Willis Carto

[[File:Willis Carto.gif|thumb|right|165px|Carto]]
{{nazism}}
'''Willis Allison Carto''' {{lived|July 27, 1926|October 26, 2015}} was an [[American]] [[Fascism|neo-fascist]], [[Racism|racist]], [[Antisemitism|anti-Semitic]] [[fringe]] [[wingnut]] who was best known as the head of the now-defunct [[Liberty Lobby]]. Before creating the Lobby, he was a member of the [[John Birch Society]], but left because he perceived the JBS of being too 'permissive' toward Jews.<ref>''Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right'' by Matthew Dallek (2023) Basic Books. ISBN 1541673565.</ref>{{rp|182}} While he started his career with close access to many [[segregation]]ist political figures, such as [[Strom Thurmond]] and the [[Council of Conservative Citizens|White Citizens' Councils]], by the 1970s his increasingly overt flirtations with [[neo-Nazism]], combined with the political failure of the segregationist movement, relegated him to the [[far-right]].

==Career==
Carto's involvement in politics began in the 1950s when he met [[Francis Parker Yockey]], whose [[Nazi]] apologia tome ''Imperium'' was Carto's favorite book, serving as the foundation for his developing ideology. Carto went on to found the Liberty Lobby in 1958, an organization that has been credited as being largely responsible for keeping anti-Semitism alive in the US as a political force during the post-war era, after it had seemingly been discredited because of the Nazis. It was for this reason that the emerging leaders of American post-war conservatism drummed Carto out of the emerging [[New Right (United States)|New Right]] in the 1960s.

Carto campaigned for [[George Wallace]] in 1968, calling him the only candidate who had the courage to stand up to "Blacky". After Wallace's bid failed, Carto started befriending various [[neo-Nazi]]s and [[white supremacist]]s, including [[David Duke]], [[Ernst Zündel]], and [[William Luther Pierce]]. In 1984, he founded the {{wpl|Populist Party (United States, 1984)|Populist Party}} (no relation to any of the various other parties of the same name throughout history) that basically served as cover for [[Ku Klux Klan]] and [[Christian Identity]] types. The party, fortunately, went belly-up in 1996.

Late in his life, the main outlets for his views and activities were the ''American Free Press'' newspaper and the [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust-denial]] magazine ''Barnes Review''. He was a supporter of [[Ron Paul]]<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/26/us/politics/ron-paul-disowns-extremists-views-but-doesnt-disavow-the-support.html?_r=0 ''The New York Times'': Paul Disowns Extremists’ Views but Doesn’t Disavow the Support]</ref> and various anti-American Middle Eastern governments, including [[Iran]] and [[Saddam Hussein]]'s [[Iraq]], and peddled [[quack]] cures and assorted [[Alternative medicine|"medical"]] [[woo]].

==Batshit Crazy Views==
{{cquote|A secular [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial scheme]] [[False flag operation|overtly aimed]] at ingathering Jews of the world to Israel but [[Bullshit|in reality]] a [[International Jewish conspiracy|world political engine]] of [[The American Dream (film)|massive power]] which [[Protocols of the Elders of Zion|effectively controls all aspects]] of Western [[Zionist Occupation Government|political]], [[Sigmund Freud|intellectual]], [[Christian Zionism|religious]] and [[Cultural Marxism|cultural]] life. Zionism overlaps substantially into both [[Rothschild family|capitalism]] and [[Leon Trotsky|communism]]. Without Zionist support, [[Adolf Hitler#Mein Kampf|neither capitalism nor communism could survive]]. Zionism is [[Stab-in-the-back legend|strongly antagonistic to all nationalism]] except Jewish nationalism"''|||Carto's definition of [[Zionism]]<ref>Osha Gray Davidson, [http://laroucheplanet.info/pmwiki/downloads/Davidson%201990%20Broken%20Heartland.pdf Broken Heartland - The Rise of America's Rural Ghettos], The Free Press, 1990, p. 205.</ref>}}
While Carto hated everyone who wasn't white, his biggest [[bigotry|hate-on]] was [[Antisemitism|reserved for the Jews]]. Carto co-founded the [[Institute for Historical Review]] in 1978 to act as an outlet for anti-Semitic [[propaganda]], serving as one of the first major outlets for [[Holocaust denial]]. After losing the IHR in an internal coup in 1993, Carto went on to found the ''Barnes Review'' as a successor. He was open about his intentions in promoting Holocaust denial, claiming that "Hitler's defeat was the defeat of Europe and America" and blaming the Jews for all the problems in the world. He also argued that black people should be "repatriated" back to [[Africa]] (i.e. kicked out of the country, don't let the door hit your ass), founding organizations working towards that goal in the '50s that served as predecessors to the Liberty Lobby.

However, he had long tried to spin his racism as mere [[populism]], focused on preserving American sovereignty and the Constitution. An example was the Liberty Lobby's ''Spotlight'' newspaper, which covered a wide range of financial and political reporting with an anti-establishment slant with only occasional hints of overt racism. For another example, his 1982 book ''Profiles in Populism'' (later republished as ''Populism Vs. Plutocracy'') profiled historical U.S. personalities [[Thomas Jefferson]] and [[Andrew Jackson]], left-wing figures such as Bob LaFollette, conservative law-and-order Democrats like Frank Rizzo, and Nazi sympathizers like [[Henry Ford]], [[Charles Coughlin]], and [[Huey Long]]. The profiles in the book are hardly accurate and full of Carto's spin, and reached laugh-riot levels when he took pains to note the pure white ancestry of [[fascist]] sympathizer {{wpl|Lawrence Dennis}} — who, later on, would be revealed to have actually been half African-American, having spent his adult life [[passing]] for white to the point where even his wife and daughter didn't know the truth about his ancestry.<ref>[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/apr/04/usa.race "The fascist who 'passed' for white"] by Gary Younge, ''[[The Guardian]]'', 4 April 2007 (recovered 6 December 2015).</ref>

Carto was fond of political ecumenism, trying to build alliances among the racist far-right, law-and-order machine politicians, [[John Birch Society|Birchers]], [[Lyndon LaRouche|LaRouchies]], and some elements of the far left.  Speaking of Lyndon LaRouche, from about 1976 into the early 1980s (although both downplay the extent of it today) Carto and LaRouche were ''very'' closely aligned, with their respective followers providing material and ghostwritten articles for each others' publications.  

As with many would-be gurus, he invented his own in-group language.  The most consistent indicator that you are dealing with someone steeped in the weird wild world of Willis is the use of the term "mattoid".<ref group=note>''Mattoid'' is an archaic psychology term for a borderline psychotic rarely used today. In Carto-speak it means an amoral or morally degenerate but highly intelligent person who gravitates toward finance, banking, politics, or law, sort of a combination [[evil Jew]] [[stereotype]] and [[suppressive person]].</ref> To assist the uninitiated, he provided a complete glossary in the appendix to ''Profiles in Populism''. The new definitions he gave many words are... interesting.

==See also==
* [[Holocaust denial]]
* [[Third positionism]]
* [[Roger Pearson]], occasional collaborator
* [[David Duke]], a close associate of Carto, and very likely Carto redpilled Duke

==External links==
*[[Southern Poverty Law Center|SPLC]]: [http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/willis-carto Willis Carto profile], [http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/institute-for-historical-review IHR profile], [https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/10/30/willis-carto-longtime-anti-semite-and-holocaust-denier-dies-aged-89 Obituary]
*[[Anti-Defamation League]]: [http://www.adl.org/Learn/Ext_US/carto.asp Carto profile], [http://www.adl.org/holocaust/carto.asp Fabricating History], [http://blog.adl.org/anti-semitism/american-anti-semite-and-holocaust-denier-willis-carto-dies Obituary]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carto, Willis}}
[[Category:Alternative medicine promoters]]
[[Category:Alt-right]]
[[Category:Antisemites]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Fascists]]
[[Category:Holocaust denialists]]
[[Category:Homophobes]]
[[Category:John Birch Society]]
[[Category:LaRouche movement]]
[[Category:Pseudohistory promoters]]
[[Category:Racists]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazis]]
[[Category:Sexists]]

Categories: Alternative medicine promoters, Alt-right, Antisemites, Conspiracy theorists, Fascists, Holocaust denialists, Homophobes, John Birch Society, LaRouche movement, Pseudohistory promoters, Racists, Neo-Nazis, Sexists