Episoder
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Happy New Year! Weâre back with another installment of The Warren Commission Decided to round out our excavation into the backgrounds and baggage of the seven commissioners LBJ appointed to seal up the narrative of the JFK assassination in the wake of the murder of Lee Oswald. And weâve saved the worst for last: Godâs own monster, Allen Welsh Dulles.
Oceans of ink have been spilled, and miles of vocal cords chafed recounting the genocidal legacy of Allen Dulles. You know weâre averse to trodding familiar ground, so this episode delves into some areas we hope will be fresher. It wouldnât be 4RA without a healthy dose of Oedipal psychology, so we dig into the Foster-Lansing-Dulles klan to consider what makes these freaks tick. Then, we touch on Allenâs career of evil from his jumpstart in espionage (and Aryo-philia) during WWI, to his participation in the Versailles conference, to his law practice at Sullivan & Cromwell, to his peak as longtime CIA director under presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy.
Again, we gloss over a lot of the greatest hits to give you the deeper cuts, all while focusing on Dullesâs deep-seated racism and how it informed his tolerance - or even admiration - for Nazism. We also highlight his absolute mastery of the art of deception.
Finally, we end up where we always do: with his relationship with JFK, their breakup after the Bay of Pigs debacle, and his selection as commissioner. Perhaps when JFK fired the old silver fox, he should have been more âcareful with that axe.â Itâs another banger: dig in!
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We are back to finish off our excavation into the life, times, and legacy of Reichsman extraordinaire, John J. McCloy. We last left off with McCloyâs service in WWII under Henry L. Stimson. We heard some of the real audio from the Nuremberg tribunal to get a sense of the theft, murder, kidnapping, and enslavement that the German industrialists committed during the Third Reich, well, John J. McCloy was about to undo a lot of the justice meted out unto those bastards.
We pick up post-war with McCloyâs incredible career, leading up to his selection on the Warren Commission. We cover his exploits as World Bank President, High Commissioner for Germany during the US occupation, Chairman of Chase Bank, and Chairman of the Ford Foundation. We look beneath the titles to get a read on the man and his character. He left an indelible mark on each of the institutions he touched, and in turn, on the broader economy and society in which those institutions carried so much sway.
Finally, itâs back to 1963, Kennedyâs dead, and McCloy springs into action as the âfixer,â cutting deals and mediating between opposing factions on the Warren Commission in the quest for unanimity.
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This week we take a brief hiatus from our series within a series âthe Warren Commission Decided,â and travel back to the present day to weigh in on a topic of much discussion these last few weeks: the killing of United Healthcare's former CEO, Brian Thompson, and the spectacle that has ensued ever since.
To be clear, this episode won't have any conspiracy theories. Nor will there be any debates about "who done it" or even whether the assassination was justified. No, here at Fourth Reich Archaeology we know full well that you can get that sort of thing just about anywhere these days. So, instead, we offer you a tutorial on how to apply the tools weâve sharpened (and the artifacts weâve uncovered) over the last five months to the spectacle that has come to bear since the early morning hours of December 4, 2024.
Happy holidays to all!
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We are back for another round of excavation into the life, times, and legacy of Reichsman extraordinaire, John J. McCloy. We last left off with McCloyâs service in WWI, during which he spent the bulk of his time as aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Guy H. Preston. Preston was not only a soldier in the settler colonial army of the Western frontier, he was a participant in the Wounded Knee Massacre who was charged with taking possession of the Indian prisoners of war. What a mark that left on John McCloy.
We pick up post-war with McCloyâs Harvard Law graduation and departure from his native Philadelphia off to the big apple, New York City, where heâd set down his roots as a Wall Street lawyer. His legal practice fit seamlessly into the transition between Americaâs imperial conquest of the Western frontierâhe spent a lot of time helping investment banks build railroad monopolies and consolidate financial control over industryâand Americaâs entry into the global stage of intercontinental imperialism. Just like the Dulles brothersâ over at Sullivan and Cromwell, McCloyâs work at the firms Cadwalader, Wickersham, and Taftâand later at Cravathâsaw him greasing the wheels for that great interwar collaboration between US financiers and industrialists, and the German industrialists who spent the 1930s working overtime to remilitarize.
During WWII, McCloy is brought under the wing of friend of the pod Henry L. Stimson. We stack up both sides of his moral ledger: on one hand, advocating the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps while fighting efforts to bomb the German concentration camps and curb the Holocaust; but on the other hand, he opposed dropping nukes on Japan and helped integrate the US Army. We make sense of his mixed record through our patented Fourth Reich Lens.
We hope you like Krautrock, because this is our most German episode yet.
On our free feed, thatâs where this episode ends. If you want the full 2-hour extravaganza, head on over to Patreon and sign up today! If not, youâll need to wait a while for side 2âŠ
Meanwhile, enjoy, and happy holidays to all!
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If anyone has a resumĂ© befitting a Horseman of the Fourth Reich, itâs the subject of this episodeâJohn J. McCloy. Just look at some of these highlights:
Boarding school for high school;
Harvard Law;
Multiple Wall Street firms (Cadwalader; Cravath; Milbank);
U.S. Department of War under Henry L. Stimson;
President of the World Bank;
U.S. High Commissioner for Germany;
Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations;
Chairman of the Ford Foundation;
Chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank;
Trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation;
Bilderberg attendee;
Bohemian Grove member;
And, the reason why heâs got his own series-within-a-series-within-a-series:
Member of the Warren Commission.
Without further examination, McCloyâs curriculum vitae makes his service on the Warren Commission seem like a foregone conclusion. Remember, McCloy was one of the Commissionâs two âprivate citizenâ members, the other being Dulles, so it would be easy to assume without more than the above info that McCloy was just another cleanup man. But this is Fourth Reich Archaeology, and you already know that we had to dig deeper on the guy. Donning (and dicking) our patented 4RA lenses, hard-hats, and shovels, we introduce you to the real McCloy. The man was so much more than what initially meets the eye.
We start our McCloy excavation in 1963 and learn that in fact, he was the driving force behind transforming the Warren Commision from a toothless review committee meant to rubber-stamp the FBIâs report into a real investigative body. For example, McCloy is the reason the Warren Commission was given subpoena powers, and with it, the authority to conduct its own investigation. He also lobbied to hire a staff of lawyers to work under the Commissioners. Now, to be clear, we arenât saying that the Commission used that power effectively; weâre just pointing out thatâat least at the outsetâMcCloy was more of a squeaky wheel than a rubber stamp. But that changes sometime in Spring 1964, and weâll discuss why we think that is. Not for nothing did McCloy enjoy a sterling relation among the power elite as a master strategist, a straight shooter, and THE man to call in a national crisis.
We then turn back the clocks to McCloyâs childhood and early years, and follow him as he goes from âthe wrong side of the tracksâ in North Philadelphia, to Amherst college, where he spent his free time as any young patriot would, participating in voluntary military preparedness drills as tensions in Europe flared in the lead-up to WWI. He spent two summers in a Teddy Roosevelt-endorsed summer bootcamp in Plattsburgh, NY, where he learned lessons from Teddyâs rough riders and met other members of the patriotic elite at what became known as the âmillionaireâs camp.â Throughout all of these educational experiences, McCloy is rubbing elbows with the rich kids, not because he is one himself, but because his mom is their momâs hairdresser.
Then WWI breaks out, and McCloy answers the call. And, like any true ascending Reichsman, McCloy was on that grindset tip, and caught the eye of his commander, Brigadier General Guy H. Preston, who picked McCloy to be his aide de camp. And this is where we will leave off, but not without painting what may well be one of the funniest factual vignettes to date.
Sit back, relax, and put on that PPEâbecause this dig qualifies for hazard pay. McCloyâs story is a long one, and so it is going to be a two parter - STAY TUNED FOR PART 2!!
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Our long time listeners will know that we at Fourth Reich Archaeology are big fans of a love story. Whether it's a romance (like between Jerry and Betty Ford), or a bromance (like between Jerry and Richard Nixon), or a platonic love story about the paternal bond between mentor and mentee (like between LBJ and Dick Russell), we love it all. Thatâs why we can hardly contain ourselves this week, as we explore what may well be the most unexplored love story between two people who are eternally tethered by the events of November 22, 1963: John F. Kennedy and John Sherman Cooper. And the best part is that this love story comes complete with a fall from grace and a grand betrayal.
In this episode, we take you back to the night of President John F. Kennedyâs inauguration ball. In the wee hours after the event, Kennedy heads over to Joe Alsopâs place and links up with his friend and beloved mentor, John Sherman Cooper. The two spend hours talking about the future and Kennedyâs vision for his presidency. Indeed, Cooper and Kennedy were long time friends and as close as any two politicians could be. They came up on the Georgetown scene around the same time, and were both seen as very eligible bachelors. They even went on double dates with the women who eventually became their wives. Kennedy, the young, charismatic president, admired Cooper, the elder statesman, for his integrity and his unwavering commitment to principles. We tell the inspiring come-up story of Cooperâs life from Somerset, Kentucky, to Georgetown, to India, and back to the upper echelon of the power elite in Washington. Yet he never gave up the Kentucky Gentleman sincerity that made him so trustworthy and beloved.
The close bond between these two is perhaps the very reason why LBJ picked Cooper to be on the Warren Commission. Much like with Hale Boggs, LBJ likely saw Cooper as a threat and felt that he needed to bring Cooper in the fold in order to keep him quiet. We can only speculate on Cooperâs state of mind, but to us, what began as a sense of duty to the country soon became an unbearable tension between Cooperâs commitment to the truth and the political pressures that sought to suppress it. Cooper, despite his own reservations, reluctantly agreed to participate in the whitewashed version of events ultimately reduced to writing. It was a decision that we can't help but think would forever haunt him, as he knew he had allowed the forces of power to rewrite history at the expense of the man he once called a dear friend.
Grab your tissue box. This oneâs a tear jerker.
Credit: the author who reported former Cooper aide Morris Wolffâs recounting of Cooperâs confidential Warren Commission critiques is Mark Shaw, and you can find more here: https://markshawbooks.com/assets/docs/New-Evidence-Proving-Warren-Commission-Corruption_Oct-26-2023-1.pdf
His full talk at the Commonwealth Club is here: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/mark-shaw-60th-anniversary-jfks-assassination-retrospective
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Are you heading into Thanksgiving weekend wondering WTF you will talk about with family and friends? Fear not, dear listener; Fourth Reich Archaeology has got you covered. We dropped this exclusively pre-Thanksgiving for our Patreon subscribers (sign up to get more such treats!), but you know we won't hold out on our listeners, so here it is for free. We offer some fodder to break the ice on a subject that weâre sure youâll agree is dinner conversation appropriateâthe sad true fact that we are currently living in the Fourth Reich, and the latest election results are a painful reminder that that's true.
In the third installment of our 2024 election coverage, we do a post-mortem of the spectacle and add our patented Fourth Reich Archaeology view to the discourse. We offer a verbal carving-knife to help you cut through the liberal doomerism weighing down so many of our friends and families in the wake of Trumpâs win and share some thoughts on why weâre hopeful about the next four years. Itâs not that weâre excited about Trumpâs Killer Krony Krew; itâs that the mask of American fascism is slipping more and more, making the Fourth Reich Archaeology message resonate more than ever. Youâll want to listen to the very end of this one to catch the instructions for Fourth Reich Archaeologyâs very first parlor game, which will be the perfect way to have some fun with your normie loved ones this holiday season.
Music:
âThe Doors - âFive to OneââJohn Lennon - âWorking Class HeroââBlaze Foley - âOval RoomââMick Gordon - âNazi Punks, gtfoââTom Waits - âEverything Goes to Hellâ -
Last week, we talked about how President Lyndon Johnson came to put together a top-flight blue ribbon commission to cover up the Kennedy assassination. For the next two episodes, we go around the table and introduce the listener to each of the seven members of that commission. As we do, we also receive a masterclass on how to lie, manipulate, coerce, and outright strongarm to get your way. At the head of the class is LBJ.
Along with its chairman, Earl Warren, the Warren Commission consisted of two members from each chamber of Congress: one Democrat and one Republican. The Commission also had âtwo members of the public.â This week we cover the Warren Commissionâs chairman, its members who served in the House of Representatives, and its Democrat Senator.
First, we introduce Chief Justice Earl Warren, who was the ringleader of the ragtag team of spooks, drunks, racists, and rats. Warren was the perfect man to lend his name to the cover-up. He had spent the last 10 years building the publicâs trust by overseeing the most progressive shift in the history of Supreme Court jurisprudence, including classics like Brown v. Board of Education and Gideon v. Wainwright.
For his Democratic Senator pick, LBJ chose Senator Richard âDickâ Russell of Georgia. Russell mentored LBJ in the Senate and was a logical pick to serve as LBJâs âinside man.â There was just one problem. Russell was a Dixiecrat and staunch segregationist, which made him Earl Warrenâs arch-nemesis. LBJ bullies him like a boy. We play the tapes. Itâs incredible.
For the Democratic Congressman, LBJ picked Hale Boggs of Louisiana. Where Russell was an offensive pick, Boggs was a defensive one. In the days leading up to the announcement of the Warren Commission, Boggs - who had been a great admirer of the slain JFK - was vocal about the need to initiate an independent, unbiased investigation. To nip that in the bud, LBJ neutralized Boggs by bringing him in the fold.
And you know we had to save the best for last. Our day one homie, Jerry Ford. Jerry was the Republican Congressman pick, and LBJ chose him for all the reasons weâve discussed in Jerryworld. At this point Jerry was a national brand, with a reputation for being a team player, a hard worker, and a straight shooter. In fact, in LBJâs eyes, Jerry looked like the perfect mark to be his bagmanâafter all Jerry was still a young up and comer. Little did LBJ know that Jerry was playing him for a fool and serving as mole to none other than J Edgar Hoover.
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As promised, we are digging into the surprising story of the formation of the Warren Commission over the week succeeding Lee Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby on November 24, 1963. Most observers assume that the idea originated with President Lyndon Baines Johnson, whose name was on the Executive Order creating the Commission on November 29, but that is far from the case.
In fact, Johnson - and FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover - initially opposed the creation of a presidential commission, preferring to leave the investigation up to the FBI in collaboration with Texas state and local authorities. So what changed?
As it were, there was a plot of sorts. Indeed, a conspiracy. Individuals close to the CIA and the patrician Georgetown Set, with its swashbuckling imperialist cohort of OSS veterans, launched an intense pincer movement before Oswald's blood had stopped flowing. They swarmed LBJ and his closest aides and pressured them into creating a commission independent from Hoover's FBI. First, Eugene V. Debs Rostow - Yale Law dean and brother of JFK's hawkish advisor (and CIA asset) Walt Whitman Rostow - placed a flurry of calls to the trustworthy blue-blooded Deputy Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbch, who promptly hit the phones in favor of a commission in turn. Rostow also connected with LBJ advisor Bill Moyers to ensure the message reached the new President. Meanwhile, CIA-linked American aristocrat Joe Alsop made the pitch to Johnson directly, issuing veiled threats about forthcoming Washington Post OpEds and promising that the media Mockingbird would sing for LBJ if he followed Alsop's lead.
The fix was in, and the coverup was underway. By November 25, Katzenbach submitted a now infamous memo calling for a report designed to achieve a very discrete goal, rather removed from solving the case of the Kennedy assassination: "The public must be satisfied that Oswald was the assassin; that he did not have confederates who are still at large; and that evidence was such that he would have been convicted at trial."
Buckle up!
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UNLOCKED: We promised to release this, our first piece of paywalled content, for free as soon as our wonderful listeners got the first episode of THE WARREN COMMISSION DECIDED over 1,000 streams. You all pulled through in record time, so we hope you enjoy this little spooky story about Lee Harvey Oswald's attempted defection to the Soviet Union on Halloween, 1959. The consular officials who witnessed his performance said it looked rehearsed, like a man reciting memorized lines. But who wrote the script? It's short, sweet, and mysterious. We hope you like it!
Songs:
The Phantom of the Opera
Vladimir Vysotsky - Koni Priveredivye (Fastidious Horses)
Timothy Cleary - Mission Critical
Michael Jackson - Stranger in Moscow
Timothy Cleary - Gremlin
Sting - Russians
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We are in the big game now. Jack gets capped and itâs up to FBI informant Gerald Ford Jr. and a ragtag band of Fourth Reichsmen helmed by ex-CIA chief, Allen Dulles, to investigate (read: cover up) the murder.
We recap the first half of Jerryâs lifeâs work and his entry into the keystone of the political pyramid, including the insane amount of intersections Jerry has with historical personages and events, with a heavy center of gravity in the intelligence community⊠Weâre in the late 50s/early 60s as his star continues to rise in Congress. We recount how he was tapped in the 1960 presidential election as a potential candidate for Vice President to his old pal Dick Nixon. Thatâs right, our man Jerry, who time and again has been quoted as saying that his âsole political ambitionâ was to be speaker of the House, threw his hat in the ring to play second fiddle on the 1960 Nixon ticket. He loses that bid to Boston Brahmin, and Kennedy family rival, Henry Cabot Lodge. Of course, Nixon loses and JFK takes the reigns. But not for long, as Jack breaks the golden ruleâdonât mess with the CIA. And thatâs how Jerry gets the professional opportunity of a lifetime.
We know there are lots and lots of JFK podcasts out there that go through various aspects of the criminal conspiracy to assassinate the president. Thatâs not what this is. Weâre still digging in Jerryworld here. We want to provide our listeners with something fresh and unlike anything else out there. You wonât want to miss it.
In part one of this miniseries, we go over the contours and conclusions of the Warren Commission and set the stage for whatâs to come in our archaeological expedition. We explore Jerryâs favorite turn of phrase, and the title of this miniseries. We explain, at a high level, the conventional recitation of what happened on November 22, 1963 and in the days that followed. And we cover the Commissionâs thirteen findings, all of which point the finger at Lee Harvey Oswald as a lone assassin.
So sit back and join us as we embark on the mother of all side quests â an exploration into the assassination and cover up of the 35th President of the United States.
We hope that this miniseries broadens our listener base as we continue to grow. To that end please tell your friends and family about our project. And, as always, we are grateful for financial support on Patreon.
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Join us as we take a final dusting to the artifact-in-the-making that is the 2024 presidential election. Will we make an endorsement? Not likely. Will we have a few laughs? Definitely.
Weâve subjected ourselves to hours upon hours of presidential slop. We went ears deep in the trough for you, listener. Weâll give a few highlights from Kamalaâs performance on the Breakfast Club, Trump on Rogan, JD Vance on Tim Dillon. Seriously, we had to bathe with a steel loofah after listening to all this shit.
Not unexpectedly, we conclude - while not begrudging anyoneâs right to fear-vote democrat - that the two candidates for Hitler are pretty much a wash. Both pledge to continue committing genocide. Both pledge to criminalize immigration and build a wall. Both pledge to protect crypto assets (lol). Itâs a race to the bottom and we ask aloud whether these parties are really trying to lose.
In an election where the party of Dick Cheney is calling the OTHER guy fascist, you know youâre in the Fourth Reich. Hope this helps you keep your distance from the madness as the barbarians approach both sides of the gates.
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In Money Pt. 2, we switch lenses from macro to micro and link back up with Jerry as he navigates the scene we set in part one. Recall that in part one, we gave a big-picture view of the U.S. as it emerged out of WWII as the victor and began its reign over the rubble left in the wake of the War. We discussed how the âCold Warâ was not so cold after all, as Nazi General Reinhard Gehlenâs âstay-behindâ armies (under the direction and on the payroll of the ClA) waged guerrilla warfare against the Soviets in Eastern Europe. The American transition from fighting the Nazis to working with them against the Russians was seamless.
In part two, we zoom in on Congressman Ford as he takes the reigns of power as a lucrative congressional appropriations committee and subcommittee member.
Of course, we have our usual cast of characters, too. For example, Betty gives her husband advice that ultimately causes Congressman Tabor to take a shine on old Jerry. And that's how Jerry ends up with a cushy spot on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, with his hands on the purse strings for the US war machine. This is also where Jerry first crosses paths with the Dulles brothers.
Whereas in part one we saw the secret love between Reinhard Gehlen and Foster Dulles, this one turns into a three-way bromance between Jerry and the Dulles brothers. Jerry takes a multi-week tour of the Pacific with John Foster Dulles. John and Jerry do a literal tour of the Fourth Reich's post war pickings in Asia: they went to a prisoner exchange in Korea; they met with French and South Vietnamese troops, including a night out on the town in Saigon; and they made a stop in occupied Japan. But Jerry also catches the eye of Allen Dulles, who taps him for the super secret Intel subcommittee assignment in 1956.
In the 1950s, Jerry was in the money. He was cozied up with the Horsemen of the Fourth Reich and signaled that he was ready to serve. We told you things were getting dark. Here we see how willing Jerry was to shed away all decency and do the bidding for Dulles et al. Of course, that will come in full swing in our soon-to-be-released mini-series "The Warren Commission Decided."
And if you've read this far, that means you are a true Jerryhead and journeyman Reichiologist. If we got that right, please show us some love by donating to our Patreon so we can lock in and focus on our project full-time. Fourth Reich Archaeology is bound for glory, and we promise we won't forget those of you who have been with us since day one.
With that, let's get digging. . .
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Congressman Gerald R. Ford Jr. - once upon a time known as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. - is in the money. Not literally. Yet. But heâs moving major stacks for Uncle Sam. You see, with a maneuver of cunning and of sidling up to just the right power brokers, Jerry lands himself a seat on the much-coveted House Appropriations Committee in his first term in office. From rookie to MVP contender in the House. Not only that, but heâs also on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
This is another 2-parter; thereâs just too much to cram into one ep. So, part 1 sets the stage and gives the context for Jerryâs rapid rise into the inner sanctum of power in the budding National Security State. The beating heart of the emerging US global empire spreading its reign over the rubble left in the wake of WWII.
We catch up with some of our âHorsemenâ of the Fourth Reich, tracking them from the (twice) failed Dewey campaigns into a secluded perch nestled between the State Department and the newborn CIA, with roots firmly planted in the private sector. Their top priority was to integrate the remnants of Hitlerâs Eastern-front intelligence apparatus into the American CIA. You see, the CIA was busy in the postwar period claiming its place atop the pyramid of Western intelligence, edging out the Brits who had been the Yankeesâ faithful mentors heretofore⊠But the boys from Foggy Bottom (before the Langley HQ had even opened) had a secret weapon to propel them to the top of the Cold War hierarchy. Weâre talking about the secret love between the CIA and the Nazi Gehlen Organization. In this episode, we introduce the figure of Reinhard Gehlen and, with the help of some old Dave Emory tapes, situate his role in shaping the Cold-War world.
While the horsemen and their boy Gehlen had a foot in the door by way of Frank Wisnerâs Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), the election of Eisenhower and Nixon in 1952 handed them the keys to the kingdom. Ikeâs cabinet was like a whoâs-who of corporate CEOs and high priests of capital. We touch on some of the all-stars in Ikeâs lineup, with special focus on John Foster Dulles - Secretary of State and mind-melded brother to CIA director Allen Dulles. Foster put an American spin on Gehlenâs extremist and alarmist worldview as he led the US into a global conflict on behalf of the owners of capital against national liberation movements disguised as a global battle against Soviet communism.
Things are getting dark, dear listener. So please put on your helmet flashlight, and letâs keep digging.
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Here we go! In our last episode, Jerry bought the ticket to Congress, and in this episode, he takes the ride. Already aboard the ride and two years deep into their own nascent political careers were fellow Navy combat vets Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon, whom we cover in this episode.
This week, we pick things up with Jerry during the first term of his Congressional career. He's the classic outsider candidate turned people's Congressman. You know Jerry is on that grindset, and once he is in office he works round the clock for the people. His constituent services are top-notch. He's chasing down social security checks. He's finding jobs at the pentagon for recent college grads. The people of Grand Rapids, and everywhere else, love him.
And, we call this episode "Carousel" because the people, events, and themes that come up in JW6 will come up again and again in significant ways. In other ways, "Carousel" is apt because here we see, yet again, that time is a flat circle. For example, in this episode, Jerry says goodbye to his mentor, Senator Vandenberg, who now views Jerry as the man who will be his legacyâthe new man of the people for Michigan. With Vandenberg's death, the student becomes the master.
We don't mean to get too folksy about it, after all, Jerry is not just a folk hero congressman. He is cutting his teeth as an insider, too. For starters, Jerry had no personal reason to campaign in the 1950 election cycle, as he was hot stuff and the shoo-in incumbent. There were even murmurs that Jerry would be the obvious choice for Senate in 1952. And so he didn't have to put any effort into campaigning to keep his seat. So, he campaigned for his political allies. And in the process, caught the eyes and ears of very important people.
And then, of course, we dive into what we call our "bizarre love triangle." The budding friendship of Jerry Ford, Jack Kennedy, and Dick Nixon during their early years in Congress. Well, Jack was more of a frenemy to Jerry. The real bromance was between Jerry and Dick. A friendship that would bear fruit for both Nixon and Ford in more ways than either could ever imagine and which would eventually see them both embroiled in the assassination and cover-up of their one-time friend, Jack. A man they got to know as a shy but confident playboy bachelor, complaining to them in his Boston-Brahmin drawl about how boring it was to be a lowly Congressman...
We also take a brief contextual detour into the sociopolitical scene at large during the late 40s and early 50s. The battle between communism and capitalism was under way, fueling (and providing propagandistic moral cover for) the rise of American imperialism worldwide. The national security state had just oozed onto the scene. On the domestic front, politicians were building their careers and their political platforms around the "Red Menace." Dick Nixon was just one such politician. Hand-selected by the likes of Nazi-funder and dynastic patriarch Prescott Bush, and ideologically aligned with ⊠well, another dynastic patriarch, and ... er Jack's dad, Joe Kennedy.
We hope you enjoy this week's episode. And if you do, please consider sponsoring our cause on Patreon.
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We're back with Part 2 of Love / Machine! After a quick recap of Part 1, we link up with our hero circa 1948. Jerry's in Grand Rapids practicing law at the firm of Butterfield, Keeney & Amberg, where Harvard-trained OG superlawyer Julius Amberg takes Jerry under his wing.
We dig into Amberg's background, yielding rich results. Amberg is the scion of Grand Rapids's first well-established Jewish family. And wouldn't you believe it, Amberg's grandfather even once held the same Congressional seat Gerald Ford eventually occupied!
It is in no small part thanks to Amberg's support and guidance that Gerald Ford is able to launch his underdog, outsider campaign to primary Grand Rapids's incumbent conservative representative - Bartel J. "Barney" Jonkman. According to Ford, he was motivated to run (besides having dreamt of a political career since his boyhood dreams of playing a role in some Arthurian legend) by Jonkman's outdated, out-of-touch commitment to isolationism in foreign policy, expressed among other positions through Jonkman's vocal opposition to the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.
The alternative to isolationism - championed by both Gerald Ford and his political godfather, Senator Arthur Vandenberg (whom we also dig into) - was known as "internationalism." We spend some time situating this liberal, anti-communist brand of "internationalism" within the 20th-century trajectory of the Fourth Reich's development, distinguishing it from proletarian internationalism and checking in on the fruits it has borne in our present times. This leads us into a full treatment of the '48 primary, which Jerry wins in an unlikely landslide thanks to his signature grindset.
Once Jerry has made a home out of the House (of Representatives), he's ready to join a lodge. On September 30, 1949, just over 75 years to the day before this episode's publication, Jerry and his two half-brothers are inducted into the Grand Rapids Malta Lodge. We dig lightly into the history of freemasonry in Grand Rapids, Ford's deep involvement in freemasonry and its offshoots (including the notorious Royal Order of Jesters), and hear Ford's own words about his relationship with the old fraternal order.
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Jerryworld is back, baby! This week, we introduce the female lead in our saga, Betty Bloomer Ford, and we explore the parallels and rhymes between Bettyâs and Jerryâs lives.
For example, like Jerry, Betty was raised by a mother who was acutely aware of ancestry, social status, and etiquette. In fact, Bettyâs mother, Hortense, and Jerryâs mother, Dorothy, ran in the same social circles. Also, like Jerry, Betty had an alcoholic biological father who spent much of his life tormented by his demons. And, like Jerry, Betty always had a good attitude about life and a cheery disposition. So the story goes.
Bettyâs life was not without its excitements, nor was she far removed from the Cold War deep state. Betty spent some of her most formative years studying modern dance with Martha Graham - one of the State Departmentâs (and the CIAâs) favorite cultural exports to expound the virtues of the American way of life. Weâll pick up some of the threads we opened up in our interview with Matt Farwell around Frank Wisnerâs âMighty Wurlitzerâ and the dynamic between propaganda on a mass scale and mind control at a more micro level.
Wherever we dig in Fourth Reich Archaeology, we always find something that ties back into that continuity of interests and tactics between the Third Reich and the (American) Fourth.
Weâll also catch up with the man himself, as he returns to Grand Rapids as Lieutenant Commander Ford, ready to take on the McKay political machine. In fact, one of the first things Jerry does when he gets back from the war is take over his stepfatherâs duties as president of the Republican Home Front Organization. Jerry also takes a job in private practice for the prestigious law firm Butterfield, Kenney, & Amberg. With looks to kill and a job in Grand Rapidsâ preeminent law firm, itâs no surprise that the people of Grand Rapids think Jerry is the townâs most eligible bachelor.
In part 1 of this two-parter, we focus on Bettyâs background and her and Jerryâs courtship. In part 2, weâll pick up with Jerryâs law firm gig in Grand Rapids and his final face-off with the weakened McKay machine, from which heâll emerge a victorious Congressman.
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It's Fourth Reich Archaeology's first interview, and it's with the great Clancy-hunter himself, Matt Farwell. Matt and Don grab their shovels and break a little ground on Propaganda. We talk about super-spook Frank Wisner, into whose life and archives Matt has been plunging, and the way Wisner played the press like a "Mighty Wurlitzer" before losing his mind, first figuratively, then literally. We connect the dots from CIA to the media, the newspapers, and the major publishing houses, and - of course - tracing it all back to the Nazis and Perfidious Albion. Continuity strikes again.
Don takes a detour to Paris 1919 (with a little John Cale, of course) to recount the tale of Three Young Fellas - John Foster Dulles, his brother Allen, and a publicist named Edward Bernays - who lucked out on front-row seats to the peace conference that set the stage for war (yay, markets!). That British voice you hear is Adam Curtis, in "Century of the Self" - speaking of limited hangouts...
And Matt brings us forward in time, to that glorious period about which Dr. Strangelove is truly a documentary, giving us an aural tour of the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and its midcentury FĂŒhrerbunker built to house Congress in the event of a nuclear blast or other Continuity-of-Government type situation.
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Enjoy!!
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We're back in Jerryworld in times of war. After a quick recap, we follow Jerry Ford into the Navy in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Jerry quickly finds himself in his element - leading sports and physical training among the recruits just like in his (very recent) coaching days. But he's not contented with stability and gets back on his grindset, landing himself significant promotion and a spot on the bridge of a light carrier in the Pacific theater.
Once again, the hand of providence seems to guide Jerry through dangerous situations, brushes with death, and up the ladder. First in the Navy, and later on the Grand Rapids political scene.
Jerry kept in regular contact with his step dad and stayed abreast of the goings-on in his hometown, even while overseas. Gerald Ford Sr. began to serve as a surrogate for Jerry Jr. in the Republican Home Front group - a well-intended conspiracy of local leaders and likely freemasons to unseat the party boss holding the keys to political participation in Michigan; Frank McKay.
Jerry's participation in the political war against McKay parallels in some respects his participation in the hot war in the Pacific. Each bring their typical (for Jerry) mix of luck, cunning, charm, and timing.
We even check in with Harry Conover and follow the eventual termination of Gerald Ford's partnership in his modeling agency.
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This week on Fourth Reich Archaeology, it's back to business as usual at our favorite dig siteâJerryworld. In a two part episode called "WAR,â we explore the four wars Jerry fought in the 1940s.
Of course, there is WWII, in which Jerry was a Navy man on board the USS Monterey. Leveraging the charm he inherited from his biological father, the keen social awareness he obtained from his mother, and the attitude he adopted from his stepfather, Jerry moves up the ranks onboard the âMighty Monterey.â Before long, Jerry catches the captainâs eye and gets an appointment to be the shipâs assistant navigator. Jerry snags this coveted spot on the bridge despite having no prior relevant experience. Classic Jerry.
We also dive deep into Jerryâs willingness to participate in the Cold War. Namely, by applying for a position in Hoover's FBI. Jerryâs application to be a G-Man shows he wanted to be not just a noble soldier for the USA, but also an infiltrator. Indeed, along with his application to the FBI, Jerry also applied to work in the Office of Naval Intelligence.
And there is the war at home, in Grand Rapids, against the corrupt party boss Frank McKay. Mckay was the prototypical mobbed up political wheeler and dealer. The guy had his grubby fingers in all aspects of the Republican party of Michigan, which at the time, meant he had control of the State. With booze running, corruption, bribery, extortion, and, of course, murder, the McKay saga is nothing short of a classic mob tale.
Last, we explore the internal war that Jerry was waging. Including his decision to end his relationship with the beauteous Phyllis Brown and Jerry's decision to forgo working in New York and DC after Yale, to instead return to Grand Rapids and hang a shingle with his longtime friend and frat bro, Phil Buchen.
- Se mer
