Bill Jones is besieged by reporters at the World Festival of Youth and Students in Sofia, Bulgaria, in July 1968.
Clancy Sigal, stationmaster of the London safe house for Vietnam deserters, at home in West Hollywood, April 2016.
Warren Hamerman, the subject of a successful campaign to persuade the Swedish government to extend humanitarian asylum to draft resisters.
The Stockholm deserters become movie stars.
Lyndon LaRouche lectures striking students on the lawn of Columbia University in April 1968.
Using bare fists and nunchakus, members of the National Caucus of Labor Committees carry out Operation Mop-Up in Philadelphia in 1973.
Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche gives a press conference in Concord, New Hampshire, in September 1987. Among his subjects that day was the evil nature of Senator Joe Biden.
Kerstin Tegin, leader of the European Workers Party, the Swedish arm of the LaRouche organization, in Stockholm, September 1984.
Former Vietnam deserter and LaRouche strategist Clifford Gaddy speaks at a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club in Sochi, Russia, October 2014.
Blood on the pavement where Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was assassinated on the night of February 28, 1986.
Victor Gunnarsson, whose association with the European Workers Party helped to make him a suspect in the assassination of Olof Palme.
Michael Vale, the “Rasputin” of the American Deserters Committee, in a Paris café, May 2016.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would not exist without the generous cooperation of my principal interviewees. Michele Lloyd, Jim McGourty, Christina Nelson, Chuck Onan, Mark Shapiro, Michael Vale, and Chris and Carol White told their stories, gave their time, and answered hundreds of questions about their experiences. I hope I have done them justice.
Many other people provided valuable information, some anonymously, some on the record. Rob Argento, Barry Fockler, Steve Kinnaman, Lon W. McDaniel, Don McDonough, David Minugh, Bill Schiller, Vincent Strollo, Thomas Taylor, and George Wood shared their experiences of desertion. The deserters and their milieu was described to me by George Carrano, Robert Doyon, Dee Drake, Karen Fabec, Maggie Gambell, Eric Hamerman, Margareta Herrmann, Patton Lindsley Hunter, Dan Israel, Ray Jones IV, Shelley Marshall, Jan-Erik Nyberg, Michel P. Richard, Richard Rucker, Harold and Rebecca Sadin, Olle Sjögren, Mats Widgren, and Izzy Young.
Bo Burlingham, Larry Cox, Ed Dubinsky, Don Filtzer, Norm Fruchter, Gerald Gray, Clancy Sigal, Tony Whelan, and Mike Zagarell were my guides to the culture of 1960s and ’70s radicalism. Gunnar Ekberg, Frank Rafalko, Michael Schneeberger, and Richard Starnes discussed counterintelligence matters. Michael E. Miller helped me communicate with Lamont Claxton Underwood. William Rambo gave me a portrait of Victor Gunnarsson. Valuable information and assistance was also provided by Edward Bromberg, Gilli Bush-Bailey, Roger Choate, Sarah Churchwell, Jonathan Clements, Walter Donohue, Margaret Harman, Mike Higgins, Zachary Leader, John Quigley, Mel Rothenberg, Carl-Gustaf Scott, Bob Sharlet, David Smith, Miriam Spectre of the Anti-Defamation League, Jan Stocklassa, Hillel Ticktin, Janice Tidswell, Larry Turk, and Susan Weissman.
Many former followers of Lyndon LaRouche helped me to navigate the labyrinthine history of his many organizations. I am grateful to Nicholas Benton, Tessa DeCarlo, Rachel Douglas, Torbjörn Jelerup, Dennis King, Yves Messer, Sky Shields, and Nick Syvriotis. Peter Bourne, Eugene Galanter, and Lennart Levi shared their experiences of LaRouchian harassment. The pseudonymous author Hylozoic Hedgehog gave lavish help and saved me from dozens of errors. His books Smiling Man from a Dead Planet (2009) and How It All Began (2012) are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how political groups can mutate into cults. They can be found on his website, http://www.laroucheplanet.info—a warning to the curious, which has doubtless stopped many from wasting their lives in the service of Lyndon LaRouche. I hope there is still time for current members I encountered—Margaret Greenspan, Bill Jones, Margaret Scialdone, Renee Sigerson, Dennis Speed—to spend their final years beyond its barren territory.
Molly Kronberg was a warm and generous witness. Her late husband, Ken, ran the printing company that produced the LaRouche organization’s literature. On the morning of April 11, 2007, Ken Kronberg opened the briefing document emailed each morning to every member of the organization, in which its leader attacked Kronberg’s printing business as a symptom of the failure of the generation of members who joined in the 1960s and ’70s. “The Boomers will be scared into becoming human,” it declared. “Unless they want to commit suicide.” An hour or so after reading those words, Ken parked his car on a highway overpass on Route 28 and jumped to his death. Molly saw it as a gesture of defiance: “the bravest political act of his life.” I would like to pay tribute to her, and to those who share her pain—particularly Erica and Hugo Duggan, whose son, Jeremiah, died in mysterious circumstances after attending LaRouche meetings in Germany in 2003. You can learn more about Ken at http://www.kennethkronberg.com. The campaign to discover the truth about Jeremiah’s death can be followed at http://justiceforjeremiah.yolasite.com.
Peter Walsh provided three years of exemplary research assistance, scouring Swedish archives on my behalf. Additional research was provided by Madeline Coffey and Scott Russell. I also benefited from the wisdom of Johan Erlandsson, author of Desertörerna [The deserters] (2016). My thanks is also due to the staff of the Arbetarrörelsens arkiv och bibliotek, Stockholm; the British Library; the Danville Public Library, Virginia; the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam; the Library of Congress; the National Library of Stockholm; the New York Public Library; the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum; Swarthmore College Library; Alexander Correctional Institute, North Carolina; the Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Virginia; and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick. The manuscript was read by Samira Ahmed, Mark Gatiss, Simon Guerrier, David Sweet, Nicola Sweet, Laura Thomas, and Phil Tinline, who know how highly I value their advice and opinions.
Simon Trewin, Jay Mandel, and their colleagues at William Morris Entertainment gave this book the best start I could have hoped for. During its progress into print, Luke Brown, Chris O’Connell, Bill Drennan, Fiona Lowenstein, Michael Cantwell, and Felicity McMahon offered indispensable advice on the text. It was a pleasure to be edited by Paul Baggaley and Paul Golob—particularly Paul Golob, who worked on the text with tireless patience and good humor. His influence improved the book immeasurably. As for any errors that remain, the buck stops with me.
And to Nicola, Gracie, and Connie Sweet, I am grateful for everything, as ever.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
ABBA
abortion
Abzug, Bella
Afghanistan
African Americans
Aftonbladet (newspaper)
Agee, Philip
AIDS
Albania
Alexander, Kendra
Algeria
Ali, Muhammad
Alice in Wonderland (Carroll)
Allende, Salvador
al-Qaeda
alt-right. See also far right
American Capitalism (Galbraith)
American Deserters Committee (ADC). See also specific members
Callicoat informs on
CIA records on
dissolution of
FBI records on
fear of infiltrators
fear of repatriation
films and
founding and early years of
Gaddy joins
Gray report on
Hayes and
LaRouche and alumni of
McGourty joins
media and
radio propaganda and
split o
f 1968
split of 1972
Statement of Principles
strange nature of
Swedish anti-war movement and
Swedish authorities and
Swedish intelligence and
Vale’s role in
U.S. desertion trials and
World Festival of Youth and
Amnesty International
Anderson, Craig (Will Hart). See also Intrepid Four
Anderson, Irene
Anderson, Shandra
Andersson, Benny
Andropov, Yuri
Angelou, Maya
Angleton, James Jesus
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Angry Brigade
Animal Farm (Orwell)
Anti-Defamation League (ADL)
anti-nuclear activists
anti-war movement
Apocalypse Now (film)
Applewhite, Edgar
Arbetet (newspaper)
Argento, Robert
Armfield, John. See Vale, Michael
Army Times
Arnett, Edwin C. “Pappy,” xii
Arp, Merl
Ashley, John
Associated Press
Baez, Joan
Bailey, Rick. See also Intrepid Four
Bakker, Jim
Baldwin, James
Barbarella (film)
Barilla, John. See also Intrepid Four
Battlestar Galactica (TV series)
Bay of Pigs invasion
BBC
Beacon Press
Beatles
Beethoven, Ludwig van
Beheiren
Bellow, Saul
Benedict, Dirk
Bentham, Jeremy
Bergman, Ingmar
Berl, Christine
Berlin
East
Wall
Berlin Embassy (Russell)
Beuys, Joseph
“Beyond Psychoanalysis” (LaRouche)
Biden, Joe
Bildt, Carl
Birds, The (Vesaas)
Birth of a Nation, The (film)
Björklund, Jan
“Black American Deserters in Sweden” (Boggs)
Black Guelph
Black Panthers
Black Power
Black Section (CIA)
Blair, Bruce
Blake, George
Boggs, Vernon
Boston University
Bourne, Peter
Bourne Identity, The (Ludlum)
Boys Town (film)
Bradlee, Ben
brainwashing
Brandt, Willy
Bransome, Mike
Bride of the Gorilla (film)
British Empire, conspiracy theories about
British intelligence
Brodie, Bill
Brookings Institution
Brooks, Mel
Brothers Mozart, The (play)
Bucklin, Richard
Bulgaria
Burdman, Mark
Burlingham, Bo (Arlo Jacobs)
Burma
Bush, George W.
CACTUS
Cahiers du Cinéma
CALCAV
Calder, Alexander
Callicoat, Edward N.
Callicoat, Philip
Cambodia
Cameron, David
Campaigner (NCLC magazine)
Câmpeanu, Pavel
Cam Ranh Bay
Camus, Albert
Canada
Canna Church Rocks
Cannes Film Festival
Cape Fear (film)
Carlsson, Ingvar
Carragher, Desmond
Carrano, George
Carter, Jimmy
Caruso, Vana
Castro, Fidel
Catholicism
Catholic University of America
CBS
Ceaușescu, Nicolae
Cellar (Russell)
Center for Justice and Accountability
Central Committee of the Communist Party (USSR)
Central Documentary Film Studios
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). See also Chaos, Operation
ADC and deserters fear of
anti-war groups and deserters tracked by
Castro and
charter
Chemical Abstracts and
congressional hearings on
documents destroyed by
Duke study and
EAP seen as front for
GLADIO and
LaRouche documents released by
LaRouchian paranoia about
Ober’s career in
South Vietnam and
Swedish Information Bureau and
Turner’s reform of
William Russell and
Channel TV-2 (Sweden)
Chaos, Operation (CIA operation)
created
data harvesting and
deserters tracked by
Next Step and
Ober and
PETUNIA and MHYIELD and
press revelations about
Rockefeller report on
Rositzke and
shut down
Swedish Information Bureau and
UFOs and
vault of
Chaos and Confusion, Operation (LaRouchian fantasy)
Chemical Abstracts
Chetniks! The Fighting Guerillas (film)
Children of God
Children of Satan III (LaRouche)
China
China Daily
Chinese Embassy (Cairo)
Chomsky, Noam
Christian Democratic Party (Sweden)
Christie, Agatha
Chris White Affair
Church Committee
CIA-KGB psy-war fantasy
CIA’s Secret Operations, The (Rositzke)
Citizenship and Immigration Services
civil rights movement
Civil War
Clansman, The (Dixon)
Classical KGB Disinformation Campaign, A (Jones and Engdahl)
Cleaver, Eldridge
Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam
Clinton, Hillary
CNN
Coates, Randy
Cohen, Leonard
Colby, William
Cold War
Columbia University
Communist Party (India)
Communist Party (Sweden)
Communist Party (USA)
Conan Doyle, Arthur
“Concerning CIA Agent Vale’s Recent Activities” (McGourty)
Condon, Gerry
Congress for Cultural Freedom
Con Thien ambush
Contra (magazine)
Conversations with Americans (Lane)
Cooper, David
Counterintelligence Staff (CIA)
Country Joe and the Fish
Cox, Larry
Critique (journal)
Crowley, Aleister
C-SPAN
Cuba
Cuban Embassy (Tokyo)
Cuban Embassy (Warsaw)
Curiel, Henri
Czechoslovakia
Dagens Nyheter (newspaper)
Dahl, Birgitta
Daily Worker
Danville Bee
Danville Register
Dartmouth College
Dass, Jerry
Dean, John W.
DeCarlo, Tessa
Defense Department
de Gaulle, Charles
Democratic Party
Deneuve, Catherine
“Denial, The” (film script)
Denmark
Deserter as Political Deviant, The (Richard)
deserters. See also American Deserters Committee; Next Step; and specific individuals
aftermath of exile of
asylum in Sweden and
asylum in Sweden ended
Callicoat informs on
Carter clemency and
CIA tracking of
combat experience of
crimes by
film appearances
forcible repatriation of
Gaddy’s route to join
Gray report on
Hayes aids
Lane interviews
LaRouche and
Next Step and
pamphlets and guides
penalties for
poverty of
radicalism and
Sigal aids
suicides and
suspicions among
Swedes cool toward
Swedish intelligence on
Vale and ego-stripping of
William Russell woos
women and
working- vs. middle-class
World Festival of Youth and
Deserter USA (film)
Destruction, Operation
Deutscher, Isaac
Disraeli, Benjamin
“Dissolution Statement of the American Deserters Committee” (Gaddy et al.)
Dixon, Thomas, Jr.
Dohrn, Bernardine
Dope Inc. (LaRouche)
Dotson, James
Dowling, John
Doyon, Robert
“Draft Resister” (Steppenwolf song)
draft resisters
Carter pardon of
drugs
Dubček, Alexander
“Duet for Cannibals” (Sontag)
Duggan, Jeremiah
Duke University
Duras, Marguerite
Durkheim, Émile
EAP. See European Workers Party
Eastern Europe
East India Company
Eco, Umberto
Edgar Allan Poe, Operation
ego-stripping. See also brainwashing
Eisenstein, Sergei
Ekberg, Gunnar
Elizabeth II, queen of England
Ellis, Wayne
Ely, Ron
Emergency National Committee of Inquiry
Enerström, Alf
Engdahl, John Louis
Engdahl, Walfrid
Engdahl, William “Bill”
Erlander, Tage
European Labor Committees (ELC)
European Workers Party (EAP, Sweden; also known as European Labor Party)
Oslo conference of 1983
Palme assassination and
Swedish suspicions of
Executive Intelligence Review
Executive Order 11967
Expressen
Fabec, Karen
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