From: cberlet@igc.apc.org (NLG Civil Liberties Committee)
Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy
Subject: Re: Bellant: Old Nazi Networks in US
Date: 12 Dec 92 02:27:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #R:cdp:1299600110:cdp:1299600117:000:15908
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!cberlet    Dec 11 18:27:00 1992


/* Written  9:10 pm  Dec  8, 1992 by cberlet in igc:publiceye */
/* Written  8:30 pm  Dec  6, 1992 by cberlet in igc:p.news */
/* Written  6:45 pm  Mar  4, 1990 by nlgclc in igc:publiceye */
Bellant: Old Nazis/Heritage Groups 5
	     
PART ONE - SECTION 5
	
[The National Republican Heritage Groups (Nationalities)Council]
	
     - Ethnic Realignment -
	
      The Republican Heritage Groups Council's ethnicity is 
broad, ranging from Albanians to Vietnamese. But two groups are 
missing at the Republican Heritage Groups Council. There are no 
Black or Jewish Republican federations. Remarks by a number of 
delegates at the 1986 Heritage meeting made it clear that there 
was no desire to have either community represented on the 
Council. [f-60] Republican leaders say that Black and Jewish 
relations are "special" and are dealt with in separate units of 
the GOP.
	
      It might be said that American Indians, Hispanics and 
Vietnamese all have "special" problems beyond traditional 
European ethnic concerns, but they are represented in the 
National Republican Heritage Groups Council. Given the background 
of the Council's leadership, it is difficult not to conclude that 
elements of racism and anti-Semitism may play a role in the 
decision to exclude Black and Jewish constituencies.
	
      The key issues for every one of the Eastern European 
Heritage Council leaders interviewed were foreign policy issues. 
All of them called for more support for Radio Free Europe and 
Radio Liberty. Most called for the abandonment of the Yalta 
agreement, the major treaty that set the post-war features of 
Europe, and they want a far more aggressive foreign policy 
against the USSR. The most public activity the Republican 
Heritage Groups Council affiliates participate in is the yearly 
"Captive Nations" rallies held in a handful of cities across the 
U.S. "Captive Nations" is the term used to describe those 
countries and national groups which have Communist governments.
	
      The only domestic issue raised in the interviews was their 
opposition to the Office of Special Investigations, the anti-Nazi 
unit of the Justice Department. Clearly lacking was any 
identifiable interest in domestic issues that pertain to the 
welfare of the ethnic communities of America--unemployment, 
crime, discrimination, educational quality and opportunities for 
a younger generation. Instead, the Republican Heritage Groups 
Council still fits the description conservative commentator Kevin 
Phillips gave ten years ago:
	
     "Instead of addressing itself to the social and economic 
issues underlying ethnic unrest, the [Republican] National 
Committee put on a Captive Nations rally. . .Captive Nations 
preoccupation is the rule, not the exception, among Republican 
National Committee ethnic activities. [f-61]"
	
      Still, while the Eastern European Republican Heritage 
Groups Council leaders are preoccupied with Cold War issues, 
there is a broader strategy on the part of the Republican 
National Committee, which uses the anti- communist and 
anti-liberal currents in the emigre fascist network to its 
political advantage. The invitation to the 1987 Council meeting 
lays out these broader priorities in carefully chosen language 
with a special meaning for the Eastern European emigre community:
	
     "We are at the crucial point now, in view of international 
and domestic conditions. Ethnic Americans were committed to 
Ronald Reagan's vision of America in 1980 and sustained that 
commitment in 1984. Ethnic Americans were in the forefront of 
support to the President then and continue to stand by him now. 
We have seen his programs work successfully, while the Democrats 
had no new approach to offer other than socialist 
experimentalism--free spending, free taxing at home, and 
`detente' abroad. We have accomplished the philosophical 
realignment within a wide spectrum of mainstream America, while 
the Democratic Party has withdrawn into a narrow "liberal" 
sectarian extreme. [f-62]"
	
      This less than subtle baiting of the Democratic Party as 
closet "Reds" is one hook used by the Republican Party to unify 
the constituents of the Republican Heritage Groups Council into 
an electoral force. As the invitation to the 1987 meeting also 
pointed out, "The continuing growth of the Republican Heritage 
Groups Council must be solidified and translated into a voting 
power for Republican candidates in next year's election."
	
      The Republican National Committee seems to identify the 
Republican Heritage Groups Council as one of its keys to past 
electoral success and future opportunities. Republican Chairman 
Frank Fahrenkopf told the 1985 Council meeting, "On behalf of the 
Republican Party I want to express thanks for all of you in this 
room who were such a vital, integral part of the great victory we 
achieved on November 6 last year [1984]. We couldn't have done it 
without you, and I want you to know that." [f-63]
	
      A few minutes later, President Reagan told the meeting, 
"The work of all of you has meant a very great deal to me 
personally, to the Party and to our cause. . .I can't think of 
any others who have made a more vital contribution to the effort 
than those of you who are in this room today. . .I want to 
encourage you to keep building the Party. Believe me, bringing 
more ethnic Americans into the fold is the key to the positive 
realignment that we are beginning to see take shape." Former 
Republican Heritage Groups Council chair Michael Sotirhos said in 
an interview that "The Council was the linchpin of the 
Reagan-Bush ethnic campaign. . .The decision to use the 
Republican Heritage Groups was made at a campaign strategy 
meeting that included Paul Laxalt, Frank Fahrenkopf, Ed Rollins 
and others." He claims that 86,000 volunteers for Reagan-Bush 
were recruited through the Council.[f-64]
	
      Jack Kemp also gave a keynote speech at the 1985 Republican 
Heritage Groups Council meeting as part of his long-standing 
effort to woo support from the Captive Nations groups.
	
      Several White House staffers who appeared on a panel at the 
1985 Republican Heritage Groups Council meeting identified the 
area of GOP growth as ethnic outreach. Linas Kojelis, then the 
White House Office of Public Liaison Ethnic Coordinator, also 
said that the Republican Heritage Groups Council "has been very 
helpful to coordinate with mainline ethnic groups on day-to-day 
[legislative] issues."
	
      Sotirhos adds that not only has the Republican Heritage 
Groups Council aided the GOP, but "the success of Reagan-Bush has 
helped build the Council." Ethnics more inclined to work with the 
GOP, due to their attraction to Reagan, structure their work 
through the Republican Heritage Groups Council. Thus, the image 
and prestige of Council leaders are enhanced and legitimized 
within their ethnic networks by the GOP.
	
      Council members benefit also by having access to GOP 
leaders and Administration policymakers. One Republican Heritage 
Groups Council brochure notes that "Members are also concerned 
with foreign policy and keep the Administration advised on 
pertinent historic facts{and attitudes}[author's emphasis] 
concerning their land of origin. They communicate with 
Congressmen, Senators and the State Department. . .particularly 
[regarding] communist-dominated countries." [f-65]
	
      The GOP, White House and Republican Heritage Groups Council 
also benefited from one other election effort in 1984 when 
Maryland Congressman Clarence Long was replaced by Helen Bentley, 
a Republican Heritage Groups Council cochair and a long time 
Council activist. Long, a persistent critic of White House policy 
in Central America, was also targeted by the Maryland Republican 
Heritage Groups, whose members claimed to have organized the 
margin of defeat over Long. Bentley was the only elected official 
to attend all three days of the 1985 Republican Heritage Groups 
Council meeting. She said that it was "the coalition of ethnics" 
that made her victory in Maryland possible. [f-66]
	
     - Forgive and Forget -
	
      The GOP cannot be ignorant of the backgrounds of their 
ethnic leaders. When Nixon was encouraging the growth of the 
Republican Heritage Groups Council in 1971, Jack Anderson did a 
series of reports on the pro-Nazi backgrounds of various GOP 
ethnic advisors. Included in the reports were Ivan Docheff and 
Laszlo Pasztor. In November of 1971, the <Washington Post> did a 
story that elaborated on some of the fascist elements coming 
into the GOP. [f-67]
	
      In the late 1970's, sporadic pieces appeared in the media 
that should have amply warned the GOP, including a 1978 Jack 
Anderson column on Josef Mikus's unrepentant support for Tiso. 
[f-68] Mikus and other Tiso collaborators were identified as 
advisors to various Republican figures. Reagan himself had an 
opportunity to learn of the character of the persons being drawn 
into the GOP since he served on the National Council of the 
Crusade for Freedom, a group tied to Radio Free Europe. [f-69]
	
      Radio Free Europe (RFE) was established under the direction 
of the CIA using the various national groupings previously 
described. Many of these elements were brought into the 
operations of RFE. Some are still working with RFE today, which 
may be why some of their American-based conationalists lobby so 
hard for the radio operations. Whether Reagan even knew much 
about these RFE emigres is unclear, but he was in a position to 
learn more than most Americans of the early 1950's about just who 
some of the emigres were. 
	
      The ethnic advisors to Reagan clearly know of Docheff's 
past, yet he was invited to the White House to a pre-election 
event. According to Andy Valucek, an expert on the myriad ethnic 
groups and leaders in the U.S. and currently on the staff of 
Democratic Congressman Tom Foley, the Slovaks within the GOP 
prevented a commemoration by the White House of the 40th 
anniversary of the 1944 Allied-supported Slovak uprising that 
attempted to topple Tiso near the end of the World War II. [f-70] 
The White House, however, previously had commemorated the 
anti-Nazi uprising in Poland, an event widely supported by the 
Polish community.
	
      In 1988 many of the key figures in the Republican Heritage 
Groups Council were named as leaders of the George Bush 
presidential campaign's ethnic outreach arm, the Coalition of 
American Nationalities. These included Anna Chennault, Walter 
Melianovich, Laslo Pasztor, Frank Stella, Radi Slavoff, Philip A. 
Guarino, and Florian Galdau. Other persons on the Bush ethnic 
panel with questionable views or pasts were Bohdan Fedorak and 
Akselis Mangulis.
	
      In August of 1988 draft copies of the first version of this 
report were mailed to several journalists. At the same time a 
reporter for <Washington Jewish Week> began collecting 
information on the backgrounds of the Bush campaign's Coalition 
of American Nationalities (CAN) members after hearing criticisms 
of the Justice Deartment's Office of Special Investigations while 
covering the Republican Convention. <Washington Jewish Week> 
originally focused on CAN members Ignatius Billinsky and Jerome 
Brentar>, but expanded the article after receiving documentation 
and background information on the Republican Heritage Groups 
Council from the author of this report. The <Philadelphia 
Inquirer> also began a substantial investigation of the charges 
in this report.
	
      In early September of 1988, Pasztor, Slavoff, Guarino, 
Galdau, Fedorak, Brentar, and Billinsky resigned from the Bush 
panel following revelations about their pasts or views appearing 
in the first edition of this report, <Washington Jewish Week> and 
the <Philadelphia Inquirer>.
	
      Bush adviser Fred Malek resigned from the Bush campaign 
after the <Washington Post> identified him as having compiled 
lists of Jews working at the Bureau of Labor Statistics on orders 
from the Nixon White House.
	
      In early November, the <Philadelphia Inquirer> raised 
questions about a Latvian member of CAN, which prompted the final 
resignation, that of Akselis Mangulis, charged with having 
belonged to the pro-Nazi Latvian Legion which had connections to 
the SS.
	
      While Bush campaign spokespersons pledged there would be an 
investigation into the backgrounds and views of the CAN members 
whose resignations it had announced, no serious investigation 
ever took place, and the campaign repeatedly referred to the 
charges as unsubstantiated politically-motivated smears. Several 
of the persons who had been reported as resigning told 
journalists they had never been asked to resign and considered 
themselves still active with the Bush campaign. Furthermore, 
Guarino, Slavoff, Galdau and Pasztor are still active with the 
Republican Heritage Groups Council.
	
      Leonard Zakim, director of the Boston office of the 
Anti-Defamation League, is troubled by the handling of the 
resignations of CAN members by the Bush campaign. Zakim says that 
if in fact the Bush campaign has never completely investigated 
the charges concerning the Republican ethnic advisors as 
requested by ADL, then he is "extremely unsatisfied" with that 
response: 
	
     "The ADL is very clear in demanding a full explanation take 
place, these charges are extremely serious and we expect the 
response to be equally serious. We are very disturbed that 
spokespersons for the Bush camp did not see fit to repudiate in 
full those individuals whose stated views are offensive. We don't 
see this as a Jewish issue. When charges like these are raised, 
all people should be concerned. It shouldn't only be Jewish 
organizations calling on the political campaigns to deal with 
issues of racism and anti-Semitism, but all persons of good 
conscience. "
	
      As a candidate, President Bush defended Galdau, Pasztor, 
Guarino and Slavoff as innocent of all accusations of 
collaboration, and insisted they are all honorable men. But the 
historical record belies his assertions.
	
      The GOP for decades has misread ethnic America's concerns 
about crime, employment, anti-ethnic discrimination and the 
future of its youth. It has offered instead the fascism and 
ethnic prejudices of the Heritage Council, which focuses 
primarily on funding Radio Free Europe and stopping Justice 
Department prosecutions of war criminals who illegally entered 
the country.
	
      As chairman of the Republican National Committee in the 
early years of the Council, and now as head of the Republican 
Party and President of the United States, Mr. Bush owes Americans 
a complete explanation.
	
      That the Republican Party considers its Republican Heritage 
Groups Council members representative of ethnic America shows 
their confusion between the traditionalism that exists in many 
ethnic communities and the anti-democratic and pro-fascist 
sentiments present within some of the constituent units of the 
Republican Heritage Groups Council. To the degree that the GOP 
decides to use the Council to lure ethnics away from the 
Democratic Party, "it is missing the boat and will fail," 
says Valuchek.
	
      But the GOP goal may be to create a new leadership in 
ethnic communities, in the same way that conservative and 
far-right groups have funded and credentialed new Black and Latin 
American spokespersons in those communities.
	
      Yet no matter what the intent or goal, the Republican 
Heritage Groups Council has incorporated racist, anti-Semitic and 
fascist forces, and even rehabilitated some Nazi collaborators; 
legitimized them as ethnic leaders in their own communities and 
in the press; and provided a vehicle for expanding their 
influence in the Executive branch and Congress, where they have 
played a role in shaping American foreign policy.
	
Xref: sparky alt.conspiracy:13283 ba.politics:7802 ca.politics:10426