Lee Harvey Oswald, Guy Banister and I in New Orleans 1955-1956

[Paul Trejo]

Yes, I was pretty conservative in those high school days. I favored the impeachment of Earl Warren and favored getting out of the United Nations. I had no opinion on MLK or the Supreme Court's Brown decision.

I later came to believe Earl Warren was a good chief justice with the exception of his falling for LBJ's tearful plea that he head up the Commission to investigate JFK's assassination

The value of higher education is that it broadens one's perspectives. By my senior year at Georgetown, which was 1959-60, I was still conservative but willing and eager to hear all sides to a public issue. The last time I voted for a Republican for President was in 1984 for Reagan and I regret now that I did that.

As David Stockman has pointed out, Reagan started the U.S. on its casino economy path in which the expenditures of the federal government are manipulated so that the elite is favored at the expense of the average working man.

Kent and Phoebe Courtney divorced later after I had moved from New Orleans. I think Kent's activity in the Citizens Councils was too much for Phoebe.

Very interesting background, Doug. In a way, your personal development mirrors the development of much of the USA during the same time period.

In the 1950's we started out very young and fresh in the world of International Empire, having only just inherited that role after the fall of England from that role in 1945. Conformity was a big value for Americans in 1950, and cultural homogenization was practically enforced. (Perhaps only beatniks and jazz music during that period saved Americans from total conformity.)

Just for readers who might not be aware of it -- the "Citizens Councils" you speak about were orignally called "White Citizens Councils" (WCC) and they started in Mississippi in 1954, only weeks after Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his Brown Decision.

There is a scholarly book on the topic by Neil McMillen, entitled, Citizens Council (1971) and of course a competent Wikipedia entry on the topic. The WCC sprang up like weeds in the South, but also made considerable progress in the North and in Washington DC, where they used US Government recording and video services to interview Congressmen, Senators and prominent citizens to widely advertise their cause of reversing the Brown Decision.

The resigned Major General Edwin A. Walker was interviewed multiple times by the WCC. I have two of those videos, and I posted them to YouTube until the Mississippi Department of Archives and History instructed me to take them down.

The WCC were well funded. They were rich, actually. Some thought that the Dixiecrats could use the WCC as a springboard to political power in Washington DC.

The strategy of the WCC was somewhat clever -- they began by denouncing the KKK. They said that the violent methods of the KKK would only gain further support for the Brown Decision, so they demanded that their attacks on their opponents always take the form of economic attacks, and never physical attacks.

They would target their NAACP opponents and get them fired from their jobs, ensure that banks would not loan them money, get banks to call in their mortgages, and anything possible to harrass them until they stopped demanding local racial integration. They were very successful (the first several years), not only in the South, but also in the North.

As Neil McMillen pointed out, however, they were ineffective in Southern counties where Black Americans accounted for more than 40 percent of the population. In those counties, the KKK were allowed to ply their older methods.

It's a little awkward for Democrats to take a political position on this, because traditionally the Democrats were the party of segregation -- lots of people forget that. President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), for example, was nominated partly because as President of Princeton University he successfully kept Princeton entirely white.

President Wilson was sympathetic to the early KKK, and he extoled the first epic movie, Birth of a Nation (1915) as "historical fact". Wilson supported during his term a KKK march in downtown Washington DC.

For reasons like these, the South was firmly 'Democratic' in those early days before FDR when Democrats were largely Dixiecrats and opposed Republicans who sought a "Second Reconstruction" through the Brown Decision. These were the politics of Kent Courtney, as you noted, as well as the politics of Guy Banister and of the resigned General Edwin Walker.

What I didn't know was that Phoebe divorced Kent Courtney -- and I wouldn't have guessed that they divorced over the WCC. The WCC framed their politics in terms of States Rights. Politically they formed the States Rights Party, claiming that racial integration was entirely a matter for each State to decide, and so the Brown Decision was a "Constitutional struggle". Phoebe Courtney was an avid supporter of States Rights.

Those involved in the WCC believed they had a real shot at positions of Governor and US President. That was the feeling as late as 1963 in the South -- where Edwin Walker, Guy Banister and Kent Courtney operated.

What was the specific WCC behavior of Kent Courtney, if you know Doug, that caused Phoebe to divorce him?

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited September 14, 2014 by Paul Trejo

[Douglas Caddy]

Phoebe's mother was Jewish and on a few topics she and Kent disagreed. I should state that I have no precise information as to why they divorced. Their divorce came years after I left New Orleans in 1956 to go to Georgetown University and I never returned to live although I did visit my parents on holidays who still resided there.

After the divorce, Phoebe moved to Colorado and continued to publish conservative literature from there.

[Paul Trejo]

Phoebe's mother was Jewish and on a few topics she and Kent disagreed. I should state that I have no precise information as to why they divorced. Their divorce came years after I left New Orleans in 1956 to go to Georgetown University and I never returned to live although I did visit my parents on holidays who still resided there.

After the divorce, Phoebe moved to Colorado and continued to publish conservative literature from there.

Thanks for the info, Doug.

By the way -- if she stopped supporting the resigned General Edwin Walker after her divorce from Kent Courtney, then perhaps Phoebe only supported Edwin Walker because Kent supported him.

That could be relevant as late as 1963 because of the activities surrounding known associates of Kent Courtney in 1963.

In the summer of 1963 we have interaction between Guy Banister, Edwin Walker and Gerry Patrick Hemming that merits further exploration.

Edwin Walker was active in politics in Louisiana, even though this was not his home state. He interacted with the WCC in those counties.

In short -- did Phoebe Courtney oppose the extreme measures of the WCC with regard to the NAACP -- and did Phoebe Courtney break with Kent Courtney over his possible move farther to the right-wing along with Guy Banister and Edwin Walker?

I think that might be interesting to explore.

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

[Paul Trejo]

. . . Oswald, Banister and I in 1955-1956 had no inkling what fate had in store for us and for the world. . .

Douglas, your own biography as an American citizen so close to the principals of the JFK murder can be of interest to many.

Here's my question to you, from the perspective of the politics of 1961-1963: what role did the John Birch Society play in your social world in your environment during those years?

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

[Douglas Caddy]

Paul:

The short answer to your question is the John Birch Society played no role my social world in my environment in the period 1961-63.

To extend my remarks, I would add that from June to Dec. 1961 I was on active duty in the U.S. Army under a program then available that permitted six months of active duty and seven and a half years of reserve duty. At the end of eight years I received my Honorable Discharge.

From January to June, before I went into the Army, I was part of William F. Buckley's inner circle. Buckley had publicly broken with Robert Welch, head of the Birch Society. There really was no reason for me to have any contact with Welch or the Society although Scott Stanley, editor of American Opinion, was on the board of directors of Young Americans for Freedom. Scott was a congenial person and had a great personality. He hardly ever mentioned the Society in my conversations with him.

After I got out of the Army, I entered New York University Law School at night and worked during the day in the NYC office of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, on the staff of Lt-Gov. Malcolm Wilson, who was as conservative and Rockefeller was liberal. Wilson had served for years in the state legislature and was Rockefeller's key man in getting his state legislation enacted. During this period I doubt that I heard anyone talk about the John Birch Society. It was not considered to be a significant factor in politics in those days.

Robert Schuchman, a student at Yale U. Law School and Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, had occasion in early 1961 to have breakfast with Edward Teller. Afterwards he told me that Teller remarked during their meal that he agreed with Welch that Eisenhower was a communist agent. None of us, including Schuchman, knew what to make of that. It seemed so off the wall but Teller was a very complex individual, to say the least.

[Paul Trejo]

...After I got out of the Army, I entered New York University Law School at night and worked during the day in the NYC office of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, on the staff of Lt-Gov. Malcolm Wilson...During this period I doubt that I heard anyone talk about the John Birch Society. It was not considered to be a significant factor in politics in those days.

You say, "in those days," Douglas, and I presume that you mean "in those days at New York University." I can understand that, insofar as the JBS tended to be a bit anti-intellectual, and so University students weren't their main audience.

My question, however, was intended to include your home environment - your home town.

Did you know about John Birch Society members in your home town?

...Robert Schuchman, a student at Yale U. Law School and Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom, had occasion in early 1961 to have breakfast with Edward Teller. Afterwards he told me that Teller remarked during their meal that he agreed with Welch that Eisenhower was a communist agent.

None of us, including Schuchman, knew what to make of that. It seemed so off the wall...

Thanks, Douglas, for sharing that. You yourself had not "heard anyone talk about the John Birch Society," at NYCU, however, one of your fellow students did hear some of this talk.

I find it interesting that it was in the context of the YAF (Young Americans for Freedom) that this happened. Larrie Schmidt told me personally that in 1963 he had been awarded a post of authority inside the YAF in Dallas, specifically by Robert Morris, and Larrie was promised a still higher post in the YAF if he cooperated with the John Birch Society in those duties.

In Dallas, at least, there was a concrete connection between the YAF and the John Birch Society.

Even at NYC University, where the JBS was considered too low-brow for students, there was still a hint of JBS activity, but specifically through the YAF.

That's a valuable insight, IMHO. Yet may I ask again about your home environment?

Had you heard anything about the John Birch Society in your home town -- among neighbors or relatives?

Best regards,

--Paul Trejo

Edited October 26, 2014 by Paul Trejo

[Douglas Caddy]

Paul:

While I was in the U.S. Army from June to December 1961, serving my country on leave from being National Director of Young Americans for Freedom, YAF had a coup in its leadership. William Rusher, publisher of National Review, had spent his adult life in Young Republican national politics and wanted to bring YAF under his control as an adjunct of the Young Republican National Federation(YRNF). The reason YAF had been created was to appeal to youth outside of the YRNF. But Rusher wanted to control it like he controlled the YRNF from behind the scenes. So upon being released from active duty in the Army, I found that Rusher, using David Franke who was my close friend and who worked for National Review, had brought Richard Viguerie, a friend of Franke, up from Texas and installed in my position. I then decided to go to New York University Law School and to cease being an active member of YAF. The organization, in my opinion, lost its primary purpose. I now realize in hindsight that these internal struggles frequently happen in newly created organizations. Thus, I cannot comment on anything that occurred in YAF or its local chapters after I ceased being active in it in 1962.

While I was an undergraduate at Georgetown University I had a working scholarship in the years 1957-58 at Human Events, the conservative publication. M. Stanton Evans was its managing editor. He was a graduate of Yale University and a bright dedicated conservative. Through him I came to know his father, Medford Evans, who was the regional director of the John Birch Society that included Texas and Louisiana. I introduced my mother in Houston to Medford Evans and they corresponded by mail about conservative and JBS activities in Texas and Louisiana. That is about the extent of my knowledge about the JBS in Texas and Louisiana.

A lot of this history is covered in the book, "The Other Side of the Sixties", by Prof. John Andrew.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Other-Side-Sixties-Conservative/dp/0813524016

Edited October 26, 2014 by Douglas Caddy