# Kevin Alfred Strom

Kevin Alfred Strom (born August 17, 1956) is an American white nationalist and neo-Nazi from Virginia who founded the National Vanguard. In 2008, Strom pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

## Early life and activism

Strom indicates a high school teacher who shared his hatred of communism introduced him to the John Birch Society (JBS) where he first met members of the National Alliance which was more vocal about race theory and conflict. Joining the NA in 1982 and working under the NA's leader William Luther Pierce, Strom became a believer in the concept of a Zionist Occupied Government in the United States, a racist, and a neo-Nazi.
Strom is a former broadcast engineer and held an amateur radio license WB4AIO. Between 1983 and 1991, a pirate radio station named Voice of Tomorrow operated on shortwave and mediumwave frequencies, and broadcast openly racist and neo-Nazi material. According to Strom's ex-wife, Kirsten Kaiser, Voice of Tomorrow was operated by Strom. Strom had three children with his first wife, Kirsten Kaiser. Since their marriage ended, Kaiser has spoken about her life with Strom in several interviews. She has also written a book, The Bondage of Self, on her experiences with Strom and the National Alliance.
As part of his involvement with NA, Strom broadcast a weekly "American Dissident Voices" hour on radio, espousing antisemitic views.
During the weekend of April 16–17, 2005, Strom and several others were expelled from the National Alliance because of a dispute with the new leader Erich Gliebe. Strom and some other expelled members founded the National Vanguard, headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia. Claiming that his new organization was the true successor to NA, Strom continued his weekly radio broadcasts and used the National Vanguard's website to host and promote the views of other racists, including David Duke.
Strom was briefly the managing editor of The Truth at Last newspaper during 2005. Several sources have described this tabloid as being highly antisemitic and racist, because it often referred to Africans as an inferior race. Strom's boss at The Truth at Last, Edward Fields, is a former Grand Dragon of the New Order Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
Strom was a close associate of University of Illinois Classics professor and nationalist writer Revilo P. Oliver, who has been described as "one of America's most notorious fascists" and, according to B'nai Brith Canada, was "a long time proponent of antisemitism".
Strom's 1993 quote "To determine the true rulers of any society, all you must do is ask yourself this question: Who is it that I am not permitted to criticize?" has been paraphrased and erroneously attributed to the philosopher Voltaire, including by Australian politician Cory Bernardi, U.S. Representative Thomas Massie, and X (formerly known as Twitter) CEO Elon Musk.

## Arrest, conviction, prison and release

On January 4, 2007, Strom was arrested in Greene County, Virginia, on charges of possession of child pornography and witness tampering. The Grand Jury later added the accusation of receiving child pornography, seducing a 10-year old, and witness intimidation, Judge Norman K. Moon threw out both charges due to lack of evidence but commented "I think there is overwhelming evidence that [Strom] was sexually drawn to this child, and was obsessing over this child".
At the plea hearing on January 14, 2008, Strom pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography in exchange for the other charges to be dropped. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison in April 2008. Strom told the court before being sentenced that he was "not a pedophile" and was "in fact the precise opposite of what has been characterized in this case", saying he had been "unwillingly" possessing 10 images of child pornography and that those came from an online forum he had visited which had been "flooded with spam", which included "sleazy, tragic" pictures of children. The judge of the case responded: "Mr. Strom, you pled guilty to charges that now you're saying you're innocent. I prefer people plead not guilty than put it on me". Strom was released from prison on September 3, 2008.