Talk:Revilo P. Oliver

message: What is the basis for the assertion that Oliver was a National Socialist, or held any Socialist viewpoints and/or ideology.  nobs 05:25, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I wondered about the assertion too.  I guess it is pretty accurate to say that he "came to openly embrace an essentially National Socialist worldview", as he was in accord with its main principles (esp. "anti-Semitic" Aryan racialism) and wrote favorably of it.  I don't think of him as being an National Socialist in the same way that George Lincoln Rockwell or Savitri Devi were, as they held NS as the answer in a way that Oliver didn't seem to.  In "Eminent Sheeny", Oliver asserts that "by destroying Hitler and the National Socialist régime in Germany, [Americans] destroyed their own future."  As for being a Socialist, in The Spurious Shekel" he seems to regard National Socialism as "really only a kind of nationalism".  —Morning star 06:25, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you. That is a well researched and well presented response.  In this particular case, it is not too much of strech to brand Oliver with the NS label, and seems well deserved too.  nobs 14:31, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  National Socialist? 

message: : The discussion about Revilo P. Oliver needs major revision. The author of the article accepts without independent verification Oliver's claim that during his World War II service in the Army Signal Corps, Oliver "came to be in charge of a rapidly expanding department, and advanced from Analyst to Director of Research (eventually responsible for the work of about 175 persons.")   
However, I have obtained the FBI file on Oliver along with his service records from the National Personnel Records Center.  Neither reflect that Oliver was ever a Supervisor or "Director of Research" of anything!  All documents refer to him simply as an Analyst. 
More details are available from me:  Ernie1241@aol.com
: The following line has no documentation as to it's accuracy: "During World War II, Oliver worked with distinction at the U.S. Army Signal Corps installation, Arlington Hall, in cryptanalysis."
If Oliver "worked with distinction", what, if any awards did he receive? In addition, that language is unwieldy and not consistent with U.S. Military phraseology.
76.217.35.16 (talk) 15:16, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Oliver's World War II Service 

message: As I mentioned above, I have obtained Dr. Oliver's FBI files and his wartime service records.  Nowhere does it indicate that he was ever "Director of Research" of anything nor is there even an indication that he had any sort of supervisory position.  I wrote to Kevin Strom on several occasions to ask for more details but he chose not to reply. 
Oliver's 1942 "Job Sheet" while employed at the Army Signal Service described his duties as follows:
"Under general supervision, to perform research and analysis in relation to the translation of foreign language texts of exceptional difficulty; also requiring wide knowledge of the political, economic, and social conditions in foreign countries."  In 1943 he was promoted to "Associate Research Analyst."
ADDITIONAL INFO ABOUT OLIVER:
In an October 1959 article in the Birch Society's American Opinion magazine Oliver claimed that between 70 and 80% of the responsible officers in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW) were "members or accomplices" of the Communist conspiracy.  He also wrote that some DHEW employees served as Communist couriers.  
In a March 1959 speech to the Illinois DAR, Oliver stated that "fully one-third of the top echelon of Communist conspirators in this country" were in the DHEW and he cited former FBI informant Herbert A. Philbrick as his source for that statement.   The FBI received numerous inquiries about these assertions.  
Here is the pertinent excerpt from an FBI Boston field office memo on the matter:
"Herbert A. Philbrick...advised this date he has met Dr. Revilo P. Oliver on two occasions at Urbana IL in late 1959 or early 1960 when Philbrick delivered lectures there.  Oliver has written Philbrick on one or two occasions.  Philbrick stated he has never given Dr. Oliver any information concerning Communist infiltration of DHEW, stating he knows no one in this Department and has had no information concerning Communist Party activity in the U.S. Government since at least 1944.  Philbrick approximately one half year ago heard statements attributed to him that DHEW was infiltrated with CP members...He denied emphatically that he ever made such statements orally or in writing.  He considers Dr. Oliver to be an extremist in anti-Communist feelings and violently anti-Semitic."
In addition, the FBI reviewed its Security Index cards and "determined that no employees of the DHEW are included in the Security Index."   Since the SI was designed to be the FBI's method of identifying persons it considered actually or potentially dangerous to U.S. security and that included CP members, CP sympathizers, and individuals associated with CP-front groups or anybody with "anarchist or revolutionary beliefs" -- obviously, Oliver's conclusion was totally a fabrication of his fevered imagination.
At the time Oliver claimed that "fully one-third of the top echelon of Communist conspirators in this country" were in DHEW, the FBI Security Index listed 19 Communists or Communist sympathizers working in the entire U.S. government.
A 1963 FBI Domestic Intelligence Division memo contained the following evaluation about Dr. Oliver: "...Dr. Oliver is a Professor at the University of Illinois and is a right-wing extremist."
OLIVER'S WRITING STYLE:
The June 1992 issue of Liberty Bell magazine contains an article by Oliver which includes the following comment:
"My article on Nigger Superiority in the May issue of Liberty Bell was in print before events in Los Angeles gave it an emphatic confirmation.  Niggers naturally loot and destroy when they see a good opportunity...for tribal festivities."
::Need secondary sources - editors are not supposed to be making judgments about whether Oliver was fascist by judging his writing of different periods. What did reputable journals or other media write about him? If he attracted national attention, what was said? There are far too many quotes from his own writing, rather than material about him. This suggests that he is not notable enough to merit an article, even if he was outrageous in his writings.Parkwells (talk) 18:33, 21 August 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Additional Information Re: Oliver's Veracity 

message: We should shorten the lead. I suggest only mentioning his Kennedy assassination conspiracy view, and his later racialist views and involvement with said groups. There rest can be moved down into the bio section. --LC 23:39, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree that it is an over-long intro. -Will Beback · † · 23:45, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  lead 

message: How did oliver die? Was he a suicide? If so, why isn't it mentioned in hiswikipedia  biography?
My recollection is that he shot himself.  Also, if I recall correctly he had lymphatic cancer.  He decided to end his life because the cancer was affecting his brain.  That's my recollection anyway from conversation at the time with Kevin Strom.
--Hadding
He shot himself.  I have the bullets here, actually.  Western brand 38 Special.  He used a revolver.  First shot into the ceiling as a test.  Second shot dimpled the primer.  Third shot didn't puncture his skull, but it killed him anyway.  
-Phil Fiscella  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.253.167.39 (talk) 01:46, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Revilo Oliver's Death 

message: I've only just now heard of this bloke.  What strikes me as notably lacking in this description of his academic, war-time and political activities and achievements is any "personal life" section, as is usual in biographical articles.
Did he have any partner?  Any offspring?  Or was he so purely devoted to his causes that he gave them priority over his personal contribution to the propagation of the race, and thus became the last Revilo Oliver?
(or was he ... ... one shudders to think.)
141.243.9.139 (talk) 02:31, 16 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Personal Life" section? 

message: *http://www.nytimes.com/1964/02/11/kennedy-target-of-birch-writer.html
*https://books.google.com/books?id=XcLSoljnmBcC&lpg=PR2&pg=PA7#v=onepage&q&f=false
*https://books.google.com/books?id=n7hFAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1804-IA11#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Location (talk) 16:56, 29 July 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: For future reference

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I bought Dr. Oliver's home in Urbana, and donated about 4,000 pounds of his letters and papers to the University of Illinois archives this past Fall.  
There is plenty of good material in there if anybody is interested in doing some research.  He was a fascinating character, and we have everything from his draft card, military documents, childhood writings, family history, to some unpublished books that he wrote.  I also have contacts for several people who knew him in life.  
The U of I library is open to the public, although it'll likely take them years to catalog all of it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.253.167.39 (talk) 01:41, 18 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Research Opportunity 

message: The Institute for Historical Review is a WP:QUESTIONABLE source, so new books published by it after Oliver's death should be verified by an independent reliable source per WP:BURDEN and WP:DUEWEIGHT. I removed three external links to posthumous books from it and another WP:SPS per WP:QUESTIONABLE, WP:ELNO #2 and #11, and WP:NOTDATABASE ("To provide encyclopedic value, data should be put in context with explanations referenced to independent sources"), and added a tag for third-party RS needed. Llll5032 (talk) 06:23, 1 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links