TEASER: Far-Right Vanguard (w/ John S. Huntington)
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Matt is joined by John Huntington, author of Far-Right Vanguard, which chronicles the history of what he calls the "ultraconservative" movement, its national network, its influence on Republican Party politics, and its centrality to America's rightward turn during the second half of the twentieth century.
John is a history professor at Houston Community College.
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"Why do I know the name Carl McIntyre?" So Carl McIntyre ran a newspaper called "The Christian Beacon." And then his biggest claim to fame was in 1955, he formed a radio show called "The 20th Century Reformation Hour." And it went on for a long time. It got played over hundreds of stations. And so he was a very well-known figure in far-right and evangelical circles. And so in the mid '50s, they get together. McIntyre and Hargis, I think they meet in Scotland. And they designed this idea that they're going to get these long-range balloons that can go thousands of miles. They're literally going to tie a Bible to it. It's going to have like an envelope with a Bible in it. And the Bibles were going to be printed in all these different languages. And they were going to literally float, like in West Germany, they were going to go float them over the Iron Curtain into these other countries. And they did this not twice, but three times. And each time sent hundreds of thousands of Bibles over the Iron Curtain. And the propaganda afterwards was always amazing 'cause they would say, like, ah, we've heard through our connections that there's a wave of evangelical uprisings happening. Of course, there is no such thing going on, I'm sure. But the idea is that they, I like the Bibles by balloons moment with Hargis because to me it shows a willingness to go do something about communism, right? That communism is the enemy. And we're not just going to sit here over the Atlantic Ocean, you know, with our binoculars and look at communism, we're going to go and be active against it. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) ♪ Wearing in the sea, oh, ♪ ♪ Got it, trees, oh, I remember it ♪ ♪ Seasoning up ♪ (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
Matt is joined by John Huntington, author of "Far-Right Vanguard: The Radical Roots of Modern Conservatism." Subscribe on Patreon to hear the rest!