East Texas Ideology and the Assassination of Kennedy in Dallas

[Leslie Sharp]

At the risk of repeating, but in light of Greg Doudna's continued questioning of Hank Albarelli's integrity and his final investigation into who killed JFK in Dallas, I believe it bears repeating: Greg Doudna's higher education includes a degree from Armstrong College in Big Sandy – a small community in East Texas.

Apparently, from what I’ve read, Doudna is staunch vocal defender of Ruth Paine. He insists she has been much maligned, yet admits that during his interview with her he failed to ask the most basic questions, i.e., did she know Lee had been arrested in New Orleans, did she not know he had traveled to Mexico City until he returned to Dallas in early October?  Did Greg ask her why —upon discovery of Oswald’s letter sometime around Nov. 7,8,9 which referenced both MC and the Russian Embassy — did she fail to give SA James Hosty a discrete call since he had only recently been in her home to discuss Oswald?  

 

Doudna also appears to be completely disinterested in the fact that Hosty's partner in the early hours of the investigation, FBI SA Bard Odum was a personal friend of Michael Paine and that Ruth knew the FBI agent by his nickname “Hart” prior to the assassination.

 

Doudna has also interviewed at length John Curington who subsequently appears to have declined further interviews. (Whether or not the two incidents are related has not been determined.)  Thus far, I’ve not come across anything of substance from that interview other than Curington’s account of Marina’s visit to Hunt Oil headquarters in the Mercantile building.  Did Doudna not know the pertinent questions to ask related to H. L. Hunt?  Perhaps if he had paid attention to Coup, we might have more insight into whether Hunt & Vickers in the Lafitte datebook refers to H. L. or or E. Howard;  we might also have additional understanding of the reference to Rothermel in the PL ledger sheet(s). Did Greg consider the possibility that Ruby was visiting his landlord Leo Corrigan? Had he shown the slightest curiosity essential to a productive investigator he would have discovered that Corrigan's son in law Ed Jordan worked along side Pierre Viliere who is identified in the personal papers of Otto and Ilse Skorzeny; he would then realize that Corrigan's developments in the Bahamas overlapped with those interests of Clint Murchison from Athens, Texas (someone I would think even an amateur historian of the assassination might be interested in), the Skorzeny's, and Hitler's former favorite banker Hjalmar Schacht.  

 * * &

It’s possible that Doudna’s informative years and higher education at Armstrong sheds some light on his general perspective, not dissimilar to the influence a Yale or Harvard education might have on other amateur historians. As mentioned, records indicate that prior to Cornell, Doudna was educated at Armstrong College, Big Sandy, TX, the second campus of the college founded by firebrand evangelist Herbert Armstrong whose apocalyptic providentialism was broadcast across the US and Europe via his radio program,The World Tomorrow. 

So, might Greg Doudna now consider the implications of East Texas in the investigation into the assassination in Dallas, just two hours drive from his alma mater?

 

Geographically Big Sandy, Tyler and Longview, create a 25-30 mi. triangle in East Texas. I posit there was no cultural or political distinction in the early 1960s.  

 

For our interests — those of us intent on solving the cold case murder investigation — Tyler was home to Joe Zeppa’s Delta Drilling; Longview was home of LeTourneau Mfg. Big Sandy was home of (soon to be opened) Armstrong College.

 

Tyler-based Delta Drilling was a pivotal component of the Meadows-Skorzeny oil concern in Spain in 1952, and in 1963 Zeppa personally was critical once again to the success of another petroleum related scheme involving, again, Jack Crichton with keen interest being expressed from Madrid by Otto Skorzeny. Skorzeny enjoyed the refuge provided him by Spanish fascist dictator Francisco Franco. To underscore these decades-old relationships, the real estate transaction that resulted in the sale of the ranch owned by Joe Zeppa’s partner in Delta Drilling, Ukraine born A. Dorfman, was handled by Ilse Skorzeny’s cover, global real estate concern Previews, Inc.

Longview-based LeTourneau Mfg. produced the first offshore jack-up rig designed by Leon Delong who is named in the Lafitte datebook along with Bill Dalzell who had worked for George Bush in Odessa; Bush purchased the first DeLong-designed jack-up rig from LeTourneau. Zeppa and Bush were together on November 22, along with Al Ulmer who was posted in Madrid at the time of the Meadows-Skorzeny oil scheme and a decade or so latter planned to pursue a business opportunity with Win Scott who had served as the Western Division European head of special operations in the early ‘50s and as such, received reports related to Otto Skorzeny. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to interest Jeff Morley (who recently credits Doudna with significant understanding of Gen. Edwin Walker) in that particular period in Win Scott’s history.

 

Big Sandy home of Armstrong College campus opened in 1964; 

The World Tomorrow, Pasadena CA letterhead dated April 25, 1952 

- Co-Worker Letter Big Sandy in Escrow signed by Herbert Armstrong

whose evangelism was founded on apocalyptic providentialism

 

 

 

 

A quick glance at Herbert Armstrong's history in context of my examination of influences (albeit perhaps undetected) that might cause Greg Doudna to ignore Hank Albarelli’s investigation into the Dallas assassination. Is his stated concern that the datebook is a forgery a mere canard? Among those influences, can one ignore … 

 

Doctrines of Armstrongism

Herbert W. Armstrong taught that the Bible was a divinely inspired book and the authoritative Word of God. However, he taught that the key to interpreting it had been obscured by God until these last days when he, by divine inspiration, discovered it. Thus, Armstrong regarded himself as the only legitimate interpreter of Scripture and his movement as the only true church of God.  

 

[admittedly, it’s logical to contemplate that Doudna — who I understand in later years published a strong criticism of Armstrong’s rigidity — is subconsciously resistant to any claim that Hank’s investigation is the only true investigation! :-)] 

 

Another possible influence over Doudna’s resistance to evidence spelled out in Coup is Herbert Armstrong’s later close friendship with King Leopold III of Belgium that opened doors to kings and world leaders for the evangelist. It was Leopold’s son Baudouin, following his father's abdication, who reigned over the Belgian Congo during the struggle for independence and the subsequent assassination of Patrice Lumumba in January 1961. That research leads straight to QJ/WIN, regardless of Pierre Lafitte’s role in the Dallas plot, and Doudna and Morley’s lack in curiosity is astounding still. I

 

Take note that Katanga was high on the watchlist of Dulles, Crichton, Skorzeny, Lafitte et. al., and that Katanga Freedom Fighters were being recruited from French prison — this, in spite of Ed Forum’s Steve Thomas and Jeffrey Sundberg’ insistence otherwise. And recall that journalist and self-described soldier of fortune Hal du Berrier, a known associate of Gen. Raul Salan of the OAS and close friend of General Edwin Walker, is mentioned by Lafitte three days prior to the Walker shooting about whom - according to Jeff Morley — Doudna is now an expert?

 

Doudna simply ignores the fact that du Berrier was at Walker’s house on November 22 , and dismisses any possible significance, apparently based solely on his skepticism of the Lafitte datebook that reveals du Berrier’s relationship with Walker as early as April 1963. 

 

Katanga:

King Bauoudin of Belgium:

During Baudouin's reign the colony of Belgian Congo became independent. During the parade following the last ceremonial inspection of the Force Publique, the royal sabre of the king was momentarily stolen by Ambroise Boimbo. The photograph, taken by Robert Lebeck, was widely published in world newspapers,^[14] with some seeing the act as a humiliation for the king.^[15] The next day the king attended the official reception; he gave a speech that received a blistering response by Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.^[16]

As the head of state of Belgium, Baudouin, along with French President Charles de Gaulle, were the two prominent world leaders at the state funerals of two American presidents, John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and his predecessor Dwight D. Eisenhower in March 1969. At Kennedy's funeral, Baudouin was accompanied by Paul-Henri Spaak, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former three-time Prime Minister of Belgium.^[17] At Eisenhower's funeral, his next visit to the United States, he was accompanied by Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens.^[18]

Edited August 18, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Greg Doudna]

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

At the risk of repeating, but in light of Greg Doudna's continued questioning of Hank Albarelli's integrity and his final investigation into who killed JFK in Dallas,

As I have labored to explain to Leslie, the questioning is of the authenticity of the Lafitte datebook. I have not accused, nor do I believe, that Hank Albarelli forged it.

I would like to know more of the circumstances and meaning and role of June Cobb's three CIA handlers acknowledged for assistance to the author in the writing of the book. I am awaiting Leslie's promised explanation. There are any number of above-board explanations for why an author might credit anonymous CIA persons (among others such as family and friends) for assistance in the production of a book. I am awaiting Leslie to provide such, if she knows and is able. As of the writing of this moment, Leslie has taken offense at the question, without answering the question. 

I have seen many respected minds fall for forgeries in my field. This does not mean they are not very good in their fields of expertise, nor does it mean they lack integrity. It just means they were fooled, which can happen to us all in different circumstances. 

In cases in which important people put their name to endorse something which turns out to be forged, the best outcome is an acknowledgement and then the principals involved write a postportem--explain what looked good about it to begin with, why it seemed convincing, then the process of what changed in their thinking. These postmortems are valuable in learning lessons from experience, some redemptive value. 

The status of the datebook at this point is it is neither proven forgery nor proven authenticity on forensic grounds, such as date of the ink. I have given my personal estimate of the chances, in the absence of forensic examination, of the odds that this is a forgery, as approximately 100 percent. That is, rounded to the nearest 1 percent. Odds less than 1 in 200 that it is genuine, if I had unlimited betting money. Could be right, could be wrong, but that is my "Bayesian" odds prior to forensic testing. 

A forensic ink dating, which Leslie could get done in a week if she would lift a finger to do so, could answer the date of the ink. The cost is affordable and should not be a problem; if it is, there is enough interest here that Leslie's costs could surely be assisted by those here upon request; I will offer $50 myself if someone else undertakes responsibility for the fundraising if Leslie were to request it.

What is the block to obtaining a fresh, new forensic ink dating that can be fully transparent, and if the datebook is a forgery, very likely could become known and answered within a week. Leslie has given every form of response except a straight answer to this question.

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

I believe it bears repeating: Greg Doudna's higher education includes a degree from Armstrong College in Big Sandy – a small community in East Texas.

It is not correct that I have a degree from Ambassador College. I dropped out twice without graduating. Its explained in my book.  

When I was age 13, influenced by my father with whom I was very close, I with my younger brother joined him in attending the fundamentalist Worldwide Church of God, a spinoff branch of Seventh-day Adventism. I was part of it until about age 23. What can I say. "It seemed like a good idea at the time"? I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years. My experience has taught me to be compassionate to people caught up in fundamentalisms of all kinds. Everyone has a story, everybody comes from somewhere, we're all in certain ways walking wounded, we need to be kind to one another. 

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Apparently, from what I’ve read, Doudna is staunch vocal defender of Ruth Paine. He insists she has been much maligned, yet admits that during his interview with her he failed to ask the most basic questions, i.e., did she know Lee had been arrested in New Orleans, did she not know he had traveled to Mexico City until he returned to Dallas in early October?  Did Greg ask her why —upon discovery of Oswald’s letter sometime around Nov. 7,8,9 which referenced both MC and the Russian Embassy — did she fail to give SA James Hosty a discrete call since he had only recently been in her home to discuss Oswald?   

I never interviewed Ruth Paine.

I knew her as part of the Friends Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in the early 2000s, but I did not question her on JFK assassination details mainly out of consideration for her because I believed she was asked that all the time by others, and I engaged with her on current matters as a normal person.

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Doudna also appears to be completely disinterested in the fact that Hosty's partner in the early hours of the investigation, FBI SA Bard Odum was a personal friend of Michael Paine and that Ruth knew the FBI agent by his nickname “Hart” prior to the assassination. 

Leslie engages here in mindreading, has no clue to my curiosity concerning Bard Odum. 

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Doudna has also interviewed at length John Curington who subsequently appears to have declined further interviews. (Whether or not the two incidents are related has not been determined.)  Thus far, I’ve not come across anything of substance from that interview other than Curington’s account of Marina’s visit to Hunt Oil headquarters in the Mercantile building.  Did Doudna not know the pertinent questions to ask related to H. L. Hunt?  Perhaps if he had paid attention to Coup, we might have more insight into whether Hunt & Vickers in the Lafitte datebook refers to H. L. or or E. Howard;  we might also have additional understanding of the reference to Rothermel in the PL ledger sheet(s). Did Greg consider the possibility that Ruby was visiting his landlord Leo Corrigan? Had he shown the slightest curiosity essential to a productive investigator he would have discovered that Corrigan's son in law Ed Jordan worked along side Pierre Viliere who is identified in the personal papers of Otto and Ilse Skorzeny; he would then realize that Corrigan's developments in the Bahamas overlapped with those interests of Clint Murchison from Athens, Texas (someone I would think even an amateur historian of the assassination might be interested in), the Skorzeny's, and Hitler's former favorite banker Hjalmar Schacht.  

My interview with Curington, "Billionaire Logic and the Fate of JFK: Interview with John Curington, right-hand man and attorney to H.L. Hunt of Dallas, Texas (the richest man in the world in 1963), concerning the assassination of President Kennedy" (2018), is the runaway most-downloaded article of all my articles on my academia.edu page (https://independent.academia.edu/GregoryDoudna). I took it as praise when Jeff Morley told me I had done a good job of asking good questions in that interview, drawing out Curington.

Curington was 90 when I interviewed him, is 95 today. He did not interview much with anyone, but trusted me due to a mutual friend, also he had seen my Showdown at Big Sandy and decided I was OK. If he is not interviewing today (I would not know) I am sorry to hear that but I can think of a possible reason why: a short while ago he suffered a severe attack by a dog involving bites on both arms. At his age, as with my parents' hip operations, very old people can survive operations but die from the shock of the operation. Curington lives, but has not returned my two most recent calls, and I hope he is OK. If he is not interviewing, that is my guess why.   

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

Doudna simply ignores the fact that du Berrier was at Walker’s house on November 22 , and dismisses any possible significance, apparently based solely on his skepticism of the Lafitte datebook that reveals du Berrier’s relationship with Walker as early as April 1963.  

Meaning in my paper, "Did Lee Harvey Oswald Shoot at General Walker on April 10, 1963?" (https://www.scrollery.com/?page_id=1581). Other than du Berrier in Walker's house on Nov 22 had nothing to do with the subject matter of my paper, and I'm not about to draw on the Lafitte datebook as a source in light of the highly suspicious refusal years later to get the ink dated in a non-secretive way in which the results can become publicly known on that dodgy item--apart from that, no other reason not to have included that and many other items from the kitchen sink in that paper. At the kind invitation of Larry Hancock, I will be presenting at Lancer via zoom with some updates on the Walker-staged-shot argument, and Steve Roe I am hoping will be present (via zoom) to cross-examine and/or counterpoint following my presentation.

4 hours ago, Leslie Sharp said:

A quick glance at Herbert Armstrong's history in context of my examination of influences (albeit perhaps undetected) that might cause Greg Doudna to ignore Hank Albarelli’s investigation into the Dallas assassination. Is his stated concern that the datebook is a forgery a mere canard?

 No.

The datebook already has reasons to suspect it could be a forgery, but now rising and contending for first place is the refusal to have the ink dated, when there is no benign reason at this point for continuing failure or refusal.

But as long as Leslie is reaching back 50 years to my teenage years to ad hominem me because I attended a fundamentalist Bible College (when I was young and less wise than now)--which has not the least relevance to the issue of the authenticity of the Lafitte datebook--I can help out in a different way, by showing that, in a certain sense, Leslie is indeed on to something: certain parallels between the pan-Nazi overview, the international Nazi conspiracy of the Ganis/Albarelli/Coup in Dallas explanatory model of the world applicable to the JFK assassination ... and the eschatological prophetic view of an imminent takeover of America and the world by an international Nazi conspiracy taught by Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at Ambassador College. 

For in a sense, I have seen this before. I have been there, done that. I will explain more of this in a following post.  

Edited August 19, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Leslie Sharp]

@Greg Doudnasee my response at Pierre Lafitte datebook, 1963.

[Leslie Sharp]

 Everyone has a story, everybody comes from somewhere, we're all in certain ways walking wounded, we need to be kind to one another.

I couldn't agree more; had you exhibited what you espouse here when I challenged your analysis of my coauthor's statement on the provenance and authenticity of the datebook, perhaps we could have built on common ground - maybe even advance the investigation instead of expending such energy for so little in return? 

Steve Roe I am hoping will be present (via zoom) to cross-examine and/or counterpoint following my presentation.

I've encountered Steve Roe on Facebook; as I understand it he and Hank conferred occasionally.  Perhaps he has shared some of that history? Apparently, after Hank passed, Steve felt comfortable with posting less than flattering comments which he refused to back up with facts. I continued to challenge him to do so and he then blocked me.

Time will reveal the significance of du Berrier and your collective refusal to consider the implications; I'm beginning to understand why the Lafitte material is so threatening to those who protect the sacred cows of this case.

So, you'll excuse me if I don't pursue discussion of Walker et al with you.

[Leslie Sharp]

@Greg Doudna writes, But as long as Leslie is reaching back 50 years to my teenage years to ad hominem me because I attended a fundamentalist Bible College (when I was young and less wise than now)--which has not the least relevance to the issue of the authenticity of the Lafitte datebook-*-I can help out in a different way, by showing that, in a certain sense, Leslie is indeed on to something: certain parallels between the pan-Nazi overview, the international Nazi conspiracy of the Ganis/Albarelli/Coup in Dallas explanatory model of the world applicable to the JFK assassination ... and the eschatological prophetic view of an imminent takeover of America and the world by an international Nazi conspiracytaught by Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at Ambassador College. 

This post is not relevant to authentication of anything; it is meant to draw attention to those influences in our formative lives, and in this instance, the ideological environment of East Texas in 1963.  Leading figures in the region were associated with prime suspects in the assassination in Dallas. THAT is the topic of the thread.  Greg Doudna deflects. I invite him to address the details I provided here, beginning with the Katanga Freedom Fighters, the murder of Lumumba, and the QJ/WIN operation ... apparently he's offended by a "pan-Nazi" overview.  Why is that I wonder?

Edited August 19, 2023 by Leslie Sharp

[Ron Bulman]

2 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

I have seen many respected minds fall for forgeries in my field. This does not mean they are not very good in their fields of expertise, nor does it mean they lack integrity. It just means they were fooled, which can happen to us all in different circumstances. 

Ruth Paine comes to mind.

[Mervyn Hagger]

4 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

As I have labored to explain to Leslie, the questioning is of the authenticity of the Lafitte datebook. I have not accused, nor do I believe, that Hank Albarelli forged it.

I would like to know more of the circumstances and meaning and role of June Cobb's three CIA handlers acknowledged for assistance to the author in the writing of the book. I am awaiting Leslie's promised explanation. There are any number of above-board explanations for why an author might credit anonymous CIA persons (among others such as family and friends) for assistance in the production of a book. I am awaiting Leslie to provide such, if she knows and is able. As of the writing of this moment, Leslie has taken offense at the question, without answering the question. 

I have seen many respected minds fall for forgeries in my field. This does not mean they are not very good in their fields of expertise, nor does it mean they lack integrity. It just means they were fooled, which can happen to us all in different circumstances. 

In cases in which important people put their name to endorse something which turns out to be forged, the best outcome is an acknowledgement and then the principals involved write a postportem--explain what looked good about it to begin with, why it seemed convincing, then the process of what changed in their thinking. These postmortems are valuable in learning lessons from experience, some redemptive value. 

The status of the datebook at this point is it is neither proven forgery nor proven authenticity on forensic grounds, such as date of the ink. I have given my personal estimate of the chances, in the absence of forensic examination, of the odds that this is a forgery, as approximately 100 percent. That is, rounded to the nearest 1 percent. Odds less than 1 in 200 that it is genuine, if I had unlimited betting money. Could be right, could be wrong, but that is my "Bayesian" odds prior to forensic testing. 

A forensic ink dating, which Leslie could get done in a week if she would lift a finger to do so, could answer the date of the ink. The cost is affordable and should not be a problem; if it is, there is enough interest here that Leslie's costs could surely be assisted by those here upon request; I will offer $50 myself if someone else undertakes responsibility for the fundraising if Leslie were to request it.

What is the block to obtaining a fresh, new forensic ink dating that can be fully transparent, and if the datebook is a forgery, very likely could become known and answered within a week. Leslie has given every form of response except a straight answer to this question.

It is not correct that I have a degree from Ambassador College. I dropped out twice without graduating. Its explained in my book.  

When I was age 13, influenced by my father with whom I was very close, I with my younger brother joined him in attending the fundamentalist Worldwide Church of God, a spinoff branch of Seventh-day Adventism. I was part of it until about age 23. What can I say. "It seemed like a good idea at the time"? I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years. My experience has taught me to be compassionate to people caught up in fundamentalisms of all kinds. Everyone has a story, everybody comes from somewhere, we're all in certain ways walking wounded, we need to be kind to one another. 

I never interviewed Ruth Paine.

I knew her as part of the Friends Meeting in St. Petersburg, Florida in the early 2000s, but I did not question her on JFK assassination details mainly out of consideration for her because I believed she was asked that all the time by others, and I engaged with her on current matters as a normal person.

Leslie engages here in mindreading, has no clue to my curiosity concerning Bard Odum. 

My interview with Curington, "Billionaire Logic and the Fate of JFK: Interview with John Curington, right-hand man and attorney to H.L. Hunt of Dallas, Texas (the richest man in the world in 1963), concerning the assassination of President Kennedy" (2018), is the runaway most-downloaded article of all my articles on my academia.edu page (https://independent.academia.edu/GregoryDoudna). I took it as praise when Jeff Morley told me I had done a good job of asking good questions in that interview, drawing out Curington.

Curington was 90 when I interviewed him, is 95 today. He did not interview much with anyone, but trusted me due to a mutual friend, also he had seen my Showdown at Big Sandy and decided I was OK. If he is not interviewing today (I would not know) I am sorry to hear that but I can think of a possible reason why: a short while ago he suffered a severe attack by a dog involving bites on both arms. At his age, as with my parents' hip operations, very old people can survive operations but die from the shock of the operation. Curington lives, but has not returned my two most recent calls, and I hope he is OK. If he is not interviewing, that is my guess why.   

Meaning in my paper, "Did Lee Harvey Oswald Shoot at General Walker on April 10, 1963?" (https://www.scrollery.com/?page_id=1581). Other than du Berrier in Walker's house on Nov 22 had nothing to do with the subject matter of my paper, and I'm not about to draw on the Lafitte datebook as a source in light of the highly suspicious refusal years later to get the ink dated in a non-secretive way in which the results can become publicly known on that dodgy item--apart from that, no other reason not to have included that and many other items from the kitchen sink in that paper. At the kind invitation of Larry Hancock, I will be presenting at Lancer via zoom with some updates on the Walker-staged-shot argument, and Steve Roe I am hoping will be present (via zoom) to cross-examine and/or counterpoint following my presentation.

 No.

The datebook already has reasons to suspect it could be a forgery, but now rising and contending for first place is the refusal to have the ink dated, when there is no benign reason at this point for continuing failure or refusal.

But as long as Leslie is reaching back 50 years to my teenage years to ad hominem me because I attended a fundamentalist Bible College (when I was young and less wise than now)--which has not the least relevance to the issue of the authenticity of the Lafitte datebook--I can help out in a different way, by showing that, in a certain sense, Leslie is indeed on to something: certain parallels between the pan-Nazi overview, the international Nazi conspiracy of the Ganis/Albarelli/Coup in Dallas explanatory model of the world applicable to the JFK assassination ... and the eschatological prophetic view of an imminent takeover of America and the world by an international Nazi conspiracy taught by Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at Ambassador College. 

For in a sense, I have seen this before. I have been there, done that. I will explain more of this in a following post.  

Greg, You made several mistakes in your reference to Ambassador College at Big Sandy, Texas. One in relation to the Church that paid its bills:

The "Worldwide Church of God" was NOT "a spinoff branch of Seventh-day Adventism."

Its founder was a brought up by parents with Quaker roots, and you write "I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years. I was part of it until about age 23. What can I say. "It seemed like a good idea at the time"? I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years." Greg, the 'Friends' are popularly referred to by the name of Quakers, because the 'Friends' are Quakers.

To claim that Ambassador College had Nazi connections when its founder relied up two Jewish advisors is ridiculous. One of them was Dr Robert Kuhn who helped to establish the 'Carnegie Hall of the West' at Ambassador Auditorium, and the other one was Stanley Rader who made it possible for Herbert W. Armstrong to be the name of a Constitutional Studies chair at UCLA. Rader also made it possible for Armstrong to be named an 'Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio' and became very much a part of Israeli political life; a friend of several members of the Japanese government for which he received the highest award possible from the Japanese Emperor that is given to a non-Japanese citizen. He gained friends on the World Court and he received an award from a former king of Belgium (to name but a few of these awards). He was also one of the very first to pioneer the movement against industrial pollution of the air, water and food, and maintained a bio-digester and experimental farm at Big Sandy. In addition to that he was among the first to be publishing articles about 'Climate Change', and that was during the 1950s. Finally, there is a lot support the idea that Herbert W. Armstrong was in fact a CIA asset and his broadcasts were sustaining features of Radio Swan, later renamed Radio Americas.

I believe that you should revisit your own past because it seems that you do not understand where you were or who you were rubbing shoulders with during that time, or for that matter Herbert's connections to the Society of Friends.

😉 

[Greg Doudna]

3 hours ago, Mervyn Hagger said:

Greg, You made several mistakes in your reference to Ambassador College at Big Sandy, Texas. One in relation to the Church that paid its bills:

The "Worldwide Church of God" was NOT "a spinoff branch of Seventh-day Adventism."

Its founder was a brought up by parents with Quaker roots, and you write "I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years. I was part of it until about age 23. What can I say. "It seemed like a good idea at the time"? I detoxed and reformed core values for life through attendance at Friends Meetings over the coming years." Greg, the 'Friends' are popularly referred to by the name of Quakers, because the 'Friends' are Quakers.

To claim that Ambassador College had Nazi connections when its founder relied up two Jewish advisors is ridiculous. One of them was Dr Robert Kuhn who helped to establish the 'Carnegie Hall of the West' at Ambassador Auditorium, and the other one was Stanley Rader who made it possible for Herbert W. Armstrong to be the name of a Constitutional Studies chair at UCLA. Rader also made it possible for Armstrong to be named an 'Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio' and became very much a part of Israeli political life; a friend of several members of the Japanese government for which he received the highest award possible from the Japanese Emperor that is given to a non-Japanese citizen. He gained friends on the World Court and he received an award from a former king of Belgium (to name but a few of these awards). He was also one of the very first to pioneer the movement against industrial pollution of the air, water and food, and maintained a bio-digester and experimental farm at Big Sandy. In addition to that he was among the first to be publishing articles about 'Climate Change', and that was during the 1950s. Finally, there is a lot support the idea that Herbert W. Armstrong was in fact a CIA asset and his broadcasts were sustaining features of Radio Swan, later renamed Radio Americas.

I believe that you should revisit your own past because it seems that you do not understand where you were or who you were rubbing shoulders with during that time, or for that matter Herbert's connections to the Society of Friends.

😉 

Mervyn, I don't mean this unkindly but you are confused on a couple of things here. Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) and the Radio Church of God/Worldwide Church of God (the name changed legally in 1968) most definitely was a spinoff from Seventh-day Adventism, and had nothing to do with Quakers other than that Herbert Armstrong was raised a Quaker in his childhood. You can check any number of standard references on this. Herbert Armstrong was part of the Church of God (Seventh Day) in the 1920s and 1930s, which was a small seventh-day sabbath-keeping denomination that went back to an origin in around the 1850s or 1860s in a splitoff from the Seventh-day Adventists over the issue of not accepting the authority of Ellen G. White, whom Adventists regard as a prophet. That is, HWA was a splitoff from a splitoff from Seventh-day Adventism. 

And I did not "claim that Ambassador College had Nazi connections". You misread there. I referred to "the eschatological prophetic view of an imminent takeover of America and the world by an international Nazi conspiracy taught by Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at Ambassador College." Please read more carefully in the future. 

They viewed Nazis as the prophesied dark future for Europe and who would conquer America and the world and regarded that as a bad thing. Ideologically or politically they were cultural and politically conservative in the sense the prevailing majority of evangelical Christians are today.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Mervyn Hagger]

2 hours ago, Greg Doudna said:

Mervyn, I don't mean this unkindly but you are confused on a couple of things here. Herbert W Armstrong (HWA) and the Radio Church of God/Worldwide Church of God (the name changed legally in 1968) most definitely was a spinoff from Seventh-day Adventism, and had nothing to do with Quakers other than that Herbert Armstrong was raised a Quaker in his childhood. You can check any number of standard references on this. Herbert Armstrong was part of the Church of God (Seventh Day) in the 1920s and 1930s, which was a small seventh-day sabbath-keeping denomination that went back to an origin in around the 1850s or 1860s in a splitoff from the Seventh-day Adventists over the issue of not accepting the authority of Ellen G. White, whom Adventists regard as a prophet. That is, HWA was a splitoff from a splitoff from Seventh-day Adventism. 

And I did not "claim that Ambassador College had Nazi connections". You misread there. I referred to "the eschatological prophetic view of an imminent takeover of America and the world by an international Nazi conspiracy taught by Herbert Armstrong and the Worldwide Church of God in the 1960s and 1970s when I was at Ambassador College." Please read more carefully in the future. 

They viewed Nazis as the prophesied dark future for Europe and who would conquer America and the world and regarded that as a bad thing. Ideologically or politically they were cultural and politically conservative in the sense the prevailing majority of evangelical Christians are today.

Hi Greg, no offence taken. Herbert Walter Armstrong was born during 1870 in England, and he was an early pioneer promoting the SDA in England. However, he is not to be confused with Herbert W. Armstrong who middle initial appears to have no meaning. They are two different people. The Herbert W. Armstrong that founded Ambassador College was born in 1892 in Des Moines, Iowa where he attended a Quaker church with his parents.

His wife became attracted to the Church of God (Seventh Day) which had spun-off another belief system five years before the Seventh Day Adventists were formed. The original trunk of that Adventist tree led back to the Baptist preacher William Miller who proclaimed the return of the Messiah in 1844, and when that did not happen, the Millerites splintered and created among other groups the Seventh Day Baptists. Herbert W. Armstrong was ordained as a minister by another Adventist splinter which became the Church of God (Seventh Day.) There are many other groups called the Church of God and they are not related.

To this mixture Herbert W. Armstrong began to peddle a belief system originating in England and still promoted today called British Israelism. For a time, one of Queen Victoria's relations was its patron. This caused Armstrong to be kicked out of the Church of God (Seventh Day) and so he began his own congregation as an ordained minister of his former church.

That is how it all began.

Herbert W. Armstrong then started to preach on the radio using the format of a church service with hymns and prayers plus sermon. Then he began to get involved with prophecy as World War II began. He was convinced that Rome was headed by the Anti-Christ and soon Armageddon would come. He was disappointed in one sense, but they he began to predict a final recreation of the Roman Empire and he even speculated that Adolph Hitler was still alive.

After WWII, he moved his small headquarters to the outskirts of Hollywood in Pasadena, California. He scrapped the radio church format, hired the announcer for 'Highway Patrol', 'Amos 'n' Andy' and bought a Hollywood instrumental jingle to close his monologue that was patterned after a news commentary with added references to the Bible. He then latched-on to a sales gimmick (he was a former advertising salesman in Chicago), and never asked for money on the air, and instead he offered all of his literature including a pseudo news magazine patterned after US News and World Report, free of charge to listeners. He even told them that if they tried to pay for the literature he would send their money back to them.

Well it was during the middle of the 1950s when time buyer, accountant and soon lawyer Stanley Rader too over management and left Herbert to do the preaching. In the early 1960s he bought another millionaires estate in England (he had already bought one in Pasadena), and later a added a third in Big Sandy where you attended. For a time it even became an accredited university.

Stanley Rader then groomed Herbert to become the 'Ambassador for World Peace without portfolio', and soon he was greeting kings, queens and heads of state throughout the developing world.

In Europe Rader/Armstrong noted the emergence of Radio Mercur off Denmark broadcasting from a ship. That was in 1958. He had already gone on Luxembourg years before and his broadcasts were now being delivered in other languages. On Radio Monte Carlo his broadcast was beamed into the USSR in the Russian language. When Don Pierson of Eastland, Texas cloned KLIF as Radio London, Armstrong paid the bills with a half-hour broadcast every day from offshore using 'Big L's' 50,000 watts of power. Soon there were more stations based off shore and Armstrong was on most of them, sometimes three times a day in the morning, at noon and early evening.

The message delivered on Armstrong's half hour monologue came to pass, when the UK voted to pull out of the European Union, just as Armstrong predicted that it would. Nigel Farage was still an infant when Armstrong began his offshore British broadcasts!

When the UK passed a law that took effect on August 14, 1967 at midnight and terminated Armstrong's monologues, Stanley Rader upped the stakes and put Herbert's son Garner Ted on daily TV in the USA and other nations while creating a huge international cultural organization based in Pasadena at a new showcase theater, that the Los Angeles Times referred to as the 'Carnegie Hall of the West'. Just about every major star of the day (except for rock and roll performers), played there. Jazz, classical music, ballet all played there, and PBS-TV in the USA even transmitted a special show featuring Bing Crosby from the stage of that Ambassador College auditorium.

Then Rader died followed by Herbert W. Armstrong and the entire organization imploded. Some tried to copy it.

But underpinning it all for Stanley Rader was the very strong hint that Armstrong's core money for all of his mass media political propaganda was coming from sources related to the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The brains behind the spectacular rise of Herbert W. Armstrong were two practicing Jews named Stanley Rader and Dr Robert Kuhn.

Herbert had become a 'patsy' taken in by the fame and the glamour as he flew around the world in his private Gulfstream II.

Edited August 19, 2023 by Mervyn Hagger

[Greg Doudna]

Mervyn now you've got it, that's pretty straight history you recount, with the exception at the end that I know of no actual evidence or likelihood that WCG money being used in the operations of Stanley Rader and HWA as you describe, came from the CIA or other hidden hands laundered through WCG. First there is no evidence of that; second there were plenty of inside motivated whistleblowers and critics exposing searing scandals as the church came to wealth and the overseas Rader-orchestrated contacts and meetings of HWA with world leaders, but there was not even an allegation that I can remember that there was any significant source of covert funding that was not church member-donation generated. And third, there was no need to: the church membership was the lucrative cash cow itself.  

But apart from that, let me say I found interesting your article, Mervyn Hagger and Eric Gilder, “Prophecies of Dystopic “Old World, New World” Transitions Told: ‘The World Tomorrow’ Radio Broadcasts to the United Kingdom: 1965-1967”, https://mervynhagger.academia.edu/research#papers. So much so that a few days ago I forwarded that link to a few Ambassador College alumni friends in an email with this summary:

~ ~ ~

I found an article which nobody has previously noticed—under the radar--going into the subject of the “pirate radio” stations that HWA/RCG used to broadcast into Britain in the mid-1960s, from offshore ships, that were controversial in England at the time. The article is Mervyn Hagger and Eric Gilder, “Prophecies of Dystopic “Old World, New World” Transitions Told: ‘The World Tomorrow’ Radio Broadcasts to the United Kingdom: 1965-1967”. https://mervynhagger.academia.edu/research#papers.

The article is written by someone non-WCG who was in England at the time and knowledgeable of the Armstrong-broadcasting controversy, and apparently friends with one of the principals in the pirate radio station ships broadcasting business.

Author argues that the CIA was opposed to a EU/Common Market independent of the US, and the US wanted instead to see a European union as outgrowth of or part of NATO, with heavy US involvement and influence, rather than an independent Europe with US out of the picture. 

Author documents that the CIA was laundering money at the time by means of cutout foundations etc. to undertake covert propaganda operations to influence the course of the European union movement in the direction desired by the US.

As part of that, author suggests that the HWA broadcast message hostile to an independent EU/Common Market separate from the US (portrayed by HWA as “the Beast power”, revival of Nazism, etc.), was coincident with CIA interests in opposing that form of European union from happening. 

The author suggests that HWA and RCG’s prophetic message with its “European Beast power” message scaring gullible people in England and Europe in a popular way away from an independent united Europe, was covertly assisted or “used” opportunistically because helpful to US policy objectives for Europe.

I don’t think its necessary to assume anyone on the HWA/RCG side was doing anything other than trying to preach the HWA gospel, with the possible exception of Rader who had an eye on how money could be made or controlled. (I have difficulty in seeing Rader as motivated by much ideological.)

I think back to the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries, when some hardened right-wing professional GOP operatives gave the Rev Al Sharpton, farthest out on the left of the Democratic aspirants, serious money and organizational staff support, all without attempting to affect his messaging in any way (and no sign that it did affect Sharpton’s messaging). Sharpton for his part had a mess of his finances which the hard-right GOP operatives and donors solved for him, and the Republicans saw backing Sharpton as disruptive to the Democrats (and one analysis thought also motivated as damaging to Hillary Clinton in the 2006 NY senate race). Win win. 😊 . Same principle. 

[Greg Doudna]

(From my book, Showdown at Big Sandy)

Those were the days

"For over thirty-five years, on the WORLD TOMORROW program, and in the PLAIN TRUTH magazine, I have been shouting God's prophecies to our people--that we are going to have such total DROUGHT and disease epidemics that it will take one third of our people! And, unless our people as a nation wake up and REPENT of these SINS, we shall be INVADED, and once more TAKEN CAPTIVE AS SLAVES. You may scoff. You may ignore. But NOT FOR LONG! In the near future it will STRIKE! You won't scoff then!"  -- Herbert Armstrong, 1971 

Herbert Armstrong began his ministry in the early 1930s in the years leading up to American involvement in World War II. Herbert Armstrong broadcast a prophetic picture that saw a Mussolini-led revived Holy Roman Empire conquering Britain and America, the modern house of Israel. Israel (Britain and America) would be reduced to national captivity as punishment for its sins. In this, Herbert Armstrong departed from traditional Anglo-Israel or British-Israel teaching. Most Anglo-Israelites modestly saw the British Empire as the Kingdom of God on earth and destined for increased prosperity.

According to articles in early issues of The Plain Truth, Mussolini, not Hitler, was to be the world-ruling Beast. This was because Mussolini was Italian or Roman. The Axis powers were portrayed as the final revival of the Holy Roman Empire which was to be the end-time Beast Power. Hitler would become subordinated to Mussolini, who would take over Axis leadership. The Catholic Church would become allied with the Axis powers. The forces of Mussolini and the Pope would converge on Jerusalem, there meeting eastern armies in battle, which would be interrupted by the return of Christ. Detailed predictions were made for the outcome of specific battles and military strategies, which, however, all failed to materialize. A date for the return of Christ was set for 1936, 2520 years after 585 BC. (Armstrong believed the "times of the Gentiles" had begun with the fall of Jerusalem in 585 BC.)

Christ didn't show up at the appointed time. When Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans, Herbert Armstrong said Hitler would be the prophesied Beast instead. Hitler would be victorious in his Russian invasion. Then he would turn on Britain and America and reduce our nations to captivity.

Again, things didn't turn out as Herbert Armstrong predicted. World War II ended in victory for the Allies, instead of the predicted defeat and captivity. Hitler and Germany were in ashes, not dominating the world. But Herbert Armstrong did not give up. He did not believe his prophetic understanding had been wrong. Instead, after the Nazi defeat, Armstrong became convinced Hitler was really alive and in hiding in South America. The final beast, who "was and is not" (Rev 17:11) lived. World War II had merely set the stage for the true scenario which would be World War III.

A revived Germany would lead a reunited Europe, which would be a Catholic-endorsed final resurrection of the Holy Roman Empire. This German-led European power would carry Britain and America into national captivity. One-third of Britons and Americans would be killed in war. One-third would die of pestilence and disease. The remaining one-third of the people would be taken into captivity, deported over to Europe as slaves, and undergo a repeat of the Nazi concentration camps (Ezek 5:12). Germany might be devastated from war damage at the moment, but Germany would rise again and return to ascendancy. Hitler would return to lead the revived Nazis.

Fueling Armstrong's theory of a secretly alive Hitler (besides the absence of his body--he had been cremated) was Revelation 13:3, which says the whole world would "wonder" at his (believed) resurrection from a deadly wound to the head. (The world was under the impression Hitler died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.) The German people were identified as descendants of the ancient Assyrians. The coming captivity of the United States and Britain at the hands of the Germans would be a repeat of the ancient Assyrian conquest of the house of Israel. 

This is the background to why Herbert Armstrong focused upon Germany, rather than the more common fundamentalist Christian target of that time, the Soviet Union, as the coming evil empire and mortal enemy of America.

By the time I came to Ambassador College as a student in the early 1970s, the belief that a surviving Hitler would return to become world dictator had been dropped for obvious reasons of age. But the Beast's nationality as German, heading a German-led United Europe and destined to be America's and Britain's captors, remained just as strong. West and East Germany would be reunited. The Beast would be a new German strongman. Particular attention was focused on West Germany's right-wing Franz Jozef Strauss (1915-1988) of varying political fortunes as a potential candidate for world Beast. 

West Germany's surprising post-war economic recovery and ascendancy were eagerly monitored. Plain Truth articles reported on the development of the Common Market and moves toward European unity. Herbert Armstrong frequently reminded his listening audience that he had predicted Germany's recovery to economic and political might even in the face of general postwar despair over the bombed-out nation's prospects. Now, finally, one of Herbert Armstrong's predictions was coming true.

It is true that Germany of the postwar era is a friendly ally, not an enemy, of the United States and Britain. But this was no real objection to Plain Truth staff writers and news analysts. They believed West Germany could "change overnight." The new, industrialized Germany was viewed as a Frankenstein monster built by the West which would bring about the West's ultimate downfall. 

(Franz Jozef Strauss, incidentally, was invited and came to Ambassador College in Pasadena as an honored guest in 1969, with Worldwide Church of God leaders carefully attempting to conceal from Strauss the real reason for their interest, which was having him pegged as possible future world-ruling Beast!)

Edited August 19, 2023 by Greg Doudna

[Mervyn Hagger]

Hi Greg, well, I don't want to tip my hand too much by revealing too much here, but I am not alone in noticing certain abnormalities in the manifestations of Herbert W. Armstrong as an evangelist, while two practicing Jews who fell out with each other (Rader and Kuhn), got HWA's son kicked out while Rader took over. Kuhn backed the wrong horse and got kicked out as well, but then he continued with his 'mission' in bringing about the growth of modern-day China for the benefit of some of the largest US corporations. Kuhn moved from HWA to PBS-TV who gave him his own series!

But Rader was the man with CIA connectivity. A very talented man named Orlin Grabbe, one of I believe three talented brothers from Texas, made his own observations about Rader and CIA debriefing here: https://gavinru.tripod.com/pasadena_memories.html By the way, Orlin was one of the pioneers of crypto-currency and he left Ambassador to get degrees from some of the leading US universities.

But 'The World Tomorrow' broadcast was a strange animal since it was not seeking converts or asking for money.

Rader was controlling an ever growing money pot which Armstrong's comparatively small membership had only scant knowledge of. The CIA never dolled-out money directly but through shell companies. A good example is Radio Free Europe, a CIA operation finally exposed by 'Ramparts' magazine.

Broadcasting was always the backbone of psywar propaganda going all the way back to the UK in World War I. It is the reason that most people have heard of 'Ultra' but not of Sefton Delmer. From Delmer's days alongside Churchill's SOE, emerged the SAS, commandos, OSS and CIA. The British offshore pop stations were a cover for something much bigger and Herbert's program was part of a plan.

As I noted, I know a lot more about all this from various 'inside' sources which I am not prepared to reveal at this time. I will tell you that the mv Olga Patricia which was the home of the 'boss jocks and much more music' in 1966, was a CIA ship that became a pirate radio ship for a time after it was obtained with the help of Dr Manuel Artime Buesa.

Even Bobby Kennedy's SGA links to McLendon's pirate ship that became known as the mv Mi Amigo.

Dave Cash was a DJ on Don Pierson's Wonderful Radio London radio ship, and Tony Benn was given the task of shutting it down by Prime Minister Harold Wilson .... 

 

But there is much, much more to all of this and without knowing the history of North Sea gas and oil drilling, the connections do not become apparent. It looks like Armstrong is one story; pirate radio is another story and North Sea gas and oil is yet another story. But they are all a part of one story, as well as linking directly the topic on this Forum (the murder of JFK.)

I thought I had better add this. The 'murder' that Tony Benn refers to, is NOT the assassination of JFK, but a murder involving one pirate radio station owner shooting another pirate radio station owner in his own home - with a shotgun!

Edited August 19, 2023 by Mervyn Hagger

[Mervyn Hagger]

     Those were the days ....?

Yes, you were there at the end!

[Greg Doudna]

(from Showdown at Big Sandy.)

The amazing Stanley R. Rader (1930-2002)

The mysterious, pencil-moustached, monotone-voiced, dark sunglasses-wearing lawyer Stanley Rader, Herbert's right-hand man, with his web of financial contracts, legal paraphernalia, shell companies, contacts with foreign dignitaries, and growing rival to Garner Ted Armstrong for the succession, was on people's minds at Big Sandy. Not to put too fine a point on it, a lot of people at Big Sandy and in the church thought of the mysterious Rader as a shady character of somewhat dubious spirituality and increasing power over everything financial in the church.

For starters Rader had a whopping $3.5 million employment contract ($200,000 a year for seven years--this is 1970s dollars remember--plus $100,000 a year until the year 2003). However that was only the beginning. Like his mentor Herbert Armstrong, Rader too believed in God's way of beauty and quality. Newly converted to the simplicity of Christ after being baptized by Herbert in 1975, Rader lived in a Beverly Hills home worth nearly two million dollars. The church paid for his mansion in addition to his $200,000 a year salary. Rader decided it was his home and not church property when he later sold it for over a million dollars profit. 

Rader (who was both a lawyer and an accountant) was a member of the accounting firm of Rader, Cornwall, and Kessler, and the legal firm of Rader, Helge, and Gerson. Both firms represented the church. The accounting firm audited the church's books. Sometime around 1975 lawyer Rader conveniently became Treasurer of the Worldwide Church of God, controlling how its millions of dollars were spent. 

Treasurer Rader said he dropped his official involvement with the accounting firm that still bore his name and which audited the church's books. He said he had sold his interests to his partners. Jack Kessler (one of the partners in Rader, Cornwall, Kessler, and Pallazo) testified in court that the firm had been purchased from Rader for a surprisingly low price--no money at all. Kessler explained: "We promised him to service his clients to the best of our abilities ... and he promised us not to compete with us and that we could use his name."

The church's advertising was handled through a firm called Worldwide Advertising. This was a corporation controlled by Rader and Henry Cornwall. Cornwall happened to be one of the partners in the accounting firm which audited the church's books. (The accounting firm was the one which bore Rader's name.) Treasurer Rader decided that Worldwide Advertising, of which he was half-owner, was obviously the best-qualified agency for the church to hire to make its media purchases. Worldwide Advertising, of course, took a percentage of the several million dollars per year of radio and television time it bought for the church.

Rader was involved in Currier Insurance Company, which treasurer Rader decided was the best place for the church to place its insurance business. Rader was instrumental in the formation of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation which scheduled celebrities to perform at the Auditorium on campus. Rader was also closely involved in starting Quest magazine. This was a glossy yuppie publication in New York City which had nothing to do with religion, which Rader decided Worldwide Church of God tithe-payers should subsidize as a public service to the tune of several million dollars annually during its first years to help it get on its feet; a few million dollars later Herbert Armstrong was sorely displeased to discover he could not get one of his own articles published in it.

Rader also had leasing companies which owned jet planes leased to the church. The biggest jet owned by a company controlled by Rader and his partners was Herbert Armstrong's $3.5 million personal Gulfstream II. Armstrong and Rader flew around in this one all over the world. Rader orchestrated Herbert Armstrong's many trips to dignitaries around the world and gave away lots of church money to overseas charities. To say lawyer Rader had a long web of financial ties around the church is an understatement. Several years later, at a hearing before a Pasadena judge in January 1979, attorney Hillel Chodos described the situation succinctly:

"Now, Your Honor, the problem in this Church is that nobody but Mr. Rader ever reviewed Mr. Rader's transactions. When Mr. Rader wants some money, he draws up an agreement or has his long-time counsel, Ervin, Cohen and Jessup draw up an agreement. He takes it to the Church, presents it, and shifts to the other buttock and signs it. Mr. Rader has twelve hats in this Church and every time he changes hats, makes a few bucks. And that is what has happened for the last I don't know how many years."

Dr. Torrance told me that once he had been in a meeting at Pasadena. According to Torrance, church personnel kept saying one idiotic thing after another. Then Rader spoke and he was the only one that talked any sense. Torrance told me he knew then the church was in for problems when the only one with any brains wasn't even a member. (This was before Rader was baptized in 1975.)

Stanley Rader had a man working for him named Osamu Gotoh of uncertain Japanese origins. He was said to be from elite, upper-class circles in Japan. What was known was he had been a cabdriver in Tokyo at one time, some kind of radio evangelist at another, and he knew the brother of Emperor Hirohito. Beyond that, nobody at Big Sandy seemed to know a lot about him. He flunked out of Ambassador College, Pasadena, in 1967. After this unsuccessful bout with his schoolbooks he was named head of a newly-created Japanese Department at Ambassador College, Pasadena. Later it was discovered he had submitted a forged transcript in his original student application to Ambassador College and had no degree. Nevertheless Gotoh was promoted to full professor at Ambassador College and was now "Professor Gotoh".

Gotoh became an advance man for Herbert Armstrong's trips. True, he could burn through a lot of money in the process going to who knows where, and in June 1975 he was apprehended by U.S. customs authorities in Los Angeles trying to smuggle in what was described as a substantial quantity of undeclared jewelry. (Rader somehow got the charges dropped.) But these details aside, Gotoh got results--a stunning series of invitations for Herbert Armstrong to meet important people.

Herbert Armstrong condemned any criticism of Osamu Gotoh. "He is part of my team, brethren!" Herbert would thunder. Church members were told the invitations for the meetings of Herbert Armstrong and Stanley Rader with world leaders were because these leaders liked Herbert Armstrong so much. I remember Herbert Armstrong telling us at the Feast of Tabernacles in the late 1960s: "I didn't ask for these meetings! They just came to me! Brethren, God is giving me favor in the eyes of world leaders!" It was rumored that God was assisted in this by Osamu Gotoh's profligate gift-giving setting up these appointments. Gotoh frequently carried $25,000 in cash in his briefcase going out the door on these trips, according to later reports.

From the rural setting of Big Sandy, I and others did not know most of these things. But Torrance heard glimpses and rumors of things of this nature, some of which Torrance would pass on to me. I wondered what was ahead for the church.

~ ~ ~

Herbert Armstrong was now spending a large part of his time outside the United States flying around the world in a $3.5 million Gulfstream II personal jet. In the summer of 1973 he turned day-to-day running of the church over to his son Garner Ted. Herbert Armstrong, however, was still in charge. He continued to keep in touch with the membership via monthly letters.

In the course of his travels, Herbert Armstrong, always accompanied by his right-hand man, church attorney Stanley Rader, would speak at banquets in foreign lands attended by dignitaries invited for the occasion. These banquets were called "testimonial dinners".

These testimonial dinners were specifically identified by Herbert Armstrong as the means by which Christ's commission was being fulfilled at the end, in which the gospel would be preached "in the whole world for a witness to all the nations" (Matt 24:14). Herbert Armstrong's reasoning was quite logical. Most Third World countries don't allow access to the media or the public at large. In Gentile kingdoms (as distinguished from the Israelite peoples of the United States and Britain which are democratic countries), Herbert explained, God considers the king to be synonymous with the nation (e.g. Dan 2:21; 2:38-39; 8:22; 11:2). 

Therefore, when Herbert Armstrong met with heads of state such as King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat of Egypt, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Indira Gandhi of India, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines (Armstrong particularly liked Marcos), leaders of Japan and mainland China, and others--this was God's witness to these whole nations of people. (Just by speaking a few minutes to the ruler of the country.)

After five days and two banquets in China in 1979, for example, Herbert Armstrong announced that he had just carried the witness of Christ's gospel to one-quarter of the world's population. And he explained that he had accomplished this remarkable feat without mentioning Christ.

In actuality, Herbert Armstrong's meetings were glorified photo sessions in which the name of Christ was rarely brought up. Herbert Armstrong would talk in general terms about "the GIVE way of life" and "an age of peace to come on earth". The heads of state would nod politely, be presented with personal gifts of expensive Steuben crystal worth thousands of dollars, and receive glowing puff pieces in the mass-circulation Plain Truth in the United States. The members would be told the witness of the gospel was going forth in these foreign lands, and everyone would be happy.

According to a member of Herbert Armstrong's traveling party in the late 1960s and early 1970s, former evangelist Charles Hunting, these trips involved unrestrained spending and the meetings were almost wholly on a social basis and atmosphere rather than a religious basis. How were the meetings arranged? As a quid pro quo for donations to charities sponsored by the dignitaries. For example, $250,000 to King Leopold's Belgian Foundation's work in the Belgian Congo, $250,000 to the Israeli-sponsored International Cultural Center for Youth in Jerusalem, and so on.

~ ~ ~

I asked Hunting if, in his opinion, Stanley Rader had believed sincerely in the Work at the time he knew him. Hunting's answer:

"Saintly Rader? A very brilliant chap. He believed sincerely in the 'Work' as a means of gaining a personal fortune ... I had an admiration for his mental agility and coolness under great pressure. We got along very well and I enjoyed the company of both him and his wife Niki."

I asked Hunting how Herbert Armstrong's emphasis upon a united Europe as the coming "Beast" power was explained to Belgian ex-king Leopold III, one of Herbert Armstrong's friends in the 1960s. Hunting's answer:

"As for King Loophold, he was only interested in what he could get out of Herbert in order to maintain his own personal life style. But then those European kings were experts at lifting money from the wealthy who basked in their reflected glory and who paid prodigious amounts for the privilege. It was all a big game. Herbert got what he wanted--tongs to extract the money from the wallets of the church members who thought he was preaching the gospel--what a gigantic sham that man carried on!--and the ex-king got money and free rides on a jet airplane for himself and wife. The Beast Power? King Loophold couldn't have cared less and the subject never came up. At least not while I was around."

~ ~ ~

I walked out the door into the world outside, and the story of this book of my Ambassador College years comes to a close.

The editor of Ambassador Review (which later became Ambassador Report) published this exchange in one of his newsletters which about says it all.

"With all your smarts, how in ______ did you ever get mixed up with the WCG in the first place?

"Editor: I was once very young and foolish. I am also reminded of this scene from the movie Casablanca:

RENAULT (Claude Rains): And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

RICK (Humphrey Bogart): My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

RENAULT: Waters? What waters? We are in the desert.

RICK: I was misinformed.

[Mervyn Hagger]

12 minutes ago, Greg Doudna said:

 

(from Showdown at Big Sandy.)

The amazing Stanley R. Rader (1930-2002)

The mysterious, pencil-moustached, monotone-voiced, dark sunglasses-wearing lawyer Stanley Rader, Herbert's right-hand man, with his web of financial contracts, legal paraphernalia, shell companies, contacts with foreign dignitaries, and growing rival to Garner Ted Armstrong for the succession, was on people's minds at Big Sandy. Not to put too fine a point on it, a lot of people at Big Sandy and in the church thought of the mysterious Rader as a shady character of somewhat dubious spirituality and increasing power over everything financial in the church.

For starters Rader had a whopping $3.5 million employment contract ($200,000 a year for seven years--this is 1970s dollars remember--plus $100,000 a year until the year 2003). However that was only the beginning. Like his mentor Herbert Armstrong, Rader too believed in God's way of beauty and quality. Newly converted to the simplicity of Christ after being baptized by Herbert in 1975, Rader lived in a Beverly Hills home worth nearly two million dollars. The church paid for his mansion in addition to his $200,000 a year salary. Rader decided it was his home and not church property when he later sold it for over a million dollars profit. 

Rader (who was both a lawyer and an accountant) was a member of the accounting firm of Rader, Cornwall, and Kessler, and the legal firm of Rader, Helge, and Gerson. Both firms represented the church. The accounting firm audited the church's books. Sometime around 1975 lawyer Rader conveniently became Treasurer of the Worldwide Church of God, controlling how its millions of dollars were spent. 

Treasurer Rader said he dropped his official involvement with the accounting firm that still bore his name and which audited the church's books. He said he had sold his interests to his partners. Jack Kessler (one of the partners in Rader, Cornwall, Kessler, and Pallazo) testified in court that the firm had been purchased from Rader for a surprisingly low price--no money at all. Kessler explained: "We promised him to service his clients to the best of our abilities ... and he promised us not to compete with us and that we could use his name."

The church's advertising was handled through a firm called Worldwide Advertising. This was a corporation controlled by Rader and Henry Cornwall. Cornwall happened to be one of the partners in the accounting firm which audited the church's books. (The accounting firm was the one which bore Rader's name.) Treasurer Rader decided that Worldwide Advertising, of which he was half-owner, was obviously the best-qualified agency for the church to hire to make its media purchases. Worldwide Advertising, of course, took a percentage of the several million dollars per year of radio and television time it bought for the church.

Rader was involved in Currier Insurance Company, which treasurer Rader decided was the best place for the church to place its insurance business. Rader was instrumental in the formation of the Ambassador International Cultural Foundation which scheduled celebrities to perform at the Auditorium on campus. Rader was also closely involved in starting Quest magazine. This was a glossy yuppie publication in New York City which had nothing to do with religion, which Rader decided Worldwide Church of God tithe-payers should subsidize as a public service to the tune of several million dollars annually during its first years to help it get on its feet; a few million dollars later Herbert Armstrong was sorely displeased to discover he could not get one of his own articles published in it.

Rader also had leasing companies which owned jet planes leased to the church. The biggest jet owned by a company controlled by Rader and his partners was Herbert Armstrong's $3.5 million personal Gulfstream II. Armstrong and Rader flew around in this one all over the world. Rader orchestrated Herbert Armstrong's many trips to dignitaries around the world and gave away lots of church money to overseas charities. To say lawyer Rader had a long web of financial ties around the church is an understatement. Several years later, at a hearing before a Pasadena judge in January 1979, attorney Hillel Chodos described the situation succinctly:

"Now, Your Honor, the problem in this Church is that nobody but Mr. Rader ever reviewed Mr. Rader's transactions. When Mr. Rader wants some money, he draws up an agreement or has his long-time counsel, Ervin, Cohen and Jessup draw up an agreement. He takes it to the Church, presents it, and shifts to the other buttock and signs it. Mr. Rader has twelve hats in this Church and every time he changes hats, makes a few bucks. And that is what has happened for the last I don't know how many years."

Dr. Torrance told me that once he had been in a meeting at Pasadena. According to Torrance, church personnel kept saying one idiotic thing after another. Then Rader spoke and he was the only one that talked any sense. Torrance told me he knew then the church was in for problems when the only one with any brains wasn't even a member. (This was before Rader was baptized in 1975.)

Stanley Rader had a man working for him named Osamu Gotoh of uncertain Japanese origins. He was said to be from elite, upper-class circles in Japan. What was known was he had been a cabdriver in Tokyo at one time, some kind of radio evangelist at another, and he knew the brother of Emperor Hirohito. Beyond that, nobody at Big Sandy seemed to know a lot about him. He flunked out of Ambassador College, Pasadena, in 1967. After this unsuccessful bout with his schoolbooks he was named head of a newly-created Japanese Department at Ambassador College, Pasadena. Later it was discovered he had submitted a forged transcript in his original student application to Ambassador College and had no degree. Nevertheless Gotoh was promoted to full professor at Ambassador College and was now "Professor Gotoh".

Gotoh became an advance man for Herbert Armstrong's trips. True, he could burn through a lot of money in the process going to who knows where, and in June 1975 he was apprehended by U.S. customs authorities in Los Angeles trying to smuggle in what was described as a substantial quantity of undeclared jewelry. (Rader somehow got the charges dropped.) But these details aside, Gotoh got results--a stunning series of invitations for Herbert Armstrong to meet important people.

Herbert Armstrong condemned any criticism of Osamu Gotoh. "He is part of my team, brethren!" Herbert would thunder. Church members were told the invitations for the meetings of Herbert Armstrong and Stanley Rader with world leaders were because these leaders liked Herbert Armstrong so much. I remember Herbert Armstrong telling us at the Feast of Tabernacles in the late 1960s: "I didn't ask for these meetings! They just came to me! Brethren, God is giving me favor in the eyes of world leaders!" It was rumored that God was assisted in this by Osamu Gotoh's profligate gift-giving setting up these appointments. Gotoh frequently carried $25,000 in cash in his briefcase going out the door on these trips, according to later reports.

From the rural setting of Big Sandy, I and others did not know most of these things. But Torrance heard glimpses and rumors of things of this nature, some of which Torrance would pass on to me. I wondered what was ahead for the church.

~ ~ ~

Herbert Armstrong was now spending a large part of his time outside the United States flying around the world in a $3.5 million Gulfstream II personal jet. In the summer of 1973 he turned day-to-day running of the church over to his son Garner Ted. Herbert Armstrong, however, was still in charge. He continued to keep in touch with the membership via monthly letters.

In the course of his travels, Herbert Armstrong, always accompanied by his right-hand man, church attorney Stanley Rader, would speak at banquets in foreign lands attended by dignitaries invited for the occasion. These banquets were called "testimonial dinners".

These testimonial dinners were specifically identified by Herbert Armstrong as the means by which Christ's commission was being fulfilled at the end, in which the gospel would be preached "in the whole world for a witness to all the nations" (Matt 24:14). Herbert Armstrong's reasoning was quite logical. Most Third World countries don't allow access to the media or the public at large. In Gentile kingdoms (as distinguished from the Israelite peoples of the United States and Britain which are democratic countries), Herbert explained, God considers the king to be synonymous with the nation (e.g. Dan 2:21; 2:38-39; 8:22; 11:2). 

Therefore, when Herbert Armstrong met with heads of state such as King Hussein of Jordan, Anwar Sadat of Egypt, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, Indira Gandhi of India, Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines (Armstrong particularly liked Marcos), leaders of Japan and mainland China, and others--this was God's witness to these whole nations of people. (Just by speaking a few minutes to the ruler of the country.)

After five days and two banquets in China in 1979, for example, Herbert Armstrong announced that he had just carried the witness of Christ's gospel to one-quarter of the world's population. And he explained that he had accomplished this remarkable feat without mentioning Christ.

In actuality, Herbert Armstrong's meetings were glorified photo sessions in which the name of Christ was rarely brought up. Herbert Armstrong would talk in general terms about "the GIVE way of life" and "an age of peace to come on earth". The heads of state would nod politely, be presented with personal gifts of expensive Steuben crystal worth thousands of dollars, and receive glowing puff pieces in the mass-circulation Plain Truth in the United States. The members would be told the witness of the gospel was going forth in these foreign lands, and everyone would be happy.

According to a member of Herbert Armstrong's traveling party in the late 1960s and early 1970s, former evangelist Charles Hunting, these trips involved unrestrained spending and the meetings were almost wholly on a social basis and atmosphere rather than a religious basis. How were the meetings arranged? As a quid pro quo for donations to charities sponsored by the dignitaries. For example, $250,000 to King Leopold's Belgian Foundation's work in the Belgian Congo, $250,000 to the Israeli-sponsored International Cultural Center for Youth in Jerusalem, and so on.

~ ~ ~

I asked Hunting if, in his opinion, Stanley Rader had believed sincerely in the Work at the time he knew him. Hunting's answer:

"Saintly Rader? A very brilliant chap. He believed sincerely in the 'Work' as a means of gaining a personal fortune ... I had an admiration for his mental agility and coolness under great pressure. We got along very well and I enjoyed the company of both him and his wife Niki."

I asked Hunting how Herbert Armstrong's emphasis upon a united Europe as the coming "Beast" power was explained to Belgian ex-king Leopold III, one of Herbert Armstrong's friends in the 1960s. Hunting's answer:

"As for King Loophold, he was only interested in what he could get out of Herbert in order to maintain his own personal life style. But then those European kings were experts at lifting money from the wealthy who basked in their reflected glory and who paid prodigious amounts for the privilege. It was all a big game. Herbert got what he wanted--tongs to extract the money from the wallets of the church members who thought he was preaching the gospel--what a gigantic sham that man carried on!--and the ex-king got money and free rides on a jet airplane for himself and wife. The Beast Power? King Loophold couldn't have cared less and the subject never came up. At least not while I was around."

~ ~ ~

I walked out the door into the world outside, and the story of this book of my Ambassador College years comes to a close.

The editor of Ambassador Review (which later became Ambassador Report) published this exchange in one of his newsletters which about says it all.

"With all your smarts, how in ______ did you ever get mixed up with the WCG in the first place?

"Editor: I was once very young and foolish. I am also reminded of this scene from the movie Casablanca:

RENAULT (Claude Rains): And what in Heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?

RICK (Humphrey Bogart): My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.

RENAULT: Waters? What waters? We are in the desert.

RICK: I was misinformed.

Thanks Greg!

Did you publish this in book format?