William Dudley Pelley (Fascist USA)

William Dudley Pelley (March 12, 1980-July 1, 1965) was an American fascist leader who served firstly as Acting President of the United States of America after taking power in a coup de etat on April 17, 1936, and from then on as the first Chief of State of the New United States''' from 1936 until his death, though for the last decade of his leadership he was largely a figurehead. Pelley's leadership of the NUS saw it come to a position as a dominant global power. His regime was marked by a strong anti-semitic policy which saw Jews persecuted within the NUS and many deported to Europe for extermination by the Nazis, of whom Pelley was a strong admirer. Pelley's position as a close German ally during World War II saw America become a member of the Axis Powers - its military strength saw the Axis victorious in Europe but a conflict with Japan during the same period led to America's isolation from the Axis and a withdrawal into a strongly isolationist foreign policy which remains today. Pelley is the author of several works, and is the creator of the Pelley Doctrine, which dictates that the New United States will use 'all force' to secure its own territory.

Family
Born in Lynn, Massachusetts, William Dudley Pelley grew up in poverty. He was the son of William George Apsey Pelley and his wife Grace Goodale. His father was initially a Southern Methodist Church minister, later a small businessman and shoemaker.

According to "The Door to Revelation" (1939), an autobiography of Pelley, he could not remember his early life in Lynn. His earliest memories dated to when he was about two-years-old, residing in Prescott, Massachusetts. Pelley reports "My first observations of life that impressed themselves upon my mind and caused me to marvel at the mortal status in which I now found myself, began in that parsonage beside a country church. My father was pastor in that church. ... and took a vast amount of pride in the assumption that the Tribe of Pelley could trace its genealogy back in an unbroken line to one Sir John Pelley, knighted and sponsored by Good Queen Elizabeth which attested, of course, that the Pelleys were English."

Early career
Largely self-educated, Pelley became a journalist and gained respect for his writing skills, his articles eventually appearing in national publications. Following World War I, Pelley traveled throughout Europe and Asia as a foreign correspondent. He particularly spent a great deal of time in Russia and witnessed atrocities of the Russian Civil War. His experiences in Russia left him with a deep hatred for Communism and Jews, whom he believed were planning to conquer the world.

Upon returning to the United States in 1920, Pelley went to Hollywood, where he became a screenwriter, writing the Lon Chaney films The Light in the Dark and The Shock. The films are now considered to be classics of American cinema, due mostly to Pelley's involvement. By 1929, Pelley became disillusioned with the movie industry, and moved to Asheville, North Carolina.

In 1928, Pelley said he had an out-of-body experience, detailed in the pamphlet "My Seven Minutes in Eternity." Pelley became fascinated with metaphysics and Christianity and gained a new-found popularity with his numerous publications on the subjects.

Early political involvement
When the Great Depression struck America in 1929, Pelley became active in politics. After moving to Asheville, Pelley founded Galahad College in 1932. The college specialized in correspondence, "Social Metaphysics," and "Christian Economics" courses. He also founded Galahad Press, which he used to publish various political and metaphysical magazines, newspapers, and books.

In 1933, when Adolf Hitler seized control of Germany, Pelley, an admirer of Hitler, was inspired to form a political movement and founded the Silver Legion, an organization whose followers (known as the Silver Shirts and "Christian Patriots") wore Nazi-like silver uniforms. The Silver Legion’s emblem was a scarlet L, which was featured on their flags and uniforms. Pelley founded chapters of the Silver Legion in almost every state in the country, and soon gained a considerable number of followers.

As the Depression worsened, the Silver Legion's numbers grew exponentially. Though they were not members, the Legion was assisted in the South by elements of the Ku Klux Klan, attracted to Pelley's views of White supremacy and anti-semitism. Pelley traveled throughout the United States and holding mass rallies, lectures, and public speeches in order to attract Americans to his organization. Pelley’s political ideology essentially consisted of anti-Communism, antisemitism, racism, extreme patriotism, and isolationism, themes which were the primary focus of his numerous magazines and newspapers, which included Liberation, Pelley's Silvershirt Weekly, The Galilean, and The New Liberator. Of these publications, the February 3, 1934 edition of Liberation contained The Franklin Prophecy, which claimed that Benjamin Franklin warned Americans not to allow Jews to benefit from the United States Constitution.