An Archive of Manuscripts, Printed Materials and Ephemera Concerning the Pro-Fascist Anti-War Movement in The United States

1920's-1940's. 58+ individual pieces of manuscript material by one Ernest H. Behrens, written on a variety of sheets of paper, notes, and envelopes, many running to a number of pages; comprising short letters to publications, letters to Congressmen and Administration Representatives, speeches and addresses, quotations from relevant figures and notes on how these might be incorporated into the main thrust of the material. Behrens was (according to his business card, present here) was a Buyer's Agent and Factory Representative of Bloomfield, New Jersey. Where dates are available they span the late-1920's up to the late 1930's and the declaration of war with Germany and Japan.

A quantity of the material consists of drafts of letters to the New York Daily News, among other publications, from Behrens in support of controversial religious figure Father Charles Coughlin, taking Coughlin's position on American neutrality for the benefit of trade, and the pressing need to make trade deals with Nazi Germany. Behrens signs his letters for publication with a variety of pseudonyms including "Robinhood", "Churchill Jr.", "Anti-Tory" and others.

That there was a Nazi funded effort to keep the US out of the war is a matter of historical record, as is Coughlin's involvement; whether or not Mr. Behrens was a paid contributor or merely a vocal fanboy remains to be discovered. At one point in the mid 1930's it is estimated that Father Charles Coughlin's reach via publications and his syndicated radio show "Golden Hour" covered approximately a quarter of the US population. His efforts to promote American neutrality, and even allyship with Fascist Germany and Italy to defeat the communist threat garnered praise, and indeed financial contributions from both Nazi Germany as well as fascist Italy under Mussolini.

Behrens' strident editorial letters and other writings collected here place him clearly in the orbit - ideological, if not personal - of Coughlin's admirers: "...."Tradition has always upheld Freedom of Speech in time of Peace. What are we doing today, Truthtellers like Lindbergh and Father Coughlin are put off the air by powerful interests. What are we doing today. We're backing Britain the greatest international monopolizer of world trade especially since 1918. Britain, the monopoly power that caused the world depression. Tradition has always found England our enemy...a word to the wise would have been sufficient. I've deluged you with mail and you still can't see and won't print. Out of 28 letters you've printed half of one. YOU DOPES, YOU DOPES, YOU DOPES. God Bless America and keep it right, you Dopes who back Roosevelt can't...."

The call for US exceptionalism, "Greatness", and the need to "Keep out of foreign entanglements" along with a strong undercurrent of anti-semitic conspiracy theorizing, becomes more and more strident as the writing continues; references to the gold standard, the overarching concept of trade being the universal language of the universe, and a willingness to overlook atrocity in favor of commercial harmony form the main avenues of Behrens' thought. Together, these writings provide a close-up picture of the transmission of right-wing populism in the years prior to WW2, a subject that should be of keen interest to scholars of the current historical moment.