Redd Collis (1 results)

Signed by Collis O. Redd on the third page. 10 pp. rectos mostly. 8.5 x 11" sheets of onionskin paper with carbon-copied text, side-stapled with old paper tape reinforcement, author's business card taped to cover sheet. Near Fine given the fragility of these sheets, pencil notations to front wrap from former owner listing the author's group, "Constitutional Crusaders of America," the date the owner received the pamphlet (Jan. 29, 1940), the author's address, and the judgement "100% nut." Accurate enough. Poor Collis O. Redd. He was the epitome of the rightwing kook, writing crank letters to the power elite and founding a series of political parties throughout his life that seem to have never numbered more than himself. Not that that ever slowed him down. In 1939 Redd garnered national headlines by publicly opposing the nomination of Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court solely because Frankfurter was Jewish. Newspapers delighted in poking fun at Redd for being a delusional crackpot, calling the proceedings "New High in Foolishness" (The Buffalo Times). Apparently around this time he was involved in one of the many coup plots against FDR; not, presumably, one of the well-funded ones but the machinations of aptly-named fascist George E. Deatherage. Redd's dogma was a blend of Christian theocracy and xenophobia. He made national news not quite two years later as a nutty "man on the street" in a widely-syndicated column, opposing FDR's aid for the UK and the march into WWII. Over the years he would helm other solitary political parties, occasionally getting press for his wild pronouncements, but generally serving the media as a reliable laughingstock. Documentation of his life and thought is extremely scarce.