Billy James Hargis

[Paul Trejo]

Paul, I'm not sure if you saw this or if it would be useful:

Boxes 1-5

This series includes materials pertaining to Billy James Hargis and the Christian Crusade. Included are biographical materials, including obituaries, newspaper clippings, and monographs by Hargis and Fernando Penabaz. This series also includes materials gathered by the FBI on Hargis and the Christian Crusade, available through the Freedom of Information Act; the fourth of these ten files could not be obtained. Other materials include scripts from Hargis’s radio show, and many of his writings. This series also includes materials pertaining to staff and associates of the Christian Crusade, including correspondence, writings, and newspaper clippings. Of particular note are the materials pertaining to General Edwin Walker, who resigned his commission in the United States Army and joined Hargis in the crusade against communism. After 1969 the Christian Crusade’s newspaper The Weekly Crusader was superceded by the large format newspaper Christian Crusade Weekly, issues of which are located in Series 4

http://libinfo.uark....ds/mc1412/1.asp

Michael, thanks again for reviewing my scan, since I overlooked the entries in Box 3, specifically, file 57 which purportedly contains correspondence between segregationist preacher, Reverend Billy James Hargis and resigned Major General Edwin A. Walker.between 1960-1963.

I'm especially interested in their correspondence in 1960 and 1961. Also file 58 has information about the Pro-Blue program as early as 1960, and this may offer clues to explain why William Turner claimed that Hargis gave Walker his Pro-Blue reading list that so outraged the Kennedy White House.

So, I ordered copies of those two files from Arkansas University this morning. Your help in my research is duly noted.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo, MA

[John Dolva]

The earliest Tocsin (MSC) I found was (The Lousiana C Files seem not available except some through the MSC) march '63, then (as is common with this repositoriy) a jump in this instance to '65. There's an odd trail that involves Columbia (Far Right), a surprising jump to Shreveport by someone I thought was elsewhere (it wouldn't surprise me at all that a search in that diredction supplies the connection needed) and other stuff.

[Paul Trejo]

Paul, I'm not sure if you saw this or if it would be useful:

Boxes 1-5

This series includes materials pertaining to Billy James Hargis and the Christian Crusade. Included are biographical materials, including obituaries, newspaper clippings, and monographs by Hargis and Fernando Penabaz. This series also includes materials gathered by the FBI on Hargis and the Christian Crusade, available through the Freedom of Information Act; the fourth of these ten files could not be obtained. Other materials include scripts from Hargis’s radio show, and many of his writings. This series also includes materials pertaining to staff and associates of the Christian Crusade, including correspondence, writings, and newspaper clippings. Of particular note are the materials pertaining to General Edwin Walker, who resigned his commission in the United States Army and joined Hargis in the crusade against communism. After 1969 the Christian Crusade’s newspaper The Weekly Crusader was superceded by the large format newspaper Christian Crusade Weekly, issues of which are located in Series 4

Michael, in this arcive is Box 3, file 57 which is entitled, "correspondence between Billy James Hargis and General Edwin Walker.between 1960-1963. Also, file 59 is entitled, "the Pro-Blue program, 1960," and William Turner claimed that Hargis was the person who gave Walker this Pro-Blue reading list - and so outraged the Kennedy White House.

So, I ordered copies of files 57 and 59 from Arkansas University, and I received them a week ago. Remember I was seeking personal correspondence between the two men during 1959, 1960 and early 1961. Anything earlier would have been a bonus.

These are my findings:

(1) There was NO personal correspondence at all from Billy James Hargis to General Edwin Walker in those files.

(2) There were three items in those files that were written by General Walker to other people in which Billy James Hargis was named among several co-recipients.

(2.1) A letter to Mr. Charles Markmann, dated 1965

(2.2) A letter to Mr. William Carto, dated 1968

(2.3) A letter to Senator John Tower, dated 1972

(3) Other than that, Billy James Hargis retained the following public materials from General Walker:

(3.1) An open letter to "Catholics" by Edwin Walker dated only "1972"

(3.2) An open letter to JFK himself by Edwin Walker dated 26 September 1962 (i.e. four days before the Ole Miss riots)

(3.3) Other letters to and from General Edwin Walker regarding the operation of Pro-Blue (1960) and the cancellation of Pro-Blue (1961, 1962)

(3.4) Articles by Billy James Hargis about General Edwin Walker's plight of being dismissed from his Command in Germany because of Pro-Blue (1961, 1962).

(3.5) Articles about General Walker's arrest for his role in the segregation riots at Ole Miss on 30 September 1962.

So, there was little that was new in these folders.

We already knew, for example, that Hargis' monthly pro-segregation journal, Christian Crusade, proposed (like Joe McCarthy) that Communists in the US Government were forcing race integration on Christians in their schools and Churches. Further, preached Hargis, the great General Walker, using John Birch Society literature, began exposing these rotten Communists in the US Government (i.e. JFK) and therefore the Communists dismissed General Walker from his Command in Germany.

All of the 1961 items in these folders were dated after April 17th, the day that Walker was dismissed from his Command in Germany.

Nothing appeared in these folders to support the theory by William Turner that Billy James Hargis was the source behind General Walker's Pro-Blue program reading list. For this proof I sought anything with a date before 1961 There were only two items from 1960. One item, dated 8 December 1960, was a newspaper clipping, blown up as a poster (at a later date) with the headline, "Walker Warns Against Letting Defenses Down." No smoking gun there.

The other item was more interesting. It was an Army Bulletin from the 24th Infantry Division Deputy Brigade Commander dated 21 September 1960, written to General Edwin Walker.

This Army Bulletin is a positive status report of the Pro-Blue campaign's "Citizenship in Service" program. The seven-page Bulletin details the number of people attending the meetings from April through July -- the numbers are in the thousands. Officials who supported the program were named and congratulated. Results of indvidual meetings were always favorable. The conclusion was favorable with a recommenation the Commander (Walker) to approve and continue the program.

Now -- there is no indication about the date when segregationist preacher Billy James Hargis received this Bulletin. It is likely that Hargis received it as part of a personal correspondence from General Walker himself, shortly after Walker was dismissed from his Command in Germany on 17 April 1961. Walker would have probably broadcast anything that could defend or justify the Pro-Blue program in those shocking first days.

But it also remains possible that Hargis received this Bulletin soon after General Walker received it from his Deputy, i.e. in 1960, during the glory days of the Pro-Blue program. If so, then this may suggest that Walker was keeping Hargis up-to-date on the status of the Pro-Blue program on a regular basis. If so, that may also suggest that Hargis had a special interest in the program -- or possibly even a vested interest -- that is, it is possible that Hargis was selling books to Walker to distribute through the 24th Infantry Division.

Anyway, this is what William Turner (and subsequently Peter Dale Scott) implied by suggesting that Billy James Hargis was original source of the Pro-Blue program.

Sadly -- we still don't have enough evidence (i.e. personal correspondence between the two men) to confirm or deny these allegatons by William Turner.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

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Edited June 1, 2012 by Paul Trejo