Gerald B. Winrod
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Gerald Burton Winrod (1900 – November 11, 1957) was an evangelist, author, and political activist. Winrod was the son of a former Wichita, Kansas bartender whose saloon was attacked by Carry Nation.[1] By 1925 he formed the Defenders of the Christian Faith a nondenominational organization that opposed teaching evolution in public schools and supported Prohibition and racial segregation.
Winrod was perceived to have strong anti-Semitic views, earning him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi" (Jayhawk is a nickname for a Kansan). However, Winrod continually denied harboring anti-Semitic feelings.[2] Winrod believed the United States to be the chosen land of God and, when the Great Depression struck, publicly stated that it was the work of Satan. He believed Franklin D. Roosevelt was a "devil" linked with the Jewish-Communist conspiracy and that Hitler would save Europe from Communism.[3] Winrod spread these views through his newspaper, The Defender, which by 1937, achieved a 100,000 monthly circulation.[4] He ran for a U.S. Senate seat from Kansas in 1938 but was defeated in the Republican primary when a popular former governor, Clyde M. Reed, was lured out of retirement by the party establishment to run against him. With 21.4% of the vote, Winrod was a distant third after Reed and Dallas Knapp of Coffeyville, Kansas.[5]
Winrod developed a strong following among German-speaking Kansas Mennonites who identified with his religious, anti-WWII, and pro-Germany views. The Defender was published by Mennonite-owned Herald Publishing Company of Newton, Kansas from 1931 to 1942.[6] Winrod found support in Bethel College and Tabor College[7] and from editors of local Mennonite papers, and some Mennonite precincts voted predominantly for Winrod in the 1938 Senate primary.[8]
In 1940 Winrod's wife sued for divorce. In 1942 the federal government indicted Winrod for sedition for his Nazi sympathies.[9] Winrod's son Gordon is a Christian Identity minister and convicted felon.
Winrod and/or Huey Long served as the prototype of Berzelius (Buzz) Windrip in Sinclair Lewis's anti-fascist novel It Can't Happen Here.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Juhnke, p. 137.
- ^ Winrod, Gerald B., (ca. 1933?) The Truth About the Protocols.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 138.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 139.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 140.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 139.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 138.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 140.
- ^ Juhnke, p. 140.
[edit] References
- Juhnke, James C. (1975), A People of Two Kingdoms: the Political Acculturation of the Kansas Mennonites, Faith and Life Press. ISBN 0-87303-662-X
[edit] External links
- "The Winrod Legacy of Hate" Anti-Defamation League article
