-Nazi unity meeting 
sponsored by Aryan Nations in October of 1985. [f-144] Jones 
constantly issues attacks on Blacks, Jews and Hispanics, and 
functions as the ideological leader of Chicago-area Nazi groups.
	
     ***{Committee to Unite America}. One of three groups in the 
Coalition headed by Lady Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton, who is also on 
the board of the American Security Council Foundation. Her 
deceased husband, part of the British aristocracy, was the 
brother of the host of Rudolph Hess when, in 1940, Hess made his 
secret flight to England. Hess, a top aide to Hitler and Nazi 
Party official, sought to meet with the British aristocratic 
circles known as the Cliveden Set. [f-145] Sympathetic to 
Hitler's war aims, the Cliveden Set tried to get England out of 
the war it had declared against Germany in September, 1939, after 
Germany invaded Poland. Hess was arrested and imprisoned. After 
Lord Malcolm Douglas  came to the U.S., he established an 
American branch of a racial eugenics group headquartered in 
Scotland. The oil billionaire Hunt brothers and Senator Jesse 
Helms are members of the group. It was headed by Robert Gayre, 
who published the racialist  until Roger 
>Pearson took it over in 1978. (See Section 3, part 1.) Lady 
Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton set up a number of groups, including the 
Committee to Unite America. John Fisher is listed among its 
Founders and on its Sponsoring Committee, as are other ASC principals.
	
     - The ASC, the White House, and the National Security Council -
	
      The American Security Council sponsors weekly private 
meetings between National Security Council representatives, 
congressional staffers and New Right groups active on foreign 
policy issues. Begun in January, 1985, the Tuesday Group, as it 
has become known for its Tuesday morning Capitol Hill sessions, 
has focused on gaining aid for the Contras, a top White House and 
ASC priority. 
	
      ASC leaders in 1985 were reluctant to discuss the Tuesday 
Group due to the participation of Lt. Col. Oliver North, then a 
deputy director of the National Security Council, and the 
attendance of  Constantine Menges, the former head of Latin 
American affairs at NSC. North eventually came under 
Congressional fire in 1987 for his role in coordinating secret 
and private aid to the Contras. North has participated in other 
ASC activities and had his picture in the , January, 1986, with Fisher, even though the White House 
demanded that the  and other papers not use 
North's picture--for reasons of national security.
	
      The Tuesday Group is chaired by Sam Dickens, ASC's Director 
for Inter-American Affairs and editor of Radio Free Americas, a 
radio program picked up by the ASC in 1968 when a similar program 
was exposed in 1967 as CIA-sponsored. Others in the group, whose 
attendance varies slightly depending on the weekly topic, 
include: representatives of the Pentagon and State Department; 
the Heritage Foundation; the Center for Strategic and 
International Studies; the National Forum Foundation; former U.S. 
Ambassador to Costa Rica Curtin Winsor, Jr.; Lynn Bouchey, head 
of the Council on Inter-American Security;  Dave Sullivan, an 
aide to Senator Jesse Helms, Steve Symms and James McClure; and, 
until recently, Angelo Codevilla, a former aide to Sen. Malcolm 
Wallop, who now works for the Hoover Institution in California. [f-146]
	
      Menges described the meetings as purely "social affairs" 
and said he only came in contact with the Tuesday Group "a couple 
of months ago." He had left the NSC a month prior to our 
interview, in early 1987, to work for Jack Kemp's Fund for an 
American Renaissance.
	
      One Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs 
also attends the Tuesday meetings in order to maintain contacts 
with other foreign policy hard-liners. At the risk of losing his 
job, he blasts the policies of Secretary of State George Schultz, 
Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Chester Crocker and 
Deputy Assistant Secretary Frank Wisner. The impact of Tuesday 
Group work was noted by one source who said "the Michel 
Amendment" for Contra aid was written through its process.
	
      Various experts are brought in to discuss the topic of any 
given meeting. According to Dickens, guests may include 
"Congressmen, former heads of state, ambassadors, military 
leaders from El Salvador, Honduras--Eden Pastora, Roberto 
D'Aubuisson we've had at our breakfast." According to Winsor, Sol 
Sanders of  made one presentation on the situation 
in Mexico. "His views are virtually the same as [former 
Ambassador] Jim Gavins," Winsor added.
	
      Dickens said in 1986 that the focus of the Tuesday Group 
had been on Contra aid, and would continue to be. The Tuesday 
Group's purpose was "to bring people together to develop ideas 
and action plans to get support from Congress for the Freedom 
Fighters," according to the ASC activist. Dickens said that for 
Reagan to get consensus on the Hill for funding the Contras it 
was going to take private sector involvement, "So we've been 
working on that basis. . . ." Dickens said that he would "advise 
Contra leaders" and "help raise money for them through foundations."
	
      After insisting that "the U.S. ought to break diplomatic 
relations" with Nicaragua and "recognize UNO [United Nicaraguan 
Opposition]," Dickens said that the NSC at the time was 
considering such a move after initial funding for the contras was 
approved. He predicted that the break would come after "another 
country takes the lead in South America" to end diplomatic ties 
with Nicaragua. These predictions came shortly before the story 
of Iran-Contragate broke in the national news media.
	
      In addition to the foreign policy subjects of the Tuesday 
Group, a working group meets in "crisis" situations, presumably 
to aid funding for programs that need Congressional lobbying, 
such as Star Wars, chemical weapons and the MX. The appropriate 
administration officials, military contractors and political 
groups are believed to participate. [f-147]
	
      The relationship between Reagan and the ASC has been a long 
and mutually beneficial partnership. Presidential candidate 
Ronald Reagan joined the Coalition for Peace Through Strength as 
an individual member as the Coalition was being formed in 1978. 
[f-148] The ASC supplied campaign advisors and a drumbeat of 
propaganda for the defeat of Jimmy Carter. After Reagan's 1980 
victory, the ASC was heavily represented on the transition teams 
and in the new administration. In turn, Reagan provided three 
fundraising letters for the ASC during his first year 
in office. [f-149]
	
      Observing this relationship near the end of 1980, retired 
Admiral Gene La Rocque, director of the Washington, D.C.-based 
Center for Defense Information, stated that "the American 
Security Council, which only a few years ago was generally 
dismissed in serious defense circles as an insignificant fringe 
group left over from the McCarthy era, today stands poised to 
take control of the defense policies of this nation." La Rocque 
noted that Reagan's inexperience in defense issues meant that 
"[w]hen it comes to military policy, Governor Reagan depends 
totally on his advisors." [f-150]
	
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PART TWO - SECTION 4
	
     - The Propaganda Arm of the Military Establishment -
	
      Reagan's NSC turned to the ASC early on for collaboration 
on its projects. A March 11, 1982 letter from then-National 
Security Advisor William Clark praised ASC's 1980 film "Attack on 
the Americas" as "effective and accurate" and asked the ASC to 
produce an updated version incorporating Reagan's Caribbean and 
Central American policies. The "Dear John" letter to Fisher on 
White House letterhead claimed that it was necessary to turn to 
the ASC because "media coverage has been fraught with both 
misinformation and disinformation. . . ." Clark ended the letter 
with a "look forward to working with you in the future."
	
      The ASC produced the film, bringing Sam Dickens in as a 
consultant. [f-151] In August 1982, the ASC Foundation held a 
speakers training forum in the White House with high 
administration officials participating. [f-152] The speaker's 
bureau was another ASC vehicle made available to the 
Administration to help develop public support for its policies. 
The 1980 version of "Attack on the Americas" reportedly received 
funds for its $500,000 budget from several extreme right-wing 
groups in Guatemala with links to death squads in that country. 
[f-153] 
	
      Another film on Central America, "Crisis in the Americas," 
was also produced with NSC interests in mind. According to one 
source, however, the NSC paid the ASC for its help. "I was 
screening the film footage taken in Central America so that we 
could make a copy," said British Broadcasting Corporation 
producer David Taylor, who works in Washington, D.C. "The film's 
producer, Walter Gold, told me I couldn't use some of the footage 
because it was shot for the NSC through a contract arrangement 
with the ASC. It was supposed to be secret." Taylor said that 
some of the footage was of a classified U.S. air base in El 
Salvador to which journalists could not get access. "For them to 
get to that base, they had to be cleared." Some of the footage 
had a C-130 aircraft landing at the base that Gold identified as 
"a CIA transport." He also told Taylor that footage of the 1984 
elections in El Salvador had "CIA election observers." It was 
never explained why the NSC wanted this footage, nor how much was 
paid to the ASC to produce it. [f-154] The public version of 
"Crisis in the Americas" premiered in the White House in 
February, 1985. [f-155] NSC head Robert McFarlane headlined the 
event, while former presidential assistant Faith Whittlesey 
praised the ASC for its "initiative."
	
      Another source of funds for ASC film efforts came from the 
First National Bank of Chicago. In 1987, the   
noted the FBI was investigating the unauthorized use of $100,000 
by two former bank officials to aid an ASC promotional film. 
One bank employee, Wayne Gregory, was head of the Illinois Branch 
of the ASC's U.S. Congressional Advisory Board (USCAB), a part 
of ASC's fundraising operation. [f-156] Gregory's 
attorney, Matthias Lydon, said of the ASC's involvement, "nothing 
was said, assumptions were made" between Gregory and the ASC. 
[f-157] The ASC gave Gregory an award "to honor the example and 
dedication he has shown." [f-158] The USCAB had further problems 
when the home of former Illinois Congressman Robert Hanrahan, who 
headed the national USCAB fundraising operation, was raided in a 
"nationwide investigation into a scheme to hide drug profits." 
[f-159] 
	
      In September, 1983 Reagan sent a "Dear John" letter to 
Fisher on White House stationery which began "I am glad to hear 
that you are launching an IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA project 
to counter the massive Soviet propaganda and disinformation on 
issues like Central America and the nuclear weapons 
freeze....My Administration will cooperate fully with you in this 
project." [f-160]
	
      The "In Defense of America" project was geared toward 
shaping public opinion for the 1984 campaign. The centerpiece of 
the fifteen-million-dollar project was production of two films 
that were intended to play a campaign role similar to the use 
made of "The SALT Syndrome" in 1980. The Coalition's November 
1983 newsletter notes that "a special team drawn from the 
National Security Council, the State Department, [and] the 
Department of Defense" will assist the ASC project.
	
      The first film was "A Strategy for Peace Through Strength" 
which, like all ASC propaganda, claims U.S. military inferiority. 
A scene of Carter embracing Brezhnev is later contrasted with a 
hard-line Reagan speech, giving viewers an idea as to who is 
weakening America.
	
      The second film was "Crisis in the Americas." Its graphics 
featured a bear from the eastern horizon aggressively looming 
over Central America. President Reagan and Administration 
spokesmen are the star players in the script.
	
      Part of the appeal to raise the $15 million for the ASC 
project was to double the number of groups in the Coalition for 
Peace Through Strength, from 158 to 300. Another goal was to 
build state and local units of the Coalition. A separately stated 
goal was to "Encourage the organization of affiliated Coalitions 
in all other free world countries." [f-161]
	
      In several interviews, Fisher declined to discuss any means 
by which they intended to organize other "Free World" Coalitions. 
Although he suggested that CIOR, the NATO reserve officers 
association, would be a possible vehicle, he seemed to have no 
plan, or intention of developing one. It was also unclear what 
the international character and function of a Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength may be in, say, Chile, Paraguay or South 
Africa--countries where domestic peace is maintained through the 
strength of police and military units deployed by the government.
	
      Those aspects of the ASC project related to Reagan's 
re-election, however, were implemented with some success. J. 
Walter Thompson Advertising Company arranged half-hour slots on 
nearly 200 commercial stations to show the "Peace Through 
Strength" film a month before the November election. Public and 
cable TV showings were also arranged. The "Crisis in the 
Americas" film didn't make it before the elections.
	
      The ASC planned to complement that week of film showings on 
TV with "Peace Through Strength" rallies in 48 states. [f-162] 
Most were poorly attended. The ASC also planned a "World Peace 
Through Strength Day" on September 19, 1984. Although the nature 
of the event was unclear, the ASC noted "the day-long 
extravaganza is scheduled for the eve of America's Presidential 
elections" which the ASC felt "further enhances its 
significance." [f-163]
	
      The coordinators of some of the state Coalition activities 
represent the extreme politics of the national organization. The 
North Carolina Coalition coordinator during the 1984 re-election 
effort for Senator Jesse Helms was Milton Croom, [f-164] a 
longtime supporter of Lyndon LaRouche's activities, and a partner 
in a western Maryland radio station owned by the LaRouche 
group.[f-165] The LaRouche network frequently organizes around 
anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi themes, and collaborates with American 
neo-Nazi groups and the Ku Klux Klan. Former members say the core 
of the organization is a cult with members totally subservient to 
LaRouche. [f-166]
	
      Betty McConkey, the Iowa Coalition coordinator, was a 
candidate for state legislative office under the banner of the 
Populist Party, [f-167] a political front of the anti-Semitic and 
quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby. The Populist Party openly includes 
elements from the Ku Klux Klan as well as the violent 
paramilitary Posse Comitatus. [f-168]
	
      When the ASC put together the "In Defense of America" 
project, they assembled a "strategy board" for the ASC 
Foundation. [f-169] It included two former directors of covert 
operations of the CIA, and two former intelligence operatives 
involved in organizations aiding the illegal shipments of lethal 
material to Libya under the direction of former CIA operatives 
Edmund Wilson  and Frank Terpil.
	
      One of the operatives involved in the Wilson-Terpil arms 
trade is Brig. Gen. (retired) Robert C. Richardson III. He was a 
vice-president of Consultants International from 1973-77, [f-170] 
a front company used in the Libyan operations. [f-171] A senior 
officer in U.S. Air Force Politico-Military Affairs (covert 
operations), he is an associate of Roger Pearson (see Pearson 
section) and retired Lt. Daniel O. Graham's High Frontier,  a 
group which lobbies for a form of Star Wars and is also a member 
group of the Coalition for Peace Through Strength.
	
      Another covert operator on the strategy board was the late 
Brig. Gen. Edwin F. Black. Formerly on Eisenhower's Operations 
Coordinating Board, which implemented National Security Council 
policies and supervised the CIA, [f-172] Black was a principal of 
the Nugan Hand Bank of Australia. [f-173] The Australian 
government found that the bank was involved in drug and gun 
trafficking [f-174] and that it aided the Wilson-Terpil 
operations. [f-175]
	
      The government also noted the bank's employment of "so many 
former high ranking U.S. and Armed Services personnel and other 
people widely known to have had a previous formal connection with 
the U.S. intelligence community." [f-176] Although the government 
did not find Nugan Hand to be a sanctioned covert cover for CIA 
activities, it remarked that "there are a number of matters that 
give rise to serious disquiet," including "the relationships that 
some of the Nugan Hand group. . .had with persons of U.S. 
intelligence background." [f-177] Black and Richardson also serve 
on the ASC National Strategy Committee. [f-178]
	
Message-ID: <1299600122@igc.apc.org>
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PART TWO - SECTION 5
	
	
        - The ASC and Congress -
	
      The ASC's close relationship to the executive branch 
continued after the 1984 elections. A "Salute to Ambassador Jeane 
J. Kirkpatrick" dinner was arranged by the ASC in 1985, with a 
host committee studded with administration officials. [f-179] 
Having solidified its relationship with the Reagan 
Administration, ASC targeted Congress to receive more attention. -
	
      "Our increasing emphasis is going to be on Congress," said 
Fisher. [f-180] He was mindful of the Congressional resistance 
that still exists on a variety of foreign and military policy 
issues. The two ASC vehicles for influencing Congress are the 
U.S. Congressional Advisory Board (USCAB), a part of the ASC 
Foundation, and the Congressional Division of the Coalition for 
Peace Through Strength.
	
      USCAB gives citizens the opportunity to become "advisors" 
to Congress by paying money to the ASC, although an occasional 
postage stamp is cheaper and perhaps just as effective. As a 
member of USCAB you also get invited to ASC fundraisers called 
"annual meetings" of USCAB. The meeting held in July, 1986 cost 
$150 a head to attend.
	
      Administration officials aid these fundraisers by providing 
speakers and even the White House for events. Caspar Weinberger 
has addressed the 1985 [f-181] and 1986 meetings; SDI director 
Lt. Gen. James Abrahamson and George Keyworth, former Science 
Advisor to the President, have also addressed USCAB. [f-182] In 
December of 1985 a "Post Geneva Summit Briefing" was sponsored by 
USCAB that featured speeches from Lt. Col. Oliver North, John 
Lenczowski, Director of European and Soviet Affairs for the 
National Security Council, and William Martin, Executive 
Secretary of the NSC. [f-183]
	
      The Congressional Division of the Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength is the ASC's fig leaf of bipartisanship. With 
252 congressmen and senators as members in 1986, the ASC claims 
their Congressional Division to be the largest caucus in 
Congress. Nearly forty percent are Democrats, according to the 
ASC. As a Division member, elected representatives are expected 
to support a "Peace Through Strength Resolution" and maintain a 
seventy percent positive rating on the ASC index of key 
congressional votes. This entitles congressional representativs 
to certain rewards. The main reward is financial.
	
      The ASC has a Political Action Committee that doles out 
money--if you are a member of the Coalition's Congressional 
Division. In 1985,  reported that 
conservative Republican Senator John Warner of Virginia was 
denied a campaign donation unless he joined. Warner, who says he 
refuses donations with strings attached, said no. He also told 
the magazine that he believed they wanted his name for 
fundraising purposes. "I was not about to become part of their 
fundraising operations," Warner was quoted as saying. [f-184]
	
      ASC-PAC donations are a small part of the money available 
to influence Congress. While ASC reported that in 1982 its PAC 
distributed $82,000 to Congressional candidates, Fisher's annual 
ASC report noted that the Council also "played a senior role in 
the raising of over $2 million" in the campaign. [f-185] In 1984 
ASC-PAC spent $225,000 while raising another $4.5 million in 
campaign money, [f-186] possibly from defense contractors.
	
      Select congressmen receive other benefits. Florida 
Democratic Congressman Bill Chappell, chair of the Defense 
Appropriation Subcommittee and a co-chair of the Congressional 
Division of the ASC, says that in 1984 the ASC was responsible 
for the "most successful Washington fundraiser ever held during 
my 18 years in Congress." [f-187] He recently praised the ASC by 
writing "I am pleased and honored that you will once again be 
coordinating my Steering Committee efforts." [f-188]
	
      Another direct means of rewarding congressional favorites 
is by paying honoraria to members of Congress who participate in 
ASC activities. Congressman Bill Dickinson of Alabama, the 
ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and an 
endorser of the anti-Semitic and quasi-Nazi Liberty Lobby, 
[f-189] received $7,000 in honoraria from the ASC in 1984 [f-190] 
and $6,500 in 1985. [f-191] One $2,000 payment came specifically 
for aiding the In Defense of America fundraising project. [f-192] 
ASC raised $500,000 from defense contractors over three years. 
[f-193] The project funds were used to produce films and organize 
political activity on behalf of increased military spending and 
aid to the Contras, and to bolster the 1984 re-election efforts 
of Ronald Reagan. 
	
      The ASC regularly organizes meetings between defense 
contractors and key members of Congress. For instance, in the 
summer of 1987, then Senator Dan Quayle, a member of the Senate 
Armed Services Committee, addressed such a meeting to "discuss 
the vital importance of the Strategic Defense Initiative," 
according to the ASC newsletter . The 
newsletter reported Quayle told the meeting that "the Soviets 
have outspent the United States on strategic defense during the 
past decade by a margin of 15 to 1." [f-194]
	
      After the July, 1986 USCAB annual meeting, as is the yearly 
practice, the ASC gave awards to members of Congress who were 
members in good standing. With martial music blasting out of the 
Cannon Office Building Caucus Room, representatives and senators 
queued up to receive bald eagle statues with their names engraved 
on brass plates.
	
      The ASC also attempts to punish its opposition. It ran a 
full-page ad in the , [f-195] a 
newspaper long associated with the ASC, [f-196] demanding that 
Congressman Richard Gephart support Contra funding.
	
      The ASC's biased voter index is sent to a targeted 
congressperson's hometown press pointing out the low ratings, 
hoping to elicit negative stories and editorials. The  and newspapers from around the country use the 
>ASC index as if it comes from a responsible, nonpartisan 
organization. [f-197] The votes upon which ratings are 
made require the most hard-line positions in order to gain ASC approval.
	
      Congressmen Bill Chappell and Sam Stratton and Senators 
Dennis DeConcini, the late Ed Zorinsky and Bennett Johnson were 
the Democrats most often associated with ASC political and 
fundraising activities in recent years. [Zorinsky switched to the 
Republican Party shortly before his death]. Often their presence 
is highlighted to suggest what is termed the bipartisan character 
of the event or the bipartisan character of the Coalition. In 
effect, however, the ASC acts as if it were a GOP operation.
	
      All of the partisan groups in the Coalition for Peace 
Through Strength are Republican, including 15 units of the GOP 
itself. The "Private Sector Co-Chairmen," as distinct from the 
Congressional Division of the Coalition for Peace Through 
Strength, are Republican. The so-called private sector in the 
Coalition refers to the 171 groups that are supposed to be the 
"grass-roots" complement which interacts with the Congressional 
Division. Among the 171 are the Nazi-linked groups previously described.
	
      The ASC Political Action Committee also reflects a GOP 
bias. Eighty percent of the $138,560 disbursed between February, 
1985 and June, 1986 went to Republicans, with Steve Symms the big 
winner with $6,738. [f-198] Reps. Guy Molinari and Jack Kemp 
followed with $5,250 and $5,000 respectively.
	
      In presidential elections,the ASC can be counted on to 
support the Republican candidate. Among the first to use heavy 
negative advertising as a partisan tool, ASC campaign material 
continues to exaggerate and misrepresent the views of Democratic 
opponents in order to defeat them. Campaign crisis-mongering 
statements by Singlaub and Graham, used by the ASC in the 1980 
elections, have become a Council trademark. As early as 1970, the 
ASC campaign warned "the 1970 elections may be [your]{last 
chance}to vote for Peace Through Strength." [f-199]
	
      Admiral La Rocque noted that "They have always used the 
rhetoric of fear and panic to make their case." He cited a 1980 
ASC appeal: "No generation of Americans has ever before been so 
recklessly placed at the mercy of so pitiless and powerful an 
enemy. . .our nation stands paralyzed in blind obedience. . .so 
utterly unprepared is America. . .the crisis is approaching the 
point of no return. . . ." [f-200]
	
      In 1984 the ASC mailed a list of Russian-English language 
translations of words and phrases it would be necessary for 
Americans to learn if Mondale won. Fisher says it was "one of the 
politest" ways of saying what they thought would happen if Reagan 
lost in 1984. [f-201]
	
      One of the sources of ASC funding is the Communication 
Corporation of America and its subsidiaries, Preferred Lists and 
Direct Marketing, all owned by Fisher and his family. [f-202] CCA 
is a direct mail firm that employs 250 people on three shifts. 
Located on the ASC's 850-acre Virginia estate, CCA does work for 
private businesses, New Rightists such as Tim LaHaye, and for 11 
years has had a contract with the Republican National Committee. 
"If we didn't have the CCA, the ASC would have gone out of 
business on three occasions," says Fisher. [f-203] The firm also 
works for GOP campaigns and local GOP units.
	
      It is easy to see the partisan and pecuniary motives of the 
ASC, its corporate friends and Republican allies. But the ASC 
also represents a world view with the influence to spread that 
world view. Fisher himself summed it up in four words--"I believe 
in Rollback." [f-204] The ASC network, including its Nazi 
friends, has not given up the idea of the U.S. military 
destruction of the USSR. The purpose of the massive weapons 
buildups they advocate is toward that end.
	
      Jay Winek, a former executive director of the 
neo-conservative Coalition for a Democratic Majority, said that 
the ASC "uses the word `peace' to justify strength. They really 
don't see peace as the purpose of strength." [f-205]
	
      Forge together elements from the New Right, the Republican 
Party, certain hawkish Congressional Democrats, military and 
intelligence agency connections and powerful business interests, 
and you have the essence of the ASC, a lobby for weapons and war.
	
      Toward its goal the ASC has also pulled into its coalition 
racialists, American sympathizers of Hitler's war aims, 
representatives of post-war Italian fascism, and even 
collaborators with Hitler's Waffen SS.
	
      This is consistent with the end goal of the ASC and its 
allies, who would finish the job originally started by German 
National Socialism--militarily eliminating the USSR. Given the 
nature and past of the coalition pushing this aggresssive 
militarist option, it might well serve the American people to 
consider a wider range of options in foreign policy matters. 
	

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