Silver Shirts, US pro-Nazi 1930s group, uniform description and info...

[Obscurist]

A fascinating if scary organization led by author and snappy dresser William Dudley Pelley from 1933-1940. I have never seen any of their uniform items other than a few period news photos. Based on descriptions and with a photo of a reportedly accurate replica uniform and flag, I just composed the linked blog entry in hopes that it might help someone stumbling across such things make an identification of otherwise unassuming items. Since this forum came to mind as the sort of place that might come to the attention of vintage clothing collectors likely to encounter these items, I share this information. Feel free to put the word out. Thanks.

http://www.ashevillefm.org/riffin/01/2015/silver-shirt-uniforms-and-flags-identification-and-info

 

[Leacock]

That is interesting. Pelley was an interesting figure, in many ways the first of what would unfortunately be many radical racialists setting up their own compounds and so forth.

I read one booklet by him which had a fascinating throw away comment that the British (I think the British Museum) held the Ark of the Covenant in storage like in Indiana Jones. Does anyone know where he would have got the notion or was it original to him?

 

[Stanley Doble]

There was a fairly wide spread belief in England in the 19th century that the English were the Lost Tribes of Israel. I don't know how they worked that out. There was a British Israel or British Israelite Society, they may still be around. Those things never seem to die in England.

They may have some info on the Ark. Possibly they keep it with the Holy Grail,which was brought to England in the 1st century by Joseph of Aramathea and last seen in the Monastery of Glastonbury in the time of King Arthur.

 

[Edward]

I've heard similar theories re the lost tribe of Israel regarding half a dozen countries over the years; I think somebody was promoting even the Irish as such at one time. These SilverShirts were obviously something of an equivalent to Oswald Moseley's BlackShirts - or, indeed, their Dublin counterparts, Eoin O'Duffy's Blueshirts. Many of the Blueshirts went so far as to travel to Spain in 1936, in order to fight on Franco's side.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pelley was, not to put too fine a point on it, a nut. He had been a Hollywood screenwriter before he became the American equivalent of Roderick Spode, and among other things he claimed to have mysterious psychic powers to go with his Fascist beliefs. The Silver Shirts -- also known as the "Christian Patriots," since Pelley claimed that Christ had appeared to him in person to lay out his agenda -- were as much a religious cult as they were a political movement.

There were "respectable" intellectual Fascists active in the US in the thirties, most notably Lawrence Dennis, but Pelley himself was seen as a screwball by just about everyone else. He went to prison for sedition in 1942, and when he got out he vanished into obscurity.

 

[Fading Fast]

Pelley was, not to put too fine a point on it, a nut. He had been a Hollywood screenwriter before he became the American equivalent of Roderick Spode, and among other things he claimed to have mysterious psychic powers to go with his Fascist beliefs. The Silver Shirts -- also known as the "Christian Patriots," since Pelley claimed that Christ had appeared to him in person to lay out his agenda -- were as much a religious cult as they were a political movement.

There were "respectable" intellectual Fascists active in the US in the thirties, most notably Lawrence Dennis, but Pelley himself was seen as a screwball by just about everyone else. He went to prison for sedition in 1942, and when he got out he vanished into obscurity.

"Vanished into obscurity" is interesting as there is probably a book to be written on that time spent in obscurity by famous people who have had a fall and then "vanished into obscurity." Before we had the national Savings and Loan crisis of the late '80s, Maryland had its own S&L crisis as its S&Ls weren't part of the Federal insurance program, but had a state insurance program and its S&L industry collapse prior to the national one. The poster boy for bad / corrupt banking was Jeff Levitt who ignited the state crisis when his bank Old Court S&L collapse (he was a cliche right out of a book - lavish homes, cars, jewels, etc. all financed by stealing from the bank he ran and costing a lot of small depositors their savings).

What ties this together is that after huge publicity and a big trial, etc. that landed him in jail for many years (I forget, but ten years sounds about right, but I don't remember, it wasn't 20 or 30 years though) - I never heard about him until three or four years ago when I read an article that said he was running a cigar store with a small wholesale business. In the article, he was quoted as having caught the wave of cigar smoking revival that had started a few years before. It made me think - he is the type of guy that would always find an angle, a niche (honest, dishonest or on the margin) to survive and thrive.

I bet a lot of our famous or infamous people who "vanished into obscurity" probably have interesting tales to tell about that time spent in obscurity. Most of these people have too much of something to be completely humbled or kept down (although I know some truly did do nothing significant again).

 

[LizzieMaine]

Pelley continued to put out pamphlets and such until he died in 1965, and some of his stuff is still circulated by the latter-day heirs of his movement. Had Pelley lived to see the Internet, he'd have felt right at home -- he was a direct ancestor to many of the far-right tinfoil-hatters you find online, and he continues to have followers among that crowd.

As for other notable American fascists of the thirties, most of them lived well into the 1960s or '70s. Father Coughlin remained a parish priest in Royal Oak, Michigan up until his retirement, and kept trying to regain his political prominence thru pamphlets and articles right up until he died in 1979. Like Pelley, he still has his posthumous followers on the Internet. Gerald L. K. Smith drifted further and further into the lunatic fringe, and remained the leading voice of American nativist anti-Semitism until he died in 1976. Lawrence Dennis rejected his earlier beliefs and became a staunch opponent of US militarism in the 1960s. Elizabeth Dilling enjoyed a resurgence during the McCarthy era, when her 1930s blacklist book "The Red Network" -- which alleged that everyone to her left was part of a global communist conspiracy -- was used as a model by the Counter-Attack organization, and she continued to preach her beliefs to anyone who would listen until she died in 1966. And Charles A. Lindbergh, while never publicly or privately repudiating his prewar beliefs, gave up politics after the war to become an outspoken environmentalist -- crusading to the end of his life against the negative impact of human technology on the natural world.

 

[Fading Fast]

And Charles A. Lindbergh, while never publicly or privately repudiating his prewar beliefs, gave up politics after the war to become an outspoken environmentalist -- crusading to the end of his life against the negative impact of human technology on the natural world.

And if memory serves, having a second family in Germany - mistress and children. He had more than a full life before and after his biggest moment of fame.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And if memory serves, having a second family in Germany - mistress and children. He had more than a full life before and after his biggest moment of fame.

When that whole story came out, the first thought that came to mind was "Of course." He'd never given up his deeply-held belief in Aryan superiority.

 

[Fading Fast]

When that whole story came out, the first thought that came to mind was "Of course." He'd never given up his deeply-held belief in Aryan superiority.

I always felt the same about Henry Ford's apology to the Jews - he was dragged kicking and screaming to that one - methinks it wasn't genuine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Old Henry got more and more monomaniacal as he got older, and he kept William J. Cameron, who was the literary architect of his anti-Semitism, and the repulsive thug Harry Bennett on his payroll as long as he possibly could. Cameron even had a weekly speaking spot on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour, an otherwise-respectable program of classical music on CBS, right up until the war made his talks indefensible.

To bring this full circle, before he joined up with Ford, Cameron had been a leader in the so-called British Israelite "Christian Identity" movement -- which was a key influence on William Dudley Pelley. It's a small world, especially on the lunatic fringe.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Henry Ford was a strange, quirky character who fascinated and baffled me for years. It took me a long time to figure out Henry Ford. It finally dawned on me that he was born a Michigan farm boy from the 1860s and remained one till the end.

None of his beliefs would have seemed out of place for a small town feed and grain dealer in the midwest. His membership in the Masons, his belief in reincarnation, his suspicion of banks and bankers, his opposition to drinking and smoking, his approval of McGuffy's readers and his disdain for higher education, his fondness for square dancing and Hawaiian music, all would have fit right in.

There are a couple of astonishing things that no one seems to notice. One is, that he never changed even after he became one of the richest men in the world. Other millionaires developed more sophisticated tastes, broader views and a more educated outlook as they moved on to a wider world. But not Henry. Like Gatsby he remained true to his Platonic ideal of himself to the end.

The other thing was even more astonishing. How did this semi literate rube become so rich? I figured that one out too and anyone who learns this lesson can become as successful as Ford if they start young enough.

If something worked, he did it again. He would stick with a good idea as long as it worked.

But if something did not work he would drop it at once and move on without a backward glance.

This may be the most astonishing thing of all about his character. Very few people can do either of those things and I don't know anyone who can do both.

It is human nature once we get good at something to move on to something else. And once we get an idea in our heads, if it doesn't work to refuse to admit defeat and keep at it forever.

I can give 2 illustrations. When he started in the car business it was a fast growing, fast changing industry. Makers changed models every year or at most, every 2 or 3 years. Ford kept making the Model T for an unprecedented 19 years. Every year he added a few improvements, mostly aimed at cutting costs, and reduced the price. Between 1908 and 1923 he cut the cost of a basic Ford from $1000 to $275 in spite of the fact that inflation had doubled in that time. He kept making the Model T as long as he could sell them. When people stopped buying them, he shut the plant down for 4 months and retooled for a completely new car.

And the opposite. In WW1 Ford was an ardent pacifist. He refused to make weapons, ammunition, or any kind of war materiel even though he was harshly criticized as being unpatriotic. Instead he spent $450,000 of his own money on his Peace Ship project. He said at the time that he would give his entire fortune to end the war and I believe he was sincere. The idea was to take a team of progressives, ministers, socialists and assorted reformers to Europe and negotiate an end to the war. It was a beautiful dream but 2 weeks after he arrived in Europe he realized it was never going to work. He dropped the plan, got on the first boat back to America and never mentioned it again.

I don't believe there was another man alive who could have done both those things, and very few who could have done either.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It is human nature once we get good at something to move on to something else. And once we get an idea in our heads, if it doesn't work to refuse to admit defeat and keep at it forever.

This was the heart of Ford's war with the CIO -- he refused to admit that the my-way-or-else way he'd done business in 1914 was no longer relevant to the world of the 1930s. And there was nobody who could tell him otherwise, because he was HENRY FORD, ******. His wife and son Edsel pleaded with him to recognize the UAW after GM and Chrysler had done so, but he refused to do it until his back was absolutely against the wall. A lot of bloodshed could have been avoided if he'd been a more reasonable man in 1937, and if he'd gotten rid of Harry Bennett ten years before he finally did.

 

[Stearmen]

I can give 2 illustrations. When he started in the car business it was a fast growing, fast changing industry. Makers changed models every year or at most, every 2 or 3 years. Ford kept making the Model T for an unprecedented 19 years. Every year he added a few improvements, mostly aimed at cutting costs, and reduced the price. Between 1908 and 1923 he cut the cost of a basic Ford from $1000 to $275 in spite of the fact that inflation had doubled in that time. He kept making the Model T as long as he could sell them. When people stopped buying them, he shut the plant down for 4 months and retooled for a completely new car.

You better rethink that statement. Henry refused to shut down the Model T production line, even though it was clear there day had come and gone and Ford was loosing market share to both GM and Chrysler. Edsel finally convinced him to stop, Edsel came up with the shutting down of the factory, a great PR move! Also, Ford did not use black paint because it dries faster, the difference in dry time is negligible! He used it for the simple reason, his people only had to order one color, and did not have to stop and get another color for their spray gun! All seamless.

 

[vitanola]

You better rethink that statement. Henry refused to shut down the Model T production line, even though it was clear there day had come and gone and Ford was loosing market share to both GM and Chrysler. Edsel finally convinced him to stop, Edsel came up with the shutting down of the factory, a great PR move! Also, Ford did not use black paint because it dries faster, the difference in dry time is negligible! He used it for the simple reason, his people only had to order one color, and did not have to stop and get another color for their spray gun! All seamless.

No, actually, back in 1914 when Ford went over to black the black Japan did dry faster than the paints that it replaced, for amng other advantages fewer coats were needed. The blue paint use for bodies in 1913 and 1914 required a prime coat made of asphaltum varnish, carbon black and whiting. This was sanded and covered with two coats of "ground" which consisted of Prussian Blue and Carbon Black ground into a long oil varnish with a 30 percent Asphaltum content, and two coats of "short" oil varnish ground with blue pigment and 14% Asphaltum. The bodies had to be stored for three weeks for drying. The improved Black Japan was flowed on to the bodies with low pressure spray nozzles which looked like garden sprayers. The excess dripped off of the bodies and was strained and recirculated. These bodies would run through a drying kiln and in six hours were ready for upholstery.

When Ford re-introduced color in 1925 the "colors" (Channel Green for the Coupes and Tudor Sedans, Windsor Maroon for the Fordor sedans) were very dark, nearly black, and were a Japan similar in chemical composition to the old black stuff. It was not until late 1926 that Ford set up Duco lacquer spray lines at some assembly plants and all body styles shipped from those plants could be offerred any color Including black, which was surprisingly popular.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Before modern quick drying lacquers became available in the late twenties painting a car was a slow laborious process as Vitanola described. The finish was built up coat after coat with drying time in between. But they did not paint the chassis that way, only the body. The chassis, running boards and fenders got a quick drying, tough black paint called black japan or chassis black. Ford cut the painting bottleneck by painting the whole car with chassis black paint.

Ford never did fire Bennett. That was done by his grandson Henry II. The government pulled Henry II out of the Navy in WW2 because the Ford company was so badly run it was affecting war production.

Henry was born in 1863 which means in 1943 he was eighty years old. He had been in failing health for years and was practically senile. His son Edsel died in May 1943 of stomach ulcers and had also been ill for some time. Bennett took advantage of the situation to put himself in charge although he knew nothing about the auto business and nothing about running a business. This is why the government was so concerned. At the time, Ford was a privately owned company with no shareholders or owners outside the Ford family, and no board of directors or management team in the conventional sense. Old Henry ran the place like a country store.

He originally hired Bennett as head of security during a kidnapping scare in the early thirties. Of course the Lindbergh case was well known but there were many other kidnappings about that time and the Ford children would have been a juicy prize. As time went on Bennett played on Ford's fears to increase his own power.

There was a story I read some years ago, told by a Ford insider or secretary who was close to Henry Ford in the forties.The union was threatening to strike. Henry went off on a rant about how he was never against labor, he did everything for labor, and how unfair it was to treat him this way. Then he calmed down and said "what do they want anyway?" Bennett said "it's the checkoff system. They want you to deduct the union dues from the men's pay and give it to the union." Ford said "what's the matter with that? Why don't you give it to them?" so they did. End of strike threat.

 

[Stanley Doble]

"This was the heart of Ford's war with the CIO -- he refused to admit that the my-way-or-else way he'd done business in 1914 was no longer relevant to the world of the 1930s. "

Quite the opposite. Ford established his Sociological Department in 1913 to investigate living conditions and working conditions among Ford employees and their families, and to figure out what the company could do to help them.

One of the things their investigators or economists determined, was that to raise a family in a comfortable and respectable way cost considerably more than the typical auto worker made. This led to Ford's famous $5 day which was about twice what others were paying. They also helped workers build or buy their own homes, they provided education for new workers and other benefits.

Their reward was to be denounced as spies and snoopers, this created so much controversy the whole Sociological Department was disbanded in 1920.

Ford had other projects. One thing that occupied his mind was the mass migration to Detroit by workers. He was a farm boy himself and favored the old fashioned, small town, or rural life. To this end he established small factories in towns and villages around Detroit, to make components like switches, coils and other small auto parts. A more expensive way to do things, but he believed justified in the benefits to the workers and the small towns where they lived.

He also had his own stores where his workers could buy groceries and other things at discount prices. This too created controversy when non Ford people shopped there, and was decried as unfair competition by other storekeepers. Eventually it too was abandoned.

Ford made the effort to do more for his employees than any other industrialist of his time. He may not have been right but you can't say he didn't care.

I'm just waiting for you to impute some derogatory motives to him, then turn around and praise the government or socialists when they advocate the exact same thing.

It may stagger you to know that Ford counted many prominent Socialists among his friends and took their advice about the Sociology Department, the Peace Ship and many other things.

Anti Semitism was taught to him by his Jewish Socialist friends, believe it or not.

 

[Edward]

You better rethink that statement. Henry refused to shut down the Model T production line, even though it was clear there day had come and gone and Ford was loosing market share to both GM and Chrysler. Edsel finally convinced him to stop, Edsel came up with the shutting down of the factory, a great PR move! Also, Ford did not use black paint because it dries faster, the difference in dry time is negligible! He used it for the simple reason, his people only had to order one color, and did not have to stop and get another color for their spray gun! All seamless.

When they exported the Model T in kit form, to be assembled at a plant in the UK, the shipping crates were designed such that they would provide the wood for the floor of the cars, once assembled. Minimal waste, at least in theory.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ford made the effort to do more for his employees than any other industrialist of his time. He may not have been right but you can't say he didn't care.

I think his tolerance of Bennett for all those years belies that. A kindly, caring industrialist would have had Bennett up on murder charges after the Ford Hunger March riot. Five men dead, sixty wounded, all thanks to Harry and by extension, thanks to his employer. Whatever Ford might have been in the 1910s -- and I'm not denying he had his progressive qualities then -- had degenerated into a paranoid monomania in the 1930s. I think there's pretty clear evidence that by then he was mentally ill.

The stereotype of a crazy man has always been one who imagined himself to be Napoleon. In the way he ran his company from the 1920s onward, Henry Ford became the living embodiment of that stereotype.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Another interesting connection was Fritz Kuhn, head of the German-American Bund. His day job was working for Ford as a chemical engineer. I don't know if he was still working for Ford by the late '30s but if he was he must have had some very generous vacation time to take time off to be the Bund's führer.