Fusion Energy Foundation
Encyclopedia
Fusion Energy Foundation (FEF) was a non-profit think tank
cofounded by Lyndon LaRouche
in 1974 in New York. It promoted the construction of nuclear power plants, research into fusion power
and beam weapon
s and other causes. The FEF was called fusion's greatest private supporter. It was praised by scientists like John Clarke
, who said that the fusion community owed it a "debt of gratitude". By 1980, its main publication, Fusion, claimed 80,000 subscribers.
The FEF included notable scientists and others on its boards, along with LaRouche movement insiders in management positions. It published a popular magazine, Fusion, and a more technical journal as well as books and pamphlets. It conducted seminars and its members testified at legislative hearings. It was known for soliciting subscriptions to their magazines in U.S. airports, where its confrontational methods resulted in conflicts with celebrities and the general public.
The FEF has been described by many writers as a "front
" for the U.S. Labor Party
and the LaRouche movement
. By the mid-1980s, the FEF was being accused of fraudulent fundraising on behalf of other LaRouche entities. Federal prosecutors forced it into bankruptcy in 1986 to collect contempt of court
fines. Key personnel were convicted in 1988.
, the Fusion Energy Foundation had physicists, corporate executives, and government planners on its board of advisors, many unaware of the foundations connection to the U.S. Labor Party, while the board of directors was filled with LaRouche movement regulars and some party outsiders. A 1983 report published by The Heritage Foundation
said that the foundation briefly gained the confidence of respected scientists who lent their reputations to it but it warned that they risked their reputations by doing so.
Lyndon LaRouche was a co-founder and one of the three members of the foundation's board of directors. Steven Bardwell, a nuclear physicist, was another director. The Executive Director was Morris Levitt in the 1970s and Paul Gallagher in the 1980s. Michael Gelber was the Central New York regional representative. Dennis Speed was the regional coordinator for Boston and Harley Schlanger was the southern regional coordinator. Uwe Parpart Henke was the director of research. Jon Gilbertson was the director of nuclear engineering. Marsha Freeman was a representative of the FEF's International Press Service.
Eric Lerner
was director of physics in 1977. Other notable scientists who wrote for FEF publications and lectured under its auspices include Friedwardt Winterberg
, Krafft Arnold Ehricke
, and Winston H. Bostick
. Melvin B. Gottlieb
received an award from the FEF, though his colleagues questioned the wisdom of accepting it. Gottlieb later said he felt "used" by the FEF. Adolf Busemann
also received an award at a special dinner.
's ban on building breeder reactor
s was maintained. The director of the fusion power program at Argonne National Laboratory
, Charles Baker, said in 1983 that the FEF was "overstating" the prospect of practical fusion power in the near future. "The judgment of the vast majority of the people actually working in fusion believe it will take substantially longer" than the few years predicted by the FEF, according to Baker.
By 1980, the Fusion Energy Foundation had close contacts with fusion researchers. They became a conduit for information between researchers who were sequestered in secret research. Even the head of fusion research for the Federal Government cooperated with the foundation. It was praised by scientists like John Clarke
, who said that the fusion community owed it a "debt of gratitude". However the politicization of the foundation's journals and the LaRouche views printed in them repelled the scientists involved, according to The Nation
.
The FEF received publicity in 1981 when it published a book explaining how to build a hydrogen bomb written by University of Nevada, Reno
, professor Friedwardt Winterberg
. The publication came two years after a magazine, The Progressive
, had tried to print similar information but was prevented by an injunction that became the United States v. The Progressive
. The government dropped the case after the information was published by the FEF. The author of the original article later learned that a diagram by Uwe Papert published in 1976 in a LaRouche publication contained two important details of the weapon's design that he had been wrong about.
The colonization of Mars
is a major proposal of the LaRouche movement. Friedwardt Winterberg described how rocket engines incorporating fusion micro-explosions could provide enough acceleration to convey a large mass in a reasonable amount of time, a concept derived from Project Daedalus
.
nuclear power plant. The commission's members included Morris Levitt, Jon Gilbertson, Charles Bonilia. The commission determined that the accident must have been caused by sabotage
because no other explanation was possible. According to Gallagher, "New evidence is accumulating that sabotage very likely occurred". When asked by reporters for evidence Gilbertson said he had none.
to attend conference on "laser interaction" in December 1978.
In 1982 and 1983, members of the LaRouche movement met repeatedly with the director of defense programs for the National Security Council
, Ray Pollock, while he was developing the basis for Ronald Reagan
's "Star Wars" program, officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative
(SDI). Pollock eventually said in the National Security Council
(NSC) that LaRouche is "a frightening kind of fellow". The FEF held a seminar on beam weapons in October 1983, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building
. According to the American Physical Society
, FEF members disrupted a 1986 a conference on SDI to which they were not invited, and only stopped after being threatened with police action.
After Ronald Reagan
announced SDI the LaRouche movement made claims for having been the originators of the proposal, which reportedly "concerned" some people in the administration and in Congress, but no correction was made by them. The FEF lobbied state legislatures and testified before congressional hearings on behalf of beam weapons. Steven Bardwell resigned from the board of advisors in early 1984, reportedly because of money questions and a belief that the organization was losing its independence by becoming too solicitous of the Reagan administration in general, and in particular the Central Intelligence Agency
, the Defense Intelligence Agency
, and the NSC.
, also testified on matters such as the nomination of Cyrus Vance
for Secretary of State
.
The FEF campaigned on behalf of Arthur Rudolph
, a NASA
rocket scientist who was forced to leave the U.S. in 1982 following an investigation into his role in the Mittelwerk
rocket factory in Nazi Germany
.
Psychiatrist Ned Rosinsky spoke as a representative of the FEF at a Wisconsin state legislative hearing on criminal penalties for drug possession in 1977. He testified that "marijuana is a medically dangerous drug until proved otherwise", citing studies showing brain damage and a reduction in white blood cells caused by the habitual use of cannabis
.
Under the auspices of Pakdee Tanapura, a wealthy Thai landowner, the FEF and EIR held a seminar in 1983 on the proposed construction of the Kra Canal
across Thailand. Their plan favored the use of nuclear explosions to speed excavation. A second seminar was held in 1984, and in 1986 the FEF published a report by U.H. Von Papart on the feasibility and financing for the project.
" for the U.S. Labor Party
and the LaRouche movement
, In a National Review
article published in 1979, former member Gregory Rose said that the primary purpose of the Fusion Energy Foundation was raising money. Milton Copulous, director of energy studies for the Heritage Foundation
, called the FEF "a front the USLP uses to win the confidence of unsuspecting businessmen". In 1981, the FEF reported $3.5 million of revenue.
According to a representative in Toronto, Richard Sanders, FEF contributions gathered in Canada were sent to the United States to support the presidential campaigns of Lyndon LaRouche. In 1983, an FEF spokesperson said that there was no financial link between the foundation and LaRouche's campaigns. Although the FEF denied any financial connection to LaRouche's U.S. Labor Party
, the two organizations reportedly shared offices in New York City. According to an interview with a former member presented as evidence in LaRouche vs. NBC in 1984:
Barbara Mikulski
filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission
asserting that the FEF was improperly raising funds for a LaRouche-affiliated candidate, Debra Freeman, in a 1982 congressional campaign. The FEF replied that the fundraising was done under contract to the Caucus Distributors, Inc. (CDI), another LaRouche enterprise.
When FEF director Steven Bardwell resigned in 1984, he complained that funds raised by the FEF through subscriptions were being diverted to other LaRouche entities. According to Bardwell, LaRouche said that Bardwell's sense of obligation to subscribers was "misplaced", and that "whether or not they knew it, they had contributed money to support Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas". LaRouche reportedly also said that the most important expenditures were for his personal security, and other expenses had a lower priority.
In September 1985, the Internal Revenue Service
(IRS) withdrew the FEF's status as a tax-deductible non-profit, Section 501(c)(3), which it had had since 1978. The stated reason was that it had failed to file a tax return in the prior two years. In October 1986, New York Attorney General Robert Abrams
sued to dissolve the FEF, charging that it fraudulently solicited donations as tax-deductible after their exemption had been withdrawn, and for failure to file required forms. Paul Gallagher, described the suit as "part of an escalating witch hunt against FEF board member Lyndon LaRouche." Two weeks later, the IRS restored the FEF's tax exempt status, saying it had made an error though privacy rules prevented further elaboration.
Subscribers to Fusion complained that their credit cards were being billed for unauthorized charges. In one example a man who had subscribed to Fusion found that he had been billed for $1000, for which he received promissory note
s in the mail. Prosecutors charged that the FEF and other LaRouche related groups had made improper charges to the credit cards of about 1,000 people.
Fundraisers also solicited larger sums. A 71-year old California woman loaned the FEF $100,000 after making smaller loans to other LaRouche-related entities. FEF fundraisers refused to take a check and drove her to the bank so she could wire the money directly. The FEF made no interest or principal payments on the loans. After she sued the FEF for repayment they settled, acknowledged the loans, and agreed to a schedule of payments. They stopped making payments after sending a few checks, one of which bounced. She filed suit in Virginia in an attempt to attach FEF assets there.
In a widely reported case, a 79-year old retired steel executive gave or loaned a total of $2.6 million over a 14 months period in amounts ranging from $250 to $350,000, according to a lawsuit. He said he was not a supporter of LaRouche political campaigns, and that he gave the money, "Because I got so many telephone calls requesting donations". He said "I'm mad at myself now" for having turned over the money, most of which went to the FEF. When he told the fundraisers that he only wanted to give money to his family in the future, he was reportedly told that gifts to the LaRouche movement "would be of greater benefit" to the family because LaRouche's supporters "were changing the world situation". The FEF gave the donor a plaque which said, "Benjamin Franklin Award Honoring Special Contributions to the Future of Science". In a Nightline interview, LaRouche called him "a person who's been associated with us as a supporter for a long time." LaRouche's treasurer, Edward Spannaus, said the "drug lobby" was responsible for accusations that the LaRouche movement had encouraged supporters to turn over their savings.
During a 1986 Virginia state investigation, an undercover policeman purchased subscriptions to Fusion and another LaRouche movement publication, Executive Intelligence Review
, at Washington National Airport. He then received 22 "abusive and demanding" telephone calls asking for loans or donations. He was told the money was needed to fight AIDS and to keep LaRouche out of jail. When he agreed to make a loan he received a letter of acknowledgement and an invitation to tour the LaRouche headquarters in Leesburg, Virginia
.
Not all supporters contributed due to pressure. An Oklahoman oilman subscribed to Fusion and liked LaRouche's views on nuclear power. He donated thousands of dollars as well as buying a $900,000 estate for LaRouche's use, charging rent to cover the mortgage.
and Moonies. They set up tables to sell publications from the FEF and other LaRouche organizations and displayed provocatively captioned, hand-lettered posters. The FEF members would shout slogans to passers-by to get attention, and sometimes accused those who disagreed with them of being homosexuals. One writer called them the "most obnoxious of the groups...infesting the airports." An article in The Boston Globe
called them "the kooks at the airport" who solicited money using posters often denouncing Jane Fonda
, a target of the LaRouche movement because of her support for environmental causes.
The FEF had slogans and bumper stickers with texts like:
In 1981, actor Peter Fonda
was enraged by a sign in Denver's Stapleton Airport
that said, "Feed Jane Fonda to the Whales." He cut up the sign with his pocketknife. The FEF members pressed charges for destruction of property leading Fonda to miss his flight, though he was allowed to leave without posting bond. The case was dropped when the FEF members failed to appear on the court date.
In 1982, Ellen Kaplan, an FEF member raising money in the Newark Airport
, spotted former Secretary of State
Henry Kissinger
and his wife Nancy
. Kissinger was flying to Boston for a heart operation. Kaplan went up to Kissinger and asked him why he had "prolonged the war in Vietnam", and then, "Mr. Kissinger, do you sleep with young boys at the Carlyle Hotel?" At that point Nancy Kissinger grabbed Kaplan by the throat and asked, "Do you want to get slugged?" Kaplan later explained that she was a "longtime opponent" of Kissinger, and that she "wanted to confront the man with how low he is." She pressed charges and Dennis Speed, an FEF coordinator, said they would make Kissinger into "a laughingstock". The Newark municipal judge acquitted Mrs. Kissinger, saying that she had exhibited a "a reasonable spontaneous, somewhat human reaction" and that there was no injury.
(FBI) from harassing it or interfering with its activities. The suit claimed that the FBI Director, Clarence M. Kelley
, had personally ordered FBI agents to disrupt FEF conferences and dissuade scientists from participating. The injunction also included U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell
and Secretary of Energy James R. Schlesinger
.
In 1986, the FEF was ordered by a state court to stop raising funds in California
due to complaints. In a separate action the same year, the FEF, along with other LaRouche entities, was named in a lawsuit charging violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
(RICO) that was filed in San Francisco. In an unusual move, the assets of the FEF and related entities were seized before the suit was unsealed, because the plaintiff's lawyer convinced the judge that the entities would hide their assets. In 1987, the FEF and five other LaRouche entities were prohibited from operating in Virginia. In 1988, the FEF was sued by the California Attorney General's office. The suit alleged that FEF fundraisers had flown down from Washington to take the 79-year old Laguna
resident to her bankbox where they got from her stock certificates worth $104,452, described by her accountant as the woman's life savings. In their place was a receipt signed by Paul Gallagher, Executive Director of the FEF. LaRouche said the charges were "totally frivolous" and the result of corruption in the Attorney General's office.
During a federal grand jury investigation into fundraising practices in 1985, the FEF and other LaRouche entities were given subpoenas requiring that they turn over documents and provide a keeper of records to testify. They failed to surrender the documents and the keepers of records they sent were appointed the day before. When ordered to give the home address of FEF Executive Director Gallagher, the address turned out to be a vacant lot. Five months after the subpoenas were served, and after several hearings on the matter, U.S. District Judge A. David Mazzone
found the FEF in contempt of court and levied a fine of $10,000 per day to enforce the subpoena starting in March 1986. Similar fines were placed on other LaRouche organizations, totalling $45,000 per day. The FEF and the other LaRouche entities appealed the fines repeatedly, and were denied each time. They appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to review the lower court decision.
In October 1986, hundreds of federal and state law enforcement conducted a coordinated raid on the offices of LaRouche enterprises, including those of the FEF, and seized the documents that had been subpoenaed in 1985. The FEF and other entities argued in court that the search warrants had been improperly executed, and that documents were taken in violation of their Fourth Amendment
rights. The Court of Appeals denied their appeal.
Six months later, in April 1987, the federal prosecutors obtained an unusual involuntary bankruptcy procedure against the FEF and other groups in order to settle the contempt of court fines which had grown to $21.4 million. The government claimed that the LaRouche groups were selling properties in order to hide the cash. The petition was granted by Judge Martin V.B. Bostetter
and the federal government seized the property of the FEF and other groups. Reportedly, they only recovered $86,000 in assets. In October 1989, the FEF's bankruptcy petition was reviewed by Judge Bostetter who dismissed it, effectively reversing his April 1987 ruling. He noted that two of the entities, including FEF, were nonprofit fund-raisers and therefore ineligible for involuntary bankruptcy actions. He found that the government's actions and representations in obtaining the bankruptcy had the effect of misleading the court as to the status of the organization.
Members of the scientific and fusion community noted the closing of the FEF publications. A full page advertisement protesting the closures, published in IEEE Spectrum
, was signed by people associated with the fusion and SDI fields, including 22 employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
.
acted as editor-in-chief.
format only. The magazine deals with a variety of issues, including criticism of claims of anthropogenic global warming
, promotion of the use of DDT
and support for an alternative to the standard atomic theory
, based on the "Moon model" of Robert James Moon
. Notable writers include: J. Gordon Edwards
, Zbigniew Jaworowski
. According to Science
and other sources, it is published by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche.
Think tank
A think tank is an organization that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, and technology issues. Most think tanks are non-profit organizations, which some countries such as the United States and Canada provide with tax...
cofounded by Lyndon LaRouche
Lyndon LaRouche
Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. is an American political activist and founder of a network of political committees, parties, and publications known collectively as the LaRouche movement...
in 1974 in New York. It promoted the construction of nuclear power plants, research into fusion power
Fusion power
Fusion power is the power generated by nuclear fusion processes. In fusion reactions two light atomic nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus . In doing so they release a comparatively large amount of energy arising from the binding energy due to the strong nuclear force which is manifested...
and beam weapon
Particle beam weapon
A particle beam weapon uses an ultra-high-energy beam of atoms or electrons to damage a material target by hitting it, and thus disrupting its atomic and molecular structure. A particle beam weapon is a type of directed-energy weapon, which directs energy in a particular direction by a means of...
s and other causes. The FEF was called fusion's greatest private supporter. It was praised by scientists like John Clarke
John Clarke (physicist)
John Clarke is an English physicist and a Professor of Experimental Physics at University of California at Berkeley.Clarke received BA, MA, and Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge University in 1964, 1968, and 1968, respectively....
, who said that the fusion community owed it a "debt of gratitude". By 1980, its main publication, Fusion, claimed 80,000 subscribers.
The FEF included notable scientists and others on its boards, along with LaRouche movement insiders in management positions. It published a popular magazine, Fusion, and a more technical journal as well as books and pamphlets. It conducted seminars and its members testified at legislative hearings. It was known for soliciting subscriptions to their magazines in U.S. airports, where its confrontational methods resulted in conflicts with celebrities and the general public.
The FEF has been described by many writers as a "front
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
" for the U.S. Labor Party
U.S. Labor Party
The U.S. Labor Party was a political party formed in 1973 by the National Caucus of Labor Committees . It served as a vehicle for Lyndon LaRouche to run for President of the United States in 1976, but it also sponsored many candidates for local offices and Congressional and Senate seats between...
and the LaRouche movement
LaRouche movement
The LaRouche movement is an international political and cultural network that promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included scores of organizations and companies around the world. Their activities include campaigning, private intelligence gathering, and publishing numerous periodicals,...
. By the mid-1980s, the FEF was being accused of fraudulent fundraising on behalf of other LaRouche entities. Federal prosecutors forced it into bankruptcy in 1986 to collect contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
fines. Key personnel were convicted in 1988.
Personnel
According to an article in The NationThe Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
, the Fusion Energy Foundation had physicists, corporate executives, and government planners on its board of advisors, many unaware of the foundations connection to the U.S. Labor Party, while the board of directors was filled with LaRouche movement regulars and some party outsiders. A 1983 report published by The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
said that the foundation briefly gained the confidence of respected scientists who lent their reputations to it but it warned that they risked their reputations by doing so.
Lyndon LaRouche was a co-founder and one of the three members of the foundation's board of directors. Steven Bardwell, a nuclear physicist, was another director. The Executive Director was Morris Levitt in the 1970s and Paul Gallagher in the 1980s. Michael Gelber was the Central New York regional representative. Dennis Speed was the regional coordinator for Boston and Harley Schlanger was the southern regional coordinator. Uwe Parpart Henke was the director of research. Jon Gilbertson was the director of nuclear engineering. Marsha Freeman was a representative of the FEF's International Press Service.
Eric Lerner
Eric Lerner
Eric J. Lerner is an American popular science writer, independent plasma researcher, and serves as the president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc...
was director of physics in 1977. Other notable scientists who wrote for FEF publications and lectured under its auspices include Friedwardt Winterberg
Friedwardt Winterberg
Friedwardt Winterberg is a German-American theoretical physicist and research professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. With more than 260 publications and three books, he is known for his research in areas spanning general relativity, Planck scale physics, nuclear fusion, and plasmas...
, Krafft Arnold Ehricke
Krafft Arnold Ehricke
-External links:* * *...
, and Winston H. Bostick
Winston H. Bostick
Winston H. Bostick was an American physicist who discovered plasmoids, plasma focus, and plasma vortex phenomena. He simulated cosmical astrophysics with laboratory plasma experiments, and showed that Hubble expansion can be produced with repulsive mutual induction between neighboring galaxies...
. Melvin B. Gottlieb
Melvin B. Gottlieb
Melvin Burt Gottlieb was a high-energy physicist and director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory...
received an award from the FEF, though his colleagues questioned the wisdom of accepting it. Gottlieb later said he felt "used" by the FEF. Adolf Busemann
Adolf Busemann
Adolph Busemann was a German aerospace engineer and influential early pioneer in aerodynamics, specialising in supersonic airflows...
also received an award at a special dinner.
Nuclear energy
In 1977, Executive Director Morris Levitt asserted that nuclear fusion power plants could be built by 1990 if the U.S. spent $50 to $100 billion on research. The same year he announced that there would be no United States in the 21st century if President Jimmy CarterJimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
's ban on building breeder reactor
Breeder reactor
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor capable of generating more fissile material than it consumes because its neutron economy is high enough to breed fissile from fertile material like uranium-238 or thorium-232. Breeders were at first considered superior because of their superior fuel economy...
s was maintained. The director of the fusion power program at Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory is the first science and engineering research national laboratory in the United States, receiving this designation on July 1, 1946. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest...
, Charles Baker, said in 1983 that the FEF was "overstating" the prospect of practical fusion power in the near future. "The judgment of the vast majority of the people actually working in fusion believe it will take substantially longer" than the few years predicted by the FEF, according to Baker.
By 1980, the Fusion Energy Foundation had close contacts with fusion researchers. They became a conduit for information between researchers who were sequestered in secret research. Even the head of fusion research for the Federal Government cooperated with the foundation. It was praised by scientists like John Clarke
John Clarke (physicist)
John Clarke is an English physicist and a Professor of Experimental Physics at University of California at Berkeley.Clarke received BA, MA, and Ph.D. in Physics from Cambridge University in 1964, 1968, and 1968, respectively....
, who said that the fusion community owed it a "debt of gratitude". However the politicization of the foundation's journals and the LaRouche views printed in them repelled the scientists involved, according to The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
.
The FEF received publicity in 1981 when it published a book explaining how to build a hydrogen bomb written by University of Nevada, Reno
University of Nevada, Reno
The University of Nevada, Reno , is a teaching and research university established in 1874 and located in Reno, Nevada, USA...
, professor Friedwardt Winterberg
Friedwardt Winterberg
Friedwardt Winterberg is a German-American theoretical physicist and research professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. With more than 260 publications and three books, he is known for his research in areas spanning general relativity, Planck scale physics, nuclear fusion, and plasmas...
. The publication came two years after a magazine, The Progressive
The Progressive
The Progressive is an American monthly magazine of politics, culture and progressivism with a pronounced liberal perspective on some issues. Known for its pacifism, it has strongly opposed military interventions, such as the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The magazine also devotes much coverage...
, had tried to print similar information but was prevented by an injunction that became the United States v. The Progressive
United States v. The Progressive
United States of America v. Progressive, Inc., Erwin Knoll, Samuel Day, Jr., and Howard Morland is the name of a lawsuit against the magazine The Progressive by the U.S. government in 1979...
. The government dropped the case after the information was published by the FEF. The author of the original article later learned that a diagram by Uwe Papert published in 1976 in a LaRouche publication contained two important details of the weapon's design that he had been wrong about.
The colonization of Mars
Colonization of Mars
The colonization of Mars by humans is the focus of speculation and serious study because the surface conditions and availability of water on Mars make it arguably the most hospitable planet in the solar system other than Earth...
is a major proposal of the LaRouche movement. Friedwardt Winterberg described how rocket engines incorporating fusion micro-explosions could provide enough acceleration to convey a large mass in a reasonable amount of time, a concept derived from Project Daedalus
Project Daedalus
Project Daedalus was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible unmanned interstellar spacecraft. Intended mainly as a scientific probe, the design criteria specified that the spacecraft had to use current or near-future technology and had to...
.
Independent Commission of Inquiry
In 1979 the Fusion Energy Foundation created the Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the accident at the Three Mile IslandThree Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
nuclear power plant. The commission's members included Morris Levitt, Jon Gilbertson, Charles Bonilia. The commission determined that the accident must have been caused by sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
because no other explanation was possible. According to Gallagher, "New evidence is accumulating that sabotage very likely occurred". When asked by reporters for evidence Gilbertson said he had none.
Beam weapons
According to Fusion, two members of the FEF went to the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to attend conference on "laser interaction" in December 1978.
In 1982 and 1983, members of the LaRouche movement met repeatedly with the director of defense programs for the National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
, Ray Pollock, while he was developing the basis for Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's "Star Wars" program, officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
(SDI). Pollock eventually said in the National Security Council
National Security Council
A National Security Council is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security...
(NSC) that LaRouche is "a frightening kind of fellow". The FEF held a seminar on beam weapons in October 1983, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building
Dirksen Senate Office Building
The Dirksen Senate Office Building is the second office building constructed for members of the United States Senate in Washington, D.C., and was named for the late Minority Leader Everett Dirksen from Illinois in 1972.-History:...
. According to the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
, FEF members disrupted a 1986 a conference on SDI to which they were not invited, and only stopped after being threatened with police action.
After Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
announced SDI the LaRouche movement made claims for having been the originators of the proposal, which reportedly "concerned" some people in the administration and in Congress, but no correction was made by them. The FEF lobbied state legislatures and testified before congressional hearings on behalf of beam weapons. Steven Bardwell resigned from the board of advisors in early 1984, reportedly because of money questions and a belief that the organization was losing its independence by becoming too solicitous of the Reagan administration in general, and in particular the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
, the Defense Intelligence Agency
Defense Intelligence Agency
The Defense Intelligence Agency is a member of the Intelligence Community of the United States, and is the central producer and manager of military intelligence for the United States Department of Defense, employing over 16,500 U.S. military and civilian employees worldwide...
, and the NSC.
Other advocacy
As with other LaRouche entities, representatives of the Fusion Energy Foundation gave testimony to a number of congressional hearings. In addition to addressing committees on energy matters, FEF representatives, including Eric LernerEric Lerner
Eric J. Lerner is an American popular science writer, independent plasma researcher, and serves as the president of Lawrenceville Plasma Physics, Inc...
, also testified on matters such as the nomination of Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
for Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
.
The FEF campaigned on behalf of Arthur Rudolph
Arthur Rudolph
Arthur Louis Hugo Rudolph was a German rocket engineer and member of the Nazi party who played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket. After World War II he was brought to the United States, subsequently becoming a pioneer of the United States space program. He worked for the U.S...
, a NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
rocket scientist who was forced to leave the U.S. in 1982 following an investigation into his role in the Mittelwerk
Mittelwerk
Central Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...
rocket factory in Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
.
Psychiatrist Ned Rosinsky spoke as a representative of the FEF at a Wisconsin state legislative hearing on criminal penalties for drug possession in 1977. He testified that "marijuana is a medically dangerous drug until proved otherwise", citing studies showing brain damage and a reduction in white blood cells caused by the habitual use of cannabis
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
.
Under the auspices of Pakdee Tanapura, a wealthy Thai landowner, the FEF and EIR held a seminar in 1983 on the proposed construction of the Kra Canal
Thai canal
The Thai Canal refers to a plan for a large canal that would cut through southern Thailand to enable improved transportation in the region, like the Panama Canal and Suez Canal.-History:...
across Thailand. Their plan favored the use of nuclear explosions to speed excavation. A second seminar was held in 1984, and in 1986 the FEF published a report by U.H. Von Papart on the feasibility and financing for the project.
Conferences
- May 2, 1978: "Conference on the Industrial Development of Southern Africa", held in Washington D.C.
- October 1980: "A High Technology Policy for U.S. Reindustrialization", held in California.
- 1985: "Krafft Ehricke Memorial Conference", held in Reston, VirginiaReston, VirginiaReston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...
. Cosponsored by the Schiller InstituteSchiller InstituteThe Schiller Institute is an international political and economic thinktank, one of the primary organizations of the LaRouche movement, with headquarters in Germany and the United States, and supporters in Australia, Canada, Russia, and South America, among others, according to its website.The...
.
Fundraising
The FEF has been described by many writers as a "frontFront organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
" for the U.S. Labor Party
U.S. Labor Party
The U.S. Labor Party was a political party formed in 1973 by the National Caucus of Labor Committees . It served as a vehicle for Lyndon LaRouche to run for President of the United States in 1976, but it also sponsored many candidates for local offices and Congressional and Senate seats between...
and the LaRouche movement
LaRouche movement
The LaRouche movement is an international political and cultural network that promotes Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas. It has included scores of organizations and companies around the world. Their activities include campaigning, private intelligence gathering, and publishing numerous periodicals,...
, In a National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
article published in 1979, former member Gregory Rose said that the primary purpose of the Fusion Energy Foundation was raising money. Milton Copulous, director of energy studies for the Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
, called the FEF "a front the USLP uses to win the confidence of unsuspecting businessmen". In 1981, the FEF reported $3.5 million of revenue.
According to a representative in Toronto, Richard Sanders, FEF contributions gathered in Canada were sent to the United States to support the presidential campaigns of Lyndon LaRouche. In 1983, an FEF spokesperson said that there was no financial link between the foundation and LaRouche's campaigns. Although the FEF denied any financial connection to LaRouche's U.S. Labor Party
U.S. Labor Party
The U.S. Labor Party was a political party formed in 1973 by the National Caucus of Labor Committees . It served as a vehicle for Lyndon LaRouche to run for President of the United States in 1976, but it also sponsored many candidates for local offices and Congressional and Senate seats between...
, the two organizations reportedly shared offices in New York City. According to an interview with a former member presented as evidence in LaRouche vs. NBC in 1984:
Money from the . . . profit-making organizations went into political campaigns and was not correctly reported. Money from the tax-exempt [FEF] was given to the political campaign, unbeknownst to the people who made the contributions. . . . Someone would contribute to the [FEF] because they believed in nuclear power and their contribution would turn up as a contribution for . . . [LaRouche's] presidential campaign.
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Ann Mikulski is the senior United States Senator from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. Mikulski, a former U.S. Representative, is the longest-serving female senator in U.S...
filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
asserting that the FEF was improperly raising funds for a LaRouche-affiliated candidate, Debra Freeman, in a 1982 congressional campaign. The FEF replied that the fundraising was done under contract to the Caucus Distributors, Inc. (CDI), another LaRouche enterprise.
When FEF director Steven Bardwell resigned in 1984, he complained that funds raised by the FEF through subscriptions were being diverted to other LaRouche entities. According to Bardwell, LaRouche said that Bardwell's sense of obligation to subscribers was "misplaced", and that "whether or not they knew it, they had contributed money to support Lyndon LaRouche and his ideas". LaRouche reportedly also said that the most important expenditures were for his personal security, and other expenses had a lower priority.
In September 1985, the Internal Revenue Service
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
(IRS) withdrew the FEF's status as a tax-deductible non-profit, Section 501(c)(3), which it had had since 1978. The stated reason was that it had failed to file a tax return in the prior two years. In October 1986, New York Attorney General Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams
Robert Abrams is an American lawyer and politician.-Life and career:He graduated from Columbia College and the New York University School of Law. He is considered a member of the reform wing of the Democratic Party.Abrams was a member of the New York State Assembly representing the Bronx from 1966...
sued to dissolve the FEF, charging that it fraudulently solicited donations as tax-deductible after their exemption had been withdrawn, and for failure to file required forms. Paul Gallagher, described the suit as "part of an escalating witch hunt against FEF board member Lyndon LaRouche." Two weeks later, the IRS restored the FEF's tax exempt status, saying it had made an error though privacy rules prevented further elaboration.
Subscribers to Fusion complained that their credit cards were being billed for unauthorized charges. In one example a man who had subscribed to Fusion found that he had been billed for $1000, for which he received promissory note
Promissory note
A promissory note is a negotiable instrument, wherein one party makes an unconditional promise in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to the other , either at a fixed or determinable future time or on demand of the payee, under specific terms.Referred to as a note payable in accounting, or...
s in the mail. Prosecutors charged that the FEF and other LaRouche related groups had made improper charges to the credit cards of about 1,000 people.
Fundraisers also solicited larger sums. A 71-year old California woman loaned the FEF $100,000 after making smaller loans to other LaRouche-related entities. FEF fundraisers refused to take a check and drove her to the bank so she could wire the money directly. The FEF made no interest or principal payments on the loans. After she sued the FEF for repayment they settled, acknowledged the loans, and agreed to a schedule of payments. They stopped making payments after sending a few checks, one of which bounced. She filed suit in Virginia in an attempt to attach FEF assets there.
In a widely reported case, a 79-year old retired steel executive gave or loaned a total of $2.6 million over a 14 months period in amounts ranging from $250 to $350,000, according to a lawsuit. He said he was not a supporter of LaRouche political campaigns, and that he gave the money, "Because I got so many telephone calls requesting donations". He said "I'm mad at myself now" for having turned over the money, most of which went to the FEF. When he told the fundraisers that he only wanted to give money to his family in the future, he was reportedly told that gifts to the LaRouche movement "would be of greater benefit" to the family because LaRouche's supporters "were changing the world situation". The FEF gave the donor a plaque which said, "Benjamin Franklin Award Honoring Special Contributions to the Future of Science". In a Nightline interview, LaRouche called him "a person who's been associated with us as a supporter for a long time." LaRouche's treasurer, Edward Spannaus, said the "drug lobby" was responsible for accusations that the LaRouche movement had encouraged supporters to turn over their savings.
During a 1986 Virginia state investigation, an undercover policeman purchased subscriptions to Fusion and another LaRouche movement publication, Executive Intelligence Review
Executive Intelligence Review
Executive Intelligence Review is a weekly newsmagazine founded in 1974 by the American political activist Lyndon LaRouche. Based in Leesburg, Virginia, it maintains offices in a number of countries, according to its masthead, including Wiesbaden, Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, Melbourne, and Mexico City...
, at Washington National Airport. He then received 22 "abusive and demanding" telephone calls asking for loans or donations. He was told the money was needed to fight AIDS and to keep LaRouche out of jail. When he agreed to make a loan he received a letter of acknowledgement and an invitation to tour the LaRouche headquarters in Leesburg, Virginia
Leesburg, Virginia
Leesburg is a historic town in, and county seat of, Loudoun County, Virginia, United States of America. Leesburg is located west-northwest of Washington, D.C. along the base of the Catoctin Mountain and adjacent to the Potomac River. Its population according the 2010 Census is 42,616...
.
Not all supporters contributed due to pressure. An Oklahoman oilman subscribed to Fusion and liked LaRouche's views on nuclear power. He donated thousands of dollars as well as buying a $900,000 estate for LaRouche's use, charging rent to cover the mortgage.
Airports
Supporters of the Fusion Energy Foundation became well-known for their aggressive fundraising in U.S. airports in the late 1970s and early 1980s, along with Hare KrishnasInternational Society for Krishna Consciousness
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness , known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava religious organization. It was founded in 1966 in New York City by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada...
and Moonies. They set up tables to sell publications from the FEF and other LaRouche organizations and displayed provocatively captioned, hand-lettered posters. The FEF members would shout slogans to passers-by to get attention, and sometimes accused those who disagreed with them of being homosexuals. One writer called them the "most obnoxious of the groups...infesting the airports." An article in The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
called them "the kooks at the airport" who solicited money using posters often denouncing Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda is an American actress, writer, political activist, former fashion model, and fitness guru. She rose to fame in the 1960s with films such as Barbarella and Cat Ballou. She has won two Academy Awards and received several other movie awards and nominations during more than 50 years as an...
, a target of the LaRouche movement because of her support for environmental causes.
The FEF had slogans and bumper stickers with texts like:
- Beam the Bomb
- More nukes, less kooks
- Nuclear plants are built better than Jane Fonda
- Nuke Jane Fonda
- Feed Jane Fonda to the Whales
In 1981, actor Peter Fonda
Peter Fonda
Peter Henry Fonda is an American actor. He is the son of Henry Fonda, brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget and Justin Fonda...
was enraged by a sign in Denver's Stapleton Airport
Stapleton International Airport
Stapleton International Airport was Denver, Colorado's primary airport from 1929 to 1995. At different times it served as a hub for TWA, People Express, Frontier Airlines and Western Airlines as well as a hub for Continental Airlines and United Airlines at the time of its closure.In 1995 Stapleton...
that said, "Feed Jane Fonda to the Whales." He cut up the sign with his pocketknife. The FEF members pressed charges for destruction of property leading Fonda to miss his flight, though he was allowed to leave without posting bond. The case was dropped when the FEF members failed to appear on the court date.
In 1982, Ellen Kaplan, an FEF member raising money in the Newark Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport , first named Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport within the city limits of both Newark and Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States...
, spotted former Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Henry Kissinger
Henry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
and his wife Nancy
Nancy Kissinger
Nancy Sharon Maginnes Kissinger is a philanthropist, and the second wife of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. The couple married on March 31, 1974, in Arlington, VA; a year earlier she had said that speculation that the two would marry was "outrageous."Nancy Kissinger was raised in...
. Kissinger was flying to Boston for a heart operation. Kaplan went up to Kissinger and asked him why he had "prolonged the war in Vietnam", and then, "Mr. Kissinger, do you sleep with young boys at the Carlyle Hotel?" At that point Nancy Kissinger grabbed Kaplan by the throat and asked, "Do you want to get slugged?" Kaplan later explained that she was a "longtime opponent" of Kissinger, and that she "wanted to confront the man with how low he is." She pressed charges and Dennis Speed, an FEF coordinator, said they would make Kissinger into "a laughingstock". The Newark municipal judge acquitted Mrs. Kissinger, saying that she had exhibited a "a reasonable spontaneous, somewhat human reaction" and that there was no injury.
Legal issues
In 1977, the Fusion Energy Foundation received a temporary injunction to prevent the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) from harassing it or interfering with its activities. The suit claimed that the FBI Director, Clarence M. Kelley
Clarence M. Kelley
Clarence M. Kelley was a public servant who served as the 2nd Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation....
, had personally ordered FBI agents to disrupt FEF conferences and dissuade scientists from participating. The injunction also included U.S. Attorney General Griffin Bell
Griffin Bell
Griffin Boyette Bell was an American lawyer and former Attorney General. He served as the nation's 72nd Attorney General during the Jimmy Carter administration...
and Secretary of Energy James R. Schlesinger
James R. Schlesinger
Dr. James Rodney Schlesinger is an American politician. He is best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
.
In 1986, the FEF was ordered by a state court to stop raising funds in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
due to complaints. In a separate action the same year, the FEF, along with other LaRouche entities, was named in a lawsuit charging violations of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, commonly referred to as the RICO Act or simply RICO, is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization...
(RICO) that was filed in San Francisco. In an unusual move, the assets of the FEF and related entities were seized before the suit was unsealed, because the plaintiff's lawyer convinced the judge that the entities would hide their assets. In 1987, the FEF and five other LaRouche entities were prohibited from operating in Virginia. In 1988, the FEF was sued by the California Attorney General's office. The suit alleged that FEF fundraisers had flown down from Washington to take the 79-year old Laguna
Laguna, California
Laguna is a former census-designated place in Sacramento County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
resident to her bankbox where they got from her stock certificates worth $104,452, described by her accountant as the woman's life savings. In their place was a receipt signed by Paul Gallagher, Executive Director of the FEF. LaRouche said the charges were "totally frivolous" and the result of corruption in the Attorney General's office.
During a federal grand jury investigation into fundraising practices in 1985, the FEF and other LaRouche entities were given subpoenas requiring that they turn over documents and provide a keeper of records to testify. They failed to surrender the documents and the keepers of records they sent were appointed the day before. When ordered to give the home address of FEF Executive Director Gallagher, the address turned out to be a vacant lot. Five months after the subpoenas were served, and after several hearings on the matter, U.S. District Judge A. David Mazzone
A. David Mazzone
A. David Mazzone was a lawyer, Massachusetts assistant districtattorney, assistant United States attorney, Massachusetts Superior court judge...
found the FEF in contempt of court and levied a fine of $10,000 per day to enforce the subpoena starting in March 1986. Similar fines were placed on other LaRouche organizations, totalling $45,000 per day. The FEF and the other LaRouche entities appealed the fines repeatedly, and were denied each time. They appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to review the lower court decision.
In October 1986, hundreds of federal and state law enforcement conducted a coordinated raid on the offices of LaRouche enterprises, including those of the FEF, and seized the documents that had been subpoenaed in 1985. The FEF and other entities argued in court that the search warrants had been improperly executed, and that documents were taken in violation of their Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
rights. The Court of Appeals denied their appeal.
Six months later, in April 1987, the federal prosecutors obtained an unusual involuntary bankruptcy procedure against the FEF and other groups in order to settle the contempt of court fines which had grown to $21.4 million. The government claimed that the LaRouche groups were selling properties in order to hide the cash. The petition was granted by Judge Martin V.B. Bostetter
Martin V.B. Bostetter
Martin V.B. Bostetter, Jr. was the Chief Judge of United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia and among the longest sitting full-time bankruptcy judges in the United States....
and the federal government seized the property of the FEF and other groups. Reportedly, they only recovered $86,000 in assets. In October 1989, the FEF's bankruptcy petition was reviewed by Judge Bostetter who dismissed it, effectively reversing his April 1987 ruling. He noted that two of the entities, including FEF, were nonprofit fund-raisers and therefore ineligible for involuntary bankruptcy actions. He found that the government's actions and representations in obtaining the bankruptcy had the effect of misleading the court as to the status of the organization.
Members of the scientific and fusion community noted the closing of the FEF publications. A full page advertisement protesting the closures, published in IEEE Spectrum
IEEE Spectrum
IEEE Spectrum is a magazine edited by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The IEEE's description of it is:IEEE Spectrum began publishing in January 1964 as a successor to Electrical Engineering...
, was signed by people associated with the fusion and SDI fields, including 22 employees of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
.
International Journal of Fusion Energy
The International Journal of Fusion Energy was published intermittently from March 1977 to October 1985, putting out at least 11 issues. For some time Robert James MoonRobert James Moon
Robert James Moon was an American physicist, chemist and engineer. An important figure in 20th century nuclear science, he was involved in America's wartime Manhattan Project. He was a founding member of the Fusion Energy Foundation and a close collaborator of the LaRouche movement...
acted as editor-in-chief.
Fusion Magazine
Morris Levitt was the editor-in-chief as of 1979, but by the mid-1980s the job was taken over by Steven Bardwell, and by 1986 it was Carol White. Marjorie Mazel Hecht was the managing editor. By 1980, it claimed 80,000 subscribers.21st Century Science and Technology
21st Century Science and Technology is a quarterly magazine established in 1988 following the federal government's closing down of its predecessor Fusion Magazine (1977 to 1987). It has the same editor and material as Fusion. The last hard copy issue of the magazine published was the Winter 2005-2006 issue. Subsequent issues are available in electronic PDFPortable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
format only. The magazine deals with a variety of issues, including criticism of claims of anthropogenic global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, promotion of the use of DDT
DDT
DDT is one of the most well-known synthetic insecticides. It is a chemical with a long, unique, and controversial history....
and support for an alternative to the standard atomic theory
Atomic theory
In chemistry and physics, atomic theory is a theory of the nature of matter, which states that matter is composed of discrete units called atoms, as opposed to the obsolete notion that matter could be divided into any arbitrarily small quantity...
, based on the "Moon model" of Robert James Moon
Robert James Moon
Robert James Moon was an American physicist, chemist and engineer. An important figure in 20th century nuclear science, he was involved in America's wartime Manhattan Project. He was a founding member of the Fusion Energy Foundation and a close collaborator of the LaRouche movement...
. Notable writers include: J. Gordon Edwards
J. Gordon Edwards (entomologist and mountaineer)
J. Gordon Edwards was an entomologist, mountain climber, author, and park ranger. Edwards was professor, and later emeritus professor of Biology, San Jose State University.-DDT and environmental issues:...
, Zbigniew Jaworowski
Zbigniew Jaworowski
Zbigniew Jaworowski was a Polish physician, and alpinist.-Life:Zbigniew Jaworowski was chairman of the Scientific Council of the Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection in Warsaw and former chair of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation...
. According to Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
and other sources, it is published by supporters of Lyndon LaRouche.
Notable books and pamphlets
- The Physical Principles of Thermonuclear Explosive Devices by Friedwardt WinterbergFriedwardt WinterbergFriedwardt Winterberg is a German-American theoretical physicist and research professor at the University of Nevada, Reno. With more than 260 publications and three books, he is known for his research in areas spanning general relativity, Planck scale physics, nuclear fusion, and plasmas...
, 1981
- As 21st Century Science Associates:
- The holes in the ozone scare: the scientific evidence that the sky isn't falling By Rogelio Maduro, Ralf Schauerhammer, 1992 ISBN 0962813400
External links
- 21st Century Science and Technology Official website
- Archive Fusion Magazine & IJFE