Gerald B. Winrod
Encyclopedia
Gerald Burton Winrod was a pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic evangelist
, author, and political activist.
. In 1918 he was the chief clerk at the Kansas Gas and Electric Company in El Dorado, Kansas
. By 1925 he formed the Defenders of the Christian Faith
, a fundamentalist Christian
organization that opposed teaching evolution
in public schools and supported Prohibition
and racial segregation
.
Winrod professed strongly antisemitic
views, earning him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi
" (Jayhawk is a nickname for a Kansan
). Winrod offered the following defense of his views in the introduction to his book "The Truth About the Protocols" which proclaimed the veracity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
: "After observing the title of this book, some will accuse me of being anti-Semitic. If by this they mean that I am opposed to the Jews as a race or as a religion, I deny the allegation. But if they mean that I am opposed to a coterie of international Jewish bankers ruling the Gentile world by the power of gold, if they mean that I am opposed to international Jewish Communism, then I plead guilty to the charge." Winrod believed the United States to be the chosen land of God
and, when the Great Depression
struck, publicly stated that it was the work of Satan
. He believed Franklin D. Roosevelt
was a "devil" linked with the Jewish-Communist conspiracy
and that Hitler
would save Europe from Communism
.
Winrod spread these views through his newspaper, The Defender, which by 1937 achieved a 100,000 monthly circulation. Some of the articles reproduced materials from the pro-Nazi and virulently antisemitic international Welt-Dienst / World-Service / Service Mondial
news agency
founded in 1933 by Ulrich Fleischhauer
.
Winrod ran for a U.S. Senate
seat from Kansas in 1938 but was defeated in the Republican
primary
when a popular former governor
, Clyde M. Reed
, was lured out of retirement by the party establishment to run against him. With 21.4% of the vote, Winrod was a distant third after Reed and Dallas Knapp of Coffeyville, Kansas
.
Winrod developed a strong following among German
-speaking Kansas Mennonite
s who identified with his religious, anti-World War II, and pro-Germany views. The Defender was printed by Mennonite-owned Herald Publishing Company of Newton, Kansas
from 1931 to 1942. Winrod found support in Bethel College
and Tabor College
and from editors of local Mennonite papers, and some Mennonite precincts voted predominantly for Winrod in the 1938 Senate primary.
According to the 1941 Theologue, the Yearbook of Practical Bible Training School (now Davis College
) located just outside of Binghamton, New York
, Windrod was a member of the school's administration. No details are given as to what Winrod's duties were.
In 1942 the federal government indicted Winrod for sedition
, alleging conspiracy against the U.S. government. The political aspect in attempting to suppress free speech proved especially troubling to civil libertarians in what came to be called the Great Sedition Trial. The poor prosecution effort was further undercut by the death of the judge in 1944. In the end, Winrod and his fellow defendants were freed.
(born 1927), is a Christian Identity
minister and convicted kidnapper.
.
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
, author, and political activist.
Biography
He was born on March 7, 1900 to Mable E. (1881–1971) of Illinois, and John W. Winrod (1873–1945) of Missouri. His father was a former bartender whose saloon was attacked by Carrie NationCarrie Nation
Carrie Amelia Moore Nation was a member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol in pre-Prohibition America. She is particularly noteworthy for promoting her viewpoint through vandalism. On many occasions Nation would enter an alcohol-serving establishment and attack the bar with a hatchet...
. In 1918 he was the chief clerk at the Kansas Gas and Electric Company in El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado, Kansas
El Dorado is a city situated along the Walnut River in the central part of Butler County, located in south-central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 13,021. It is the county seat and most populous city of Butler County...
. By 1925 he formed the Defenders of the Christian Faith
Defenders of the Faith (Puerto Rico)
Defenders of the Faith is a Christian denomination with a significant presence in Puerto Rico and in the United States. It was formed in 1925 by an interdenominational group of pastors and laymen headed by Dr. Gerald B. Winrod, an independent Baptist preacher. Its main program consists of...
, a fundamentalist Christian
Fundamentalist Christianity
Christian fundamentalism, also known as Fundamentalist Christianity, or Fundamentalism, arose out of British and American Protestantism in the late 19th century and early 20th century among evangelical Christians...
organization that opposed teaching evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
in public schools and supported Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
and racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
.
Winrod professed strongly antisemitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
views, earning him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
" (Jayhawk is a nickname for a Kansan
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
). Winrod offered the following defense of his views in the introduction to his book "The Truth About the Protocols" which proclaimed the veracity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fraudulent, antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for achieving global domination. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the twentieth century...
: "After observing the title of this book, some will accuse me of being anti-Semitic. If by this they mean that I am opposed to the Jews as a race or as a religion, I deny the allegation. But if they mean that I am opposed to a coterie of international Jewish bankers ruling the Gentile world by the power of gold, if they mean that I am opposed to international Jewish Communism, then I plead guilty to the charge." Winrod believed the United States to be the chosen land of God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
and, when the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
struck, publicly stated that it was the work of Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
. He believed Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
was a "devil" linked with the Jewish-Communist conspiracy
Jewish Bolshevism
Jewish Bolshevism, Judeo-Bolshevism, and known as Żydokomuna in Poland, is an antisemitic stereotype based on the claim that Jews have been the driving force behind or are disproportionately involved in the modern Communist movement, or sometimes more specifically Russian Bolshevism.The expression...
and that Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
would save Europe from Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
.
Winrod spread these views through his newspaper, The Defender, which by 1937 achieved a 100,000 monthly circulation. Some of the articles reproduced materials from the pro-Nazi and virulently antisemitic international Welt-Dienst / World-Service / Service Mondial
Ulrich Fleischhauer
thumb|Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer was a leading antisemitic publisher of books and news articles reporting on an alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and supposed "nefarious plots" by clandestine Jewish interests to dominate the world.His career was at first grounded in the Imperial...
news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
founded in 1933 by Ulrich Fleischhauer
Ulrich Fleischhauer
thumb|Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer was a leading antisemitic publisher of books and news articles reporting on an alleged Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and supposed "nefarious plots" by clandestine Jewish interests to dominate the world.His career was at first grounded in the Imperial...
.
Winrod ran for a U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat from Kansas in 1938 but was defeated in the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
when a popular former governor
Governor of Kansas
The Governor of the State of Kansas is the head of state for the State of Kansas, United States. Under the Kansas Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the Kansas executive branch, of the government of Kansas. The Governor is the...
, Clyde M. Reed
Clyde M. Reed
Clyde Martin Reed was an American politician from Kansas who served as both the 24th Governor of Kansas and U.S. Senator from that state....
, was lured out of retirement by the party establishment to run against him. With 21.4% of the vote, Winrod was a distant third after Reed and Dallas Knapp of Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville, Kansas
Coffeyville is a city situated along the Verdigris River in the southeastern part of Montgomery County, located in Southeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,295...
.
Winrod developed a strong following among German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
-speaking Kansas Mennonite
Mennonite
The Mennonites are a group of Christian Anabaptist denominations named after the Frisian Menno Simons , who, through his writings, articulated and thereby formalized the teachings of earlier Swiss founders...
s who identified with his religious, anti-World War II, and pro-Germany views. The Defender was printed by Mennonite-owned Herald Publishing Company of Newton, Kansas
Newton, Kansas
Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 19,132. Newton is located north of Wichita and is included in the Wichita metropolitan statistical area...
from 1931 to 1942. Winrod found support in Bethel College
Bethel College (Kansas)
Bethel College is a private college affiliated with Mennonite Church USA. The college is located on the edge of the Flint Hills and the vast wheat fields of south central Kansas in the town of North Newton...
and Tabor College
Tabor College, Kansas
Tabor College is a four-year Christian liberal arts college in Hillsboro, Kansas, United States. It was founded in 1908 by members of the Mennonite Brethren and Krimmer Mennonite Brethren Christian churches...
and from editors of local Mennonite papers, and some Mennonite precincts voted predominantly for Winrod in the 1938 Senate primary.
According to the 1941 Theologue, the Yearbook of Practical Bible Training School (now Davis College
Davis College
Davis College is a Bible College located in Greater Binghamton, New York in the Village of Johnson City, New York, USA.-History:Davis College began back in April 1900 in the mind of its founder the Reverend and Evangelist John Adelbert Davis. He wanted to start a school similar to that what was...
) located just outside of Binghamton, New York
Binghamton, New York
Binghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
, Windrod was a member of the school's administration. No details are given as to what Winrod's duties were.
In 1942 the federal government indicted Winrod for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, alleging conspiracy against the U.S. government. The political aspect in attempting to suppress free speech proved especially troubling to civil libertarians in what came to be called the Great Sedition Trial. The poor prosecution effort was further undercut by the death of the judge in 1944. In the end, Winrod and his fellow defendants were freed.
Family
In 1940 Winrod's wife sued for divorce. Their son, GordonGordon Winrod
Gordon Winrod , son of Gerald B. Winrod, is a Christian Identity minister who is serving 30 years prison term for abducting six of his grandchildren in 1994 and 1995...
(born 1927), is a Christian Identity
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
minister and convicted kidnapper.
Death
He died on November 11, 1957, aged 57. He was buried in White Chapel Memorial Gardens in Wichita, KansasWichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
.