1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:12,840 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. We are moving on this week. I 2 00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:18,280 Speaker 1: swear this week's regular episode isn't about Joseph Paul Franklin 3 00:00:18,400 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: or Willie Muther Peers or the Turner Diaries or any 4 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: of that. I promise we're done with that for now. 5 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: But before we leave them behind, I just had to 6 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: tell you one more thing, just a quick note. Earl 7 00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:44,960 Speaker 1: Turner was a real guy, kind of anyway. Timothy McVeigh 8 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:47,720 Speaker 1: blew up a federal building trying to imitate Earl Turner. 9 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: Robert Matthews formed the Order in an effort to bring 10 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: the novels events to life. But before any of that, 11 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: before the book was published, there was a real Earl. 12 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,960 Speaker 1: William Luther Pierce named almost every character in his two 13 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:10,840 Speaker 1: novels after people he knew in real life, and Earl 14 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: Turner was no exception. I'd always read that Earle was 15 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: the name of his secretary in the early National Alliance days, 16 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:27,760 Speaker 1: but that's all anyone ever said, Earl who Surely there's 17 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: an answer to this question. The name turned out to 18 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: be not that hard to find, although the man himself 19 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 1: has proven to be a little more elusive. His name 20 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: was Earl Woosley Thomas junior. He died in Maryland in 21 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, just a few months shy of his 22 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: eightieth birthday. Earle joined the American Nazi Party in the 23 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: nineteen sixties when he was a young man in his twenties. 24 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: I couldn't tell you exactly what year he joined, but 25 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,240 Speaker 1: I suspect he was very deeply involved by nineteen sixty five. 26 00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:12,880 Speaker 1: A story shared by one of his old associates describes 27 00:02:12,919 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: an incident in which Earl and another Stormtrooper were arrested 28 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 1: for spraying red paint on some anti war activists, but 29 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: the charges were later dropped. It doesn't say when this happened, 30 00:02:26,040 --> 00:02:30,920 Speaker 1: or where or who was sprayed, but that is a 31 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: significant number of specific details. Right, two arrested, charges dropped 32 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:41,399 Speaker 1: red paint, anti war protest and I found one incident 33 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: that matches those details. He was in August of nineteen 34 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: sixty five. Newspaper accounts don't actually name the two Nazis 35 00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: who were arrested, and neither does the issue of Stormtrooper 36 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 1: magazine that describes the incident. But the men who were 37 00:03:00,400 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: soaked and paint are actually very famous. Labor lawyer Stawton Lynde, 38 00:03:07,600 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Bob Moses and pacifist activist 39 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:17,359 Speaker 1: David Dellinger. I suppose it is possible that Earl through 40 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: paint on a different Pacifist on some other day, but 41 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:27,760 Speaker 1: that was the only story I found that fit. Later 42 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: on in his career as a Nazi, Earl was one 43 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,680 Speaker 1: of several longtime members who left the organization with William 44 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,280 Speaker 1: Luther Pierce in nineteen seventy after his big falling out 45 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:39,960 Speaker 1: with Matias Kale, the man who took over the party 46 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: after George Lincoln Rockwell's death. Between accounts from former members 47 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: and references in FBI files, it looks like Earl worked 48 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:51,320 Speaker 1: for William Luther Peers for a few years after that, 49 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: following him from the National Socialist White People's Party to 50 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: the National Youth Alliance and staying on with Pierce as 51 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: he founded the National Alliance in nineteen seventy four. H 52 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: Michael Barrett, Earl's roommate from his American Nazi Party days, 53 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: has written on several occasions that Earle quote got out 54 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: of politics after that. That's not entirely true, but I'm 55 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: still working on nailing down the specifics of exactly how 56 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: terribly untrue, that is, but this old Nazi roommate of 57 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: Earls did supply by way of his long online posting history, 58 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: some of the details I needed to confirm other things 59 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:40,720 Speaker 1: about Earl, like his career in publishing. Earl W. Thomas 60 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: Junior is the American copyright holder on two English translations 61 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: of works by the infamous French Holocaust denire Paul Rossigner. 62 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,039 Speaker 1: Under the pseudonym Wayland Smith. He holds a copyright for 63 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 1: a text called Richard Wagner Alberic Loki and the Jews. 64 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what that is, but a copy 65 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: of it is held in a collection called Anti Semitica 66 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:10,839 Speaker 1: at the University of Florida's Special Collections Library, so we 67 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: can guess. The pseudonym Wayland Smith is obviously a bit 68 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 1: tongue in cheek. It's a reference to an unfinished opera 69 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 1: libretto by Wagner based on the Germanic folk legend of Wayland, 70 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:29,880 Speaker 1: the Blacksmith. Earl's publishing company, Bibliophile Legion Books, published one 71 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:32,800 Speaker 1: of his own books too, an out of print text 72 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:35,680 Speaker 1: called The History of Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. 73 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,279 Speaker 1: In postage stamps and postal stationary. It sounds thrilling, and 74 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 1: I did try to find a copy, but I came 75 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:46,679 Speaker 1: up empty. All I found were some old Usenet posts 76 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: in a group for people who collect postage stamps from 77 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: Nazi Germany, and they were complaining that the book is 78 00:05:52,560 --> 00:06:01,600 Speaker 1: impossible to find. Curiously, in an interview given by Barrett 79 00:06:01,839 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 1: that old roommate of Earls, Earl is described as a 80 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: federal employee. I know he was in the Air Force 81 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: in the early sixties. I doubt he stayed on in 82 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:17,600 Speaker 1: the military, but if he moved to the DC suburbs, 83 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: maybe he did work for the federal government. I don't 84 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,239 Speaker 1: know what kind of work he did, or for how long, 85 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:27,640 Speaker 1: or if H. Michael Barrett is even telling the truth here, 86 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 1: But if Earle worked for the government, that would explain 87 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: why his name is completely absent from old party newsletters. 88 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,119 Speaker 1: I mean, if he was an original card carrying member 89 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:42,400 Speaker 1: of Rockwell's American Nazi Party and he'd been arrested in 90 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: service of the party, it is odd that his name 91 00:06:46,400 --> 00:06:50,839 Speaker 1: never shows up in an issue of Stormtrooper magazine. I 92 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: couldn't find a trace of him if he were trying 93 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,440 Speaker 1: to stay off his employer's radar, though. That makes a 94 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: little more sense, and that might be why it's been 95 00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:06,159 Speaker 1: such an uphill battle to find much of anything about 96 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:10,120 Speaker 1: who Earl Woosley Thomas Junior was. Outside of his filings 97 00:07:10,120 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: with the US Copyright Office. He's a bit of a ghost. 98 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: According to H. Michael Barrett, though Earle loved Bruce Lee movies, 99 00:07:20,440 --> 00:07:22,640 Speaker 1: the only record he could remember Earle buying during the 100 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,840 Speaker 1: years they lived together was Simon and Garfunkele and Earle 101 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:32,240 Speaker 1: loved tuna casserole. He loved it so much that Barrett 102 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: could recite Earl's recipe from memory even decades later. He 103 00:07:37,280 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: apparently preferred his canned tuna packed in oil not water. 104 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: There are a lot of blank spots in the notes 105 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 1: I've started for Earle. I'll probably come back to him 106 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 1: one of these days. Maybe there are some clues in 107 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:58,760 Speaker 1: the novel he wrote. Back in the nineteen seventies, William 108 00:07:58,840 --> 00:08:01,800 Speaker 1: Luther Pierce borrowed Earl name for the protagonist of The 109 00:08:01,800 --> 00:08:07,000 Speaker 1: Turner Diaries, a novel Pierce published under a pseudonym, and 110 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: just two years before Earl Thomas died, he published a 111 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 1: novel of his own under a pseudonym, And I'm waiting 112 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: for my copy to come in the mail. Just a 113 00:08:21,400 --> 00:08:25,040 Speaker 1: quick announcement before you go. I'm planning on doing another 114 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:28,240 Speaker 1: Q and A episode soon, hopefully in the first week 115 00:08:28,280 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: of May, so I can take a few days off 116 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: to celebrate my first wedding anniversary. You guys were so 117 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:35,960 Speaker 1: patient with me last year. You endured two reruns in 118 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,480 Speaker 1: a row while I got married and took my honeymoon. 119 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:41,439 Speaker 1: I don't plan on making a big deal out of 120 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: it every year. Don't worry. It's just kind of special 121 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,640 Speaker 1: the first time you have an anniversary. You know. I 122 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: don't intend to make you listen to a rerun this 123 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:53,440 Speaker 1: time around, but a fun little Q and A episode 124 00:08:53,480 --> 00:08:56,360 Speaker 1: gives me a little breathing room. And you guys always 125 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: have so many more questions that I know what to 126 00:08:58,320 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: do with, and some of them are really fun. So 127 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: you can make your way on over to the Weird 128 00:09:03,760 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: Little Guy's subreddit and add your question to the Q 129 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:09,200 Speaker 1: and A thread that I'll set up over there, or 130 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,840 Speaker 1: you can email me your questions directly at Weird Little 131 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: Guys podcast at gmail dot com. Weird Little Guys it 132 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: say production of Cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, 133 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: written and recorded by me, Molly Conger. Part executive producers 134 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: are Sophie Lichtreman and Robert Evans. The show is edited 135 00:09:40,120 --> 00:09:42,839 Speaker 1: by the wildly talented Ory Gagan. The theme music was 136 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:45,439 Speaker 1: composed by Brad dickerd. You can email me at Weird 137 00:09:45,480 --> 00:09:48,040 Speaker 1: Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely 138 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: read it, but I probably won't answer. It's nothing personal. 139 00:09:50,840 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: You can exchange conspiracy theories about the show with other 140 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit. Just don't post 141 00:09:57,320 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: anything that's going to make you one of my Weird 142 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: Little Guys