It's been fascinating to read Seth Cotlar's ongoing research briefs as he develops a history of Walter Huss and his relation to Oregon mainstream conservatism and to reactionary expressions.
His latest is "'Silver Shirts for Reagan!': Walter Huss and the American 'conservative' tradition with roots in 1930s-era fascism."
Throughout his career as a public figure in Oregon (1960-2000), almost no one in the state’s media or politics used the “f-word” to describe Huss. He was usually categorized as “an ultraconservative,” “a charismatic preacher with traditionalist social views,” “a kook,” or, on a few occasions, “hate-monger.” In 1978, when former President Gerald Ford inquired with a Republican friend in Oregon as to whether they’d managed to oust Huss from the GOP chairmanship yet, Ford referred to Huss as “that nut.” Soon after being elected chair of the OR GOP in 1978, Huss gave an interview in which he made an off-hand reference to Portland’s “Jewish-controlled press.” That fascistic phrase raised a few eyebrows, but still, no media outlet at the time explicitly said “that’s how Hitler used to talk about the press!”....
To be sure, there were and are good reasons to be parsimonious with the use of the noun “fascist” or the adjective “fascistic” to describe our fellow citizens. But in this case, I feel quite confident saying that Walter Huss’s world view was “fascistic,” even if he always kept some plausibly deniable distance between himself and the more overt “fascists” in the Pacific Northwest, many of whom were Huss’s longtime friends, who plotted and engaged in acts of violence intended to bring about political change.
And it turns out Huss lived here in Salem for a while in the late 1950s. One of his projects was setting up schools. He knit himself into Salem society in other ways also.
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| September 8th, 1956 |
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| April 7th, 1957 |
His wife had family roots in Turner and then in Albany.
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| Jan. 21st, 1958 |
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| Sept. 26th, 1959 |
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| Feb. 20th, 1960 |
His move to Portland is referenced in the article about what might be an accidental blunder and carelessness, or might be an instance of duplicity, in signature gathering and submission from May 1960.
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| May 19th, 1960 |
This is just a footnote. The city of Salem and its area, distinct from Salem as center of State government, does not figure much at all in what Cotlar has turned up. But it is interesting that Huss found a home here for a while.
The final story and analysis will be so very interesting — but not very wonderful at all — to read when Cotlar finishes and the book is published. In the mean time, check out his blog and newsletter.
Also, a little here previously on the Silver Shirts:
- "An Unpleasant Footnote on the Sam Brown House" (2021)
- "Carpetbaggery, Sinclair Lewis, and Shirts - History Bits and Blind Spots" (2022)
- And on the originals, "The Appeal of a Strong Man: Mussolini and the Fascists Praised in 1923" (2023)
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