top5/23/2013
Terrorist Organization Profile: |
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| United States | |
| Late 1960s | |
| Unknown number of members | |
| Racist, Right-Wing Reactionary | |
| Unknown | |
| The Posse Comitatus movement was founded in the late 1960s. Some experts credit Henry L. Beach of Portland, Oregon as the group's founder. Beach was a member of William Dudley Pelley's Silver Shirts, a group modeled on the Black Shirts and Brown Shirts of fascist Europe. Some experts, however, believe that William Gale, a Christian Identity minister, is the true founder of the Posse Comitatus movement. Gale's influential writings helped to spread Posse ideology across the Midwest. The Posse Comitatus is a loose association of people who share the same beliefs, a blend of Christian Identity, tax protest, Sovereign Citizen ideology, and common law activism. Posse Comitatus followers believe that the sheriff is the highest legitimate government authority, and that the federal government has no rightful power over American citizens. Therefore, the posse argues, judges, the I.R.S., and the F.B.I. are constantly violating the rights of Americans everywhere. The sheriff (according to Posse adherents) can form a posse of citizens to enforce the law, and if he fails to do so, then the citizenry may forcibly replace him. The Posse hates non-whites as much as it hates the government. Racism provides a convenient explanation for the federal government's alleged abuses of power. Posse members believe, for example, that the Federal Reserve is an illegal "private monopoly" that prints money unconstitutionally, and that it does so because it is controlled by the international Zionist conspiracy. (Ridgeway, 129) Posse followers are generally Christian Identity followers as well. "Yahweh our father is at work setting the stage for the final act against the Christ-murdering Jews and their father, Satan," Posse leader James Wickstrom once said. (ibid, 131) Klan leader and presidential candidate David Duke said, "We [the Ku Klux Klan] work with Posses wherever we can." (ibid, 135) |
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| Posse members were actively engaged in a variety of criminal activities during the 70s and 80s. Thomas Stockheimer, chairman of the Wisconsin Posse, was convicted of assaulting an I.R.S. agent in 1974. Since that date, numerous Posse members have been convicted of tax evasion, weapons possession, and trying to pass counterfeit bills. Posse members forcibly prevented the confiscation of farms whose owners had defaulted on their debts and issued "indictments" against judges who they claimed had violated their rights by forcing them to follow federal laws. In 1983, police killed Posse leader Gordon Kahl in a shootout after Kahl had evaded police custody for several months. Kahl is a martyred hero in the eyes of Posse movement and the extremist right as a whole. For over a decade, the Posse Comitatus movement was extremely strong. In 1975, the FBI opened an investigation of the group after a Posse member threatened the life of Nelson Rockefeller. They estimated the group's membership at between 12 and 15 thousand, with ten times that number of sympathizers. Posse leader James Wickstrom ran for Wisconsin state senate in 1980 and received 16,000 votes. In the early 1980s, some experts estimated that one third of the sheriffs departments in Kansas and Nebraska were sympathetic to the Posse. In the late 1980s, the popularity of the Posse ideology declined dramatically. Posse leader James Wickstrom attempted to bring the Posse back to life in the 1990s, although he emphasized the racist aspects of the Posse's ideology to the near-exclusion of the rest of the group's principles. |
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Key Leaders
Related Groups
- Montana Freemen -- Faction
U.S. Government Designations
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Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications: Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) |
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Other Governments' Designations
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| No |
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