G. Edward Griffin

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G. Edward Griffin

Born November 7, 1931 (1931-11-07) (age 76)
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Nationality American
Education BA in speech and communications, Certified Financial Planner
Occupation documentary film producer, writer, lecturer
Known for documentaries and books on controversial topics
Website
http://www.realityzone.com/info.html

G. Edward Griffin (b. November 7, 1931) is an American film producer, author, and political lecturer.[1] Starting as a child actor, he became a radio station manager before age 20. After writing for the 1968 Wallace campaign, he began a career of producing documentaries and books on controversial topics like cancer, Noah's ark, and the Federal Reserve, as well as on right-libertarian theories of the U.S. Supreme Court, terrorism, subversion, and foreign policy. Since the 1970s, Griffin has promoted Laetrile as a killer of cancer cells, a view accepted by few scientists.[2][3] He has also promoted the Durupınar site as hosting the original Noah's ark, though opposed by some Creationists and many scientists. He strongly opposes the Federal Reserve, charging it with being a banking cartel and an instrument of war and totalitarianism.[4] In 2002, Griffin founded the individualist network Freedom Force International.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Griffin was born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 7, 1931, and became a child actor on local radio in 1942. By 1947 he was emceeing at WJR (CBS), and continued as announcer at WUOM and station manager at WWJ-TV (NBC), 1950–1955. He earned his bachelor's from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1953, majoring in speech and communications.[5] Griffin served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1956, reaching the rank of sergeant.[1]

[edit] Political and economic advocacy

When George Wallace ran for U.S. president in the election of 1968, winning five states for the paleoconservative third-party American Independents, Griffin served as a writer for Wallace's vice presidential candidate, Curtis LeMay,[1] a retired General of the Air Force. In the next year, Griffin began producing political films for American Media of Los Angeles[1] (later moving to Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, California), of which he is president.[6] While he describes his work as the output of "a plain vanilla researcher", Griffin also agrees with the Los Angeles Daily News characterizing him as "Crusader Rabbit".[7]

Griffin has been a longtime member and officer of the conservative John Birch Society[8][9] and a contributing editor to its magazine, The New American.[10] Since the 1960s, Griffin has spoken and written extensively on the Society's theory of history involving "communist and capitalist conspiracies" over banking systems, American foreign policy, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the United Nations.[8][11][12] His 1969 lecture, More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America, was printed in English and Dutch. In 1975 he wrote a sympathetic biography of Society founder Robert W. Welch, which was well received by members of the organization.[13][14][15] Six of his documentaries from this period were rereleased in 2001 as Hidden Agenda: Real Conspiracies that Affect our Lives Today.

[edit] The Creature from Jekyll Island

Griffin's 1994 book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, draws parallels between the Federal Reserve and a bird of prey, as suggested by the Great Seal of the United States on its cover.
Griffin's 1994 book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, draws parallels between the Federal Reserve and a bird of prey, as suggested by the Great Seal of the United States on its cover.

Griffin enrolled in the College for Financial Planning in Denver, Colorado.[16] He became a Certified Financial Planner in 1989, and described the U.S. money system in his 1993 movie and 1994 book on the Federal Reserve System, The Creature from Jekyll Island.[1] The title is his depiction of a November 1910 meeting at Jekyll Island, Georgia, of seven bankers and economic policymakers who represented the financial elite of the western world.[17][18] The meeting was described by Forbes founder B. C. Forbes as "the real birth of the present Federal Reserve System".[19]

Griffin's work stresses the point which Federal Reserve chair Marriner Eccles made in Congressional testimony in 1941: "If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn't be any money."[17] Griffin argued against the debt-based fiat money system on several grounds, such as its devouring of individual prosperity and its perpetuation of war. He also described the framework by which central bankers have been observed to underwrite both sides of an ongoing war or revolution.[20] Griffin says that the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations and the World Bank are working to destroy American sovereignty through a system of world military and financial control, and argues for United States withdrawal from the United Nations.[10]

Edward Flaherty, an academic economist[21] who has argued against Federal Reserve conspiracy theories, called Griffin's description of the secret meeting on Jekyll Island an "amateurish take on history" and "highly suspect".[22] Distancing himself from "conspiracy theorists" in the field, Griffin responded to Flaherty's analysis on his website.[23] Unorthodox theories about the Federal Reserve System have also found their way into the academic teaching of economics as material for critical discussion.[24]

Griffin's dreams of a free-market, private-money system superior to the Fed caused economist Bernard von NotHaus to deploy such a system in 1998. Griffin states that von NotHaus's private silver certificates, known as Liberty Dollars, are "real money".[25]

A popular book on the Federal Reserve,[26][27] The Creature from Jekyll Island has been a business bestseller;[28][29] it has been reprinted in Japanese, 2005, and German, 2006. It also influenced Ron Paul during the writing of a chapter on money and the Federal Reserve in Paul's New York Times number-one bestseller, The Revolution: A Manifesto, which recommended Griffin's book on its "Reading List for a Free and Prosperous America".[30]

[edit] Freedom advocacy

In 2002, Griffin founded Freedom Force International, a libertarian activist network,[6][31] whose members value individual freedom above government power. The organization's position that the exclusive role of government is to protect people's rights and property, not to provide services like welfare, reflects Griffin's view that collectivism and freedom "are mortal enemies." One of the organization's stated goals is to elect people with such views to government offices and onto the boards of nonprofit organizations—true to its motto, "Don't fight city hall when you can BE city hall."[32]

In 2006, Griffin was interviewed for the controversial anti-Fed documentary film America: Freedom to Fascism.[33] He has endorsed Ron Paul for U.S. president in the 2008 election.[6][34]

[edit] Health advocacy

In 1974, Griffin wrote the controversial book World Without Cancer,[35][36] and released it as a documentary video; its second edition appeared in 1997, and it was translated into Afrikaans, 1988, and German, 2005. It proposed that cancer is a metabolic disease facilitated by the lack of Laetrile (called "Vitamin B17" by its American developer), a view which has not been accepted by the majority of the scientific community. Because the theory had been labeled "quackery" by the American Cancer Society, as well as the FDA and the American Medical Association, Griffin charged those groups with a "hidden economic and power agenda".[2][37] He claimed that the suppression of laetrile-based cancer treatment is a political move by organizations that depend on the cancer business, in order to protect themselves. A critical review in the American Journal of Public Health called this view a "conspiracy" theory and assessed: "Although the book is an emotional plea for the unrestricted use of the Laetrile as an anti-tumor agent, the scientific evidence to justify such a policy does not appear within it."[38] Griffin's websites refer visitors to doctors, clinics, and hospitals with alternative cancer treatments,[39] including sellers of laetrile,[35] a product of apricot seeds.[40] He does not sell laetrile directly.[35]

Griffin's productions referenced the work of biochemist Dr. Dean Burk, head and chief chemist of the Cytochemistry Section of the National Cancer Institute, who served for over 30 years. Funded by the McNaughton Foundation, Burk described his experiments to Griffin as showing that Laetrile and glucosidase set "the cancer cells dying off like flies."[41] A systematic review of 36 reports containing laetrile intervention data found no controlled clinical trials, no reliable evidence for the effectiveness of laetrile, and considerable doubt about its safety.[3]

Griffin is the founder and president of the Cancer Cure Foundation (now the Cure Research Foundation).[16]

[edit] Noah's ark

In 1992, Griffin wrote and narrated the documentary The Discovery of Noah's Ark, based on U.S. Merchant Marine officer David Fasold's 1988 book, The Ark of Noah.[42] Griffin's film said that the original Noah's ark continued to exist in fossil form at the Durupınar site, about 17 miles (27 km) from Mount Ararat in Turkey, based on photographic, radar, and metal detector evidence. Griffin also noted that towns in the area had names that related to the Biblical story of the flood. He presented a theory that the flood might have been the action of huge tides caused by a gravitational interaction between Earth and a large celestial body coming close to it.[7]

Popular Mechanics reported Fasold describing his research as "radar imagery ... so clear that Fasold could count the floorboards between the walls";[43] Griffin has continued to promote this view, as did Fasold's co-researcher Ron Wyatt and Wyatt Archeological Research.[44] Creationists who prefer a near-Ararat site, such as John D. Morris and Andrew Snelling, held that "a great deal of effort was put into repeating the radar measurements acquired in 1986 by Wyatt and Fasold .... After numerous attempts over a period of one and a half days [Geophysical Survey Systems] were unable to duplicate their radar records in any way."[45][46] Fasold himself revisited the site evidence with geologists Ian Plimer and Lorence Collins and came to doubt his initial beliefs, saying, "I believe this may be the oldest running hoax in history. I think we have found what the ancients said was the Ark, but this structure is not Noah's Ark."[47][48][49]

[edit] Bibliography

  • (1964) The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations. Boston, MA: Western Islands Publishers. ISBN 0882791028. OCLC 414277. 
  • (1968) The Grand Design: A Lecture on U.S. Foreign Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Grand Design. OCLC 6207421. 
  • (1968) The Great Prison Break: The Supreme Court Leads the Way. Boston, MA: Western Islands Publishers. OCLC 220369. 
  • (1968) A Memorandum on Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Key Decisions of the United States Supreme Court as Related to the Impeachment of the Chief Justice. OCLC 432181. 
  • (1969) More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America (transcript), American Media. 
  • (1970) This is the John Birch Society: An Invitation to Membership, 1st ed. (2d ed. 1972, 3d ed. 1981 Western Islands), Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. OCLC 83825. 
  • (1971) The Capitalist Conspiracy: An Inside View of International Banking (transcript), 1st ed. (2d ed. 1982 Huntington Beach Patriots), Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. OCLC 3263688. 
  • (1974) World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17, 1st ed., reprinted 1976, 1977 (2d ed. 1997, reprinted 2001, 2006), American Media. ISBN 0912986093. 
  • (1975) The Life and Words of Robert Welch, Founder of the John Birch Society, E. Merrill Root (introduction), Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. ISBN 9780912986074. OCLC 1530499. 
  • (1986) in Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements: Ephemeral Materials, 1976-1986 (archival material), Westlake Village, CA: Americans for Medical Freedom. OCLC 18761098. 
  • (1994) The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve, 1st ed. (2d ed. 1995, 3d ed. 1998 American Media, 4th ed. 2002, now in 6th ed.), Appelton, WI: American Opinion Publishing. ISBN 0912986166. OCLC 31354943. 
  • (1997) Private Papers Pertaining to Laetrile. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. ISBN 9780912986203. OCLC 61633861. 

[edit] Filmography

  • (1968). The Grand Design: A Lecture on U.S. Foreign Policy.
  • (1969). More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America (Lecture recorded on April 3, 1969). American Media. OCLC 5549058.
  • (1974). World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 [Visual material]. American Media. OCLC 5604983.
  • Bezmenov, Yuri; Griffin, G. Edward. (1984). Soviet Subversion of the Free Press: A Conversation with Yuri Bezmenov [Videotape]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 45810551.
  • Griffin, G. Edward; Solis, Willy. (1985). The Red Reality in Central America [Videotape]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 37023488.
  • (1992). The Discovery of Noah's Ark: The Whole Story [Videotape]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 29511807.
  • Griffin, G. Edward; Shurtleff, Howard. (1994). The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve [Videotape]. John Birch Society. OCLC 36245861.
  • (2001). Hidden Agenda: Real Conspiracies that Affect our Lives Today (6 volumes). Venice, CA: Knowledge 20/20. OCLC 49289908.
    • Vol. 1. (1972). The Capitalist Conspiracy: An Inside View of International Banking [Documentary]. American Media. OCLC 5558340.
    • Vol. 2. (1983). The Subversion Factor: A History of Treason in Modern America (Part 1: Moles in High Places, Part 2: Open Gates of Troy) [Videotape]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 36968013.
    • Vol. 3. (1968). The Truth About Communism: Only the Brave are Free [Videotape].
    • Vol. 4. (1966). Anarchy U.S.A.: In the Name of Civil Rights [DVD, Documentary]. John Birch Society.
    • Vol. 5. (1962). Katanga: The Untold Story [Videotape].
    • Vol. 6. WBTV. (1982). No Place to Hide: The Strategy and Tactics of Terrorism [Videotape]. Alexandria, VA: Western Goals Foundation. OCLC 10744020. Also, OCLC 19993388 .
  • UFO-TV (distributor). (2004). The Discovery of Noah's Ark: The Whole Story [DVD]. Venice, CA: Knowledge 20/20. OCLC 59007573.
  • Griffin, Edward G. (executive producer); Dill, David; Gazecki, William; Harris, Bev; Mercuri, Rebecca; Rubin, Aviel D. (2004). Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud [Videotape, DVD]. Westlake Village, CA: American Media and Reality Zone. ISBN 9780912986432. OCLC 65199460. Also, OCLC 56844390 .
  • Jaeger, James; Baehr, Theodore; Griffin, G. Edward; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin. (2007). Fiat Empire: Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution [DVD]. Beverly Hills, CA: Cornerstone-Matrixx Entertainment. OCLC 192133806.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e (December 1993) Who's Who in America 1994, 48th ed., Marquis Who's Who. 
  2. ^ a b Griffin, G. Edward (2006-04-07). A World Without Cancer - The Story Of Vitamin B17 (video). Retrieved on 2008-02-29.
  3. ^ a b Milazzo, Stefania; Lejeune, Stephane; Ernst, Edzard (June 2007). "Laetrile for cancer: a systematic review of the clinical evidence". Supportive Care in Cancer 15 (6): 583–95. doi:10.1007/s00520-006-0168-9. PMID 17106659. 
  4. ^ Thomas, Kenn (2002). Popular Paranoia: A Steamshovel Press Anthology. Adventures Unlimited Press, 298. ISBN 1931882061. 
  5. ^ Speaker Bio – G. Edward Griffin. Chicago Resource Expo. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  6. ^ a b c G. Edward Griffin. Ron Paul 2008 (2007-12-24). Retrieved on 2008-03-07.
  7. ^ a b "T.O.'s Griffin All Booked Up With Writing, Film Projects", Daily News of Los Angeles, 1995-05-22. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  8. ^ a b Sayre, Nora (1996). Sixties Going on Seventies. Rutgers University Press, 98. ISBN 0813521939. 
  9. ^ Aune, James Arnt (2001). Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness. Guilford Press, 140-1. ISBN 1572307579. 
  10. ^ a b Steele, Karen Dorn, and Morlin, Bill. "Get-rich pitch 'bogus': Seven states have determined Global Prosperity is an illegal pyramid scheme", The Spokesman Review, 2000-09-02. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  11. ^ Stone, Barbara S. (February 1974). "The John Birch Society: A Profile". The Journal of Politics 36 (1). 
  12. ^ "Dirty Deeds: The Dorean Group promised hundreds of homeowners that their mortgages would go away. Guess what? They didn't", East Bay Express, 2006-04-05. Retrieved on 2008-03-06. 
  13. ^ Bourgoin, Suzanne Michele, and Byers, Paula K. (1998). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale. ISBN 0787625566. 
  14. ^ Thornton, James. "Remembering Robert Welch", John Birch Society, 1993-12-13. Retrieved on 2008-03-06. 
  15. ^ Jasper, William F. "Americanism's Standard-bearer", John Birch Society, 1999-12-06. Retrieved on 2008-03-06. 
  16. ^ a b Tiger Financial News Network: Contributors. Tiger Financial News Network. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  17. ^ a b Heath, Hari. "Money? It's not what you think it is", Idaho Observer, June 2003. Retrieved on 2008-03-03. 
  18. ^ "Feeding the God of War", The New American, 2002-09-09. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  19. ^ Gurumurthy, S. "US Fed an Enigma Wrapped in a Mystery", Business Line, 2007-12-28. 
  20. ^ "Business vs. government: in his book The Big Ripoff, Timothy Carney blows away the deception that Big Business and the government are adversaries and that the government defends the average citizen", The New American, 2007-01-22. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  21. ^ ERS Group (2005). Professional Staff. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
  22. ^ Flaherty, Edward. Debunking the Federal Reserve Conspiracy Theories. Retrieved on 2008-05-10.
  23. ^ Griffin, G. Edward (2004). Meet Edward Flaherty, Conspiracy Poo-Pooist. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
  24. ^ Tokle, Robert (2007). "Fed Conspiracy Used in Teaching Money and Banking". Academy of Educational Leadership Journal 11 (1): 43-51. 
  25. ^ Chevreau, Jonathan. "Paper notes need 'real' backing", National Post, 1999-11-11. 
  26. ^ Gavin, Robert. "The man who shaped the Federal Reserve", The Boston Globe, 2004-11-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-02. 
  27. ^ USA Daily Staff. "Paul Out to Slay The Creature from Jekyll Island", USA Daily, 2007-08-22. Retrieved on 2008-03-02. 
  28. ^ "Bestselling business books", Calgary Herald, 2006-07-04, p. F5. 
  29. ^ "Best-selling business books, April 14", Rocky Mountain News, 2007-04-14. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  30. ^ Paul, Ron (2007-04-30). The Revolution: A Manifesto. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing, 169-70. ISBN 0446537519. 
  31. ^ Fiat Empire: Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution. Matrixx Productions (2006-12-05). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
  32. ^ Helgeson, Baird. "Freedom Force Stunned By Courthouse Violence", 2008-05-08. Retrieved on 2008-05-10. 
  33. ^ "Edward Griffin: Filmography", New York Times, Baseline StudioSystems, All Media Guide, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-05. 
  34. ^ YouTube - Ed Griffin Ron Paul Rally in Mountain View
  35. ^ a b c Lagnado, Lucette. "Laetrile Makes a Comeback Selling to Patients Online", Wall Street Journal, 2000-03-22. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  36. ^ "Controversial Cancer Drug Laetrile Enters Political Realms", Middlesboro Daily News, 1977-08-10. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  37. ^ "New Library Books", Books, Grand Forks Herald, 2003-07-13, p. 4. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  38. ^ Landau, Emanuel, Ph.D. (July 1976). "World without Cancer; the Story of Vitamin B17" (PDF). American Journal of Public Health 66 (7): 696. ISSN 0090-0036. 
  39. ^ List of Clinics in the United States Offering Alternative Therapies. Cure Research Foundation (2003-08-15). Retrieved on 2008-03-05.
  40. ^ Jones, Marianna. "Cure or fraud?", Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, 1976-10-11. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. 
  41. ^ Griffin, G. Edward (1974). World Without Cancer. Retrieved on 2008-02-29. “'When we add laetrile to a cancer culture under the microscope,' said Burk, 'providing the enzyme glucosidase also is present, we can see the cancer cells dying off like flies.'” 
  42. ^ The Discovery of Noah's Ark. Reality Zone. Retrieved on 2008-03-06.
  43. ^ Fillon, Mike. "Science Solves Ancient Mysteries of the Bible", Popular Mechanics, December 1996, p. 40. 
  44. ^ Wyatt, Ron (1989). Discovered: Noah's Ark. World Bible Society, 7-8, 12. 
  45. ^ Snelling, Andrew (September 1992). "Special report: Amazing 'Ark' exposé". Creation Ex Nihilo 14 (4): 30. 
  46. ^ Morris, John (September 1990). "That boat-shaped rock ... is it Noah’s Ark?". Creation Ex Nihilo 12 (4): 18. 
  47. ^ Collins, Lorence D., and Fasold, David (1996). "Bogus 'Noah's Ark' from Turkey Exposed as a Common Geologic Structure". Journal of Geoscience Education 44 (4): 439-444. 
  48. ^ Pockley, Peter. "Theory blown out of the water", Australian Sun-Herald, 1994-11-06. 
  49. ^ Clifton, Brad. "Doubts sank faith in Ark", The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 1997-04-09. 

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