Kamp, Joseph Peter (sold)
Joseph Peter Kamp (April 28, 1896 - November 19, 1975) was a German-American political activist, conspiracy theorist, pamphleteer, and anti-communist writer best known for his leadership of the Constitutional Educational League. Born in New York City, he worked in journalism before turning to political advocacy in the 1930s, when he became a vocal critic of the New Deal, which he portrayed as a vehicle for collectivist, communist influence. Through pamphlets, books, and lectures, including The Fifth Column in the New Deal (1935), Kamp argued that subversive elements had penetrated American government and public life. His work anticipated and paralleled the climate of suspicion that later defined the Joseph McCarthy Era, of which Kamp was a staunch supporter, and he became associated with broader mid-20th-century anti-communist campaigns, including testimony before congressional committees and legal disputes over disclosure of organizational records. His critics accused him of being a Nazi-sympathizer. Though we find this unlikely, it is undisputed that he was an ardent anti-semite. Though influential among certain right-wing audiences, his views were widely regarded as extreme. He continued writing and organizing until his death in 1975.
Unique archive of the vitriolic public dispute between celebrity journalist Walter Winchell and conspiracy theory fascist Joseph Kamp.
The Fifth Column Conspiracy in America. Authentic Map and DIrectory. / Archive of Kamp's Phamplets and Correspondence with Walter Winchell. / The Hour. / [Letters and Documents], Etc.
sold
This is a c. 1940 - 1944 archive chronicling the vitriolic feud between the conspiracy theorist and pamphleteer Joseph Peter Kamp and the celebrity-journalist Walter Winchell, including Kamp's powerful, persuasive map The Fifth Column Conspiracy in America. It captures fear, misinformation, and ambiguity of the home front during World War II (1939 - 1945), where the internal threats of communism and fascism loomed as large as the war abroad. The fearmongering and propaganda foreshadowed Senator Joseph McCarthy and his 'Second Red Scare' (1950 - 1954). The archive was assembled by Walter Winchell to record Kamp's attacks on himself and, in Winchell's view, on American democracy. (more details)