Gerald Burton Winrod (March 7, 1900 – November 11, 1957) was an American

evangelist Evangelist(s) may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a ...

, author, and political activist. Winrod was a promoter of

Christian Identity Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or the Aryan race and kindred peoples, are ...

, with an impact on the early adoption of Identity by

Wesley Swift Wesley A. Swift (September 6, 1913 – October 8, 1970) was an American minister from Southern California who was known for his white supremacist views and was a central figure in the Christian Identity movement from the 1940s until his death in ...

. He was known to have strongly antisemitic views, which, along with his sympathies towards

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

in the 1930s, earned him the nickname "the Jayhawk Nazi". During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Winrod was charged with

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech or organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, establ ...

. The charges were later dropped.

Biography

He was born on March 7, 1900, to Mable E. (1881–1971), originally from Illinois, and John W. Winrod (1873–1945), originally from Missouri. His father, John, was a former bartender whose saloon was attacked by

Carrie Nation Caroline Amelia Nation (November 25, 1846June 9, 1911), often referred to as Carrie, Carry Nation, Carrie A. Nation, or Hatchet Granny, was an American who was a radical member of the temperance movement, which opposed alcohol before the advent ...

. In 1918, he was the chief clerk at the Kansas Gas and Electric Company in El Dorado, Kansas. By 1925, he formed the Defenders of the Christian Faith, a

fundamentalist Fundamentalism is a tendency among certain groups and individuals that are characterized by the application of a strict literal interpretation to scriptures, dogmas, or ideologies, along with a strong belief in the importance of distinguishin ...

Christian-fascist organization that opposed teaching

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

in public schools, supported

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

, opposed homosexuality, and expressed support for

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

. Defenders of the Christian Faith existed in Kansas at least up to 1980, though many offshoots in Topeka, Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, and Kansas City were expected to exist. Winrod professed strongly

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

views, earning him the nickname "The Jayhawk

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

" ("Jayhawk" being a nickname for a person from Kansas). Winrod offered the following defense of his views in the introduction to his book ''The Truth About the Protocols'' which proclaimed the veracity of ''

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated text purporting to detail a Jewish plot for global domination. Largely plagiarized from several earlier sources, it was first published in Imperial Russia in 1903, translated into multip ...

'': Winrod believed the United States to be the chosen land of God and, when the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

struck, publicly stated that it was the work of Satan. He believed

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

was a "devil" linked with the Jewish-Communist conspiracy and that

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

would save Europe from

Communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

. Winrod wrote in his book ''The Jewish Assault on Christianity'', published in 1935 by a publishing company in Topeka, Kansas: The book was met with positive reception by many Christians at the time. Winrod would go on to say that he believed Jews were damned to hell, and that Jesus Christ condemned them in the Bible. He expanded upon these views, stating the following: Winrod spread these views through his newspaper, ''The Defender'', which by 1937 achieved a 100,000 monthly circulation. Some of the articles reproduced materials from the pro-Nazi and virulently antisemitic international ''Welt-Dienst''/''World-Service''/''Service Mondial'' news agency founded in 1933 by

Ulrich Fleischhauer Ulrich Fleischhauer (14 July 1876 – 20 October 1960) (Pseudonyms ''Ulrich Bodung'', and ''Israel Fryman'') was a leading publisher of antisemitic books and news articles reporting on a perceived Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory and "nefarious ...

. Winrod ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate during the

1938 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1938. Africa * 1938 South African general election Asia * 1938 Philippine general election * 1938 Philippine legislative election * 1938 Soviet Union regional elections Europe * 1938 Estonian parliame ...

, but was defeated in the Republican primary when a popular former governor Clyde M. Reed was lured from retirement by the party establishment to run against him. With 21.4% of the vote, Winrod was a distant third after Reed and Dallas Knapp of Coffeyville, Kansas. Winrod developed a strong following among German-speaking Kansas

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

s who identified with his religious, anti-World War II, and pro-Germany views. ''The Defender'' was printed by Mennonite-owned Herald Publishing Company of Newton, Kansas from 1931 to 1942. Winrod found support in Bethel College and Tabor College and from editors of local Mennonite papers, and some Mennonite precincts voted predominantly for Winrod in the 1938 Senate primary. According to the 1941 ''Theologue'', the yearbook of Practical Bible Training School (now Davis College) located outside

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

, Winrod was a member of the school's administration. No details are given as to what Winrod's duties were. In 1942, the federal government indicted Winrod for

, alleging conspiracy against the U.S. government. The political aspect in attempting to suppress

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

troubled civil libertarians in what critics derided as the Great Sedition Trial. The death of the judge ended the trial in 1944. The government decided not to renew the prosecution, so Winrod and his fellow defendants were freed. Winrod, a lifelong proponent of

faith healing Faith healing is the practice of prayer and gestures (such as laying on of hands) that are believed by some to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Believers assert that the healin ...

who refused to see a physician, died of pneumonia on November 11, 1957, in Wichita, Kansas. He was buried in that city's White Chapel Memorial Gardens.

Family

In 1940, Winrod's wife sued for divorce. Their son

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Gordon Heuck ...

(1926-2018) was a

minister who was arrested for kidnapping in 2000.

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * * * *

Biography

Family

References

Footnotes

Sources

Further reading