James K. Warner


James Konrad Warner was an American neo-Nazi activist. He was an early recruit to the American Nazi Party as part of the core of the party and national secretary. He later became involved with the National States' Rights Party. After moving to Los Angeles, he was converted to Christian Identity by Wesley Swift and started the New Christian Crusade Church. Warner succeeded Richard Girndt Butler as leader of the Christian Defense League. He eventually moved both the New Christian Crusade Church and the Christian Defense League to Louisiana. Warner later became the Louisiana Grand Dragon of David Duke's Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Early life

James Konrad Warner was born February 2, 1939, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, the son of Conrad L. Warner. His parents were divorced. He graduated from Coughlin High School in 1957. He belonged to the school's German Club, though barely passed the language and was placed 171 out of a class of 198 students. Teachers described him as not very social but not a troublemaker either. He was married briefly but was divorced by 1963.

Politics

Neo-Nazism

Warner served in the United States Air Force out of high school for two years. He also briefly served in the U.S. Navy. He was ultimately discharged due to his neo-Nazi beliefs. He was an early recruit to George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party and was one of the men who formed the core of the party. He joined in mid 1959. Waner made an unsuccessful attempt to integrate Odinism into the ANP as the religious dimension of the movement, after which he reportedly gave all of his Norse material to Else Christensen. He eventually became the national secretary, but left in 1960, when he joined the National States' Rights Party. He edited its newsletter. Another story says he was expelled by Rockwell because Rockwell believed he had stolen the ANP's mailing list.
After his discharge he left Pennsylvania in 1962 to find work in Birmingham, Alabama, where he lived at the NSRP headquarters. He eventually became associate editor of the NSRP's monthly publication, The Thunderbolt. In 1963, Warner was sentenced to 180 days in prison and fined $100 on trespassing charges trying to picket negotiations at the University of Alabama. Again accused of stealing a mailing list, a charge which this time led to a court case, this time from the NSRP and Edward Reed Fields. The case was settled out of court but severely injured his reputation in neo-Nazi circles.
Having destroyed his reputation in the east, Warner decided to move to California, where he became affiliated with Ralph Perry Forbes and his branch of the National Socialist White People's Party, the rebranded American Nazi Party, though by this time Rockwell had been assassinated. While in the California branch, Forbes underwent leadership troubles due to his conversion to the racist Christian doctrine of Christian Identity; several of the party members dissented, led by Allen Vincent, including Warner. Rockwell's successor Matt Koehl supported Forbes, resulting in a schism. Warner attempted to lead this schism, but the rest of the members did not accept him.

Christian Identity

After failing to take over the Californian branch of the NSWPP, he was converted to Christian Identity by Wesley Swift. In 1971, Warner founded the New Christian Crusade Church, a Christian Identity church. Warner considered himself the spiritual heir to Swift. After the publication of Arthur Koestler's The Thirteenth Tribe, Identity ministers like Warner used it as support that the Jews were not God's chosen people, with no claim to the land in Palestine. In 1979, Warner donated portions of his library to the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming. His second wife, Debra Coleman Warner, was also involved in politics. They had a son, Scott James Warner.
Following the death of Swift, Identity minister Richard Girnt Butler assumed control of Swift's church and moved it to Idaho, leaving control of the Christian Defense League to Warner. Eventually, Warner moved the Christian Defense League and the New Christian Crusade Church to Louisiana. Warner used the New Christian Crusade Church to speak of ZOG, that with "a hidden hand... secretly controls the flow of events in Mainstream America." Proclaiming that since America was ruled by Jews, Warner claimed that the Jews used this power to perpetuate racial genocide.
Warner later became the Louisiana Grand Dragon of David Duke's Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. As of 2007, he was still active in neo-Nazi circles. when millionaire Richard Cotter, Jr. died, he gave $500,000 of his fortune to Warner's church, resulting in Warner's name making the headlines in 2000. He was still alive in 2011.

Death

Warner preceded his son, Scott James Warner, who died July 28, 2018, in death.

Works

The Law of OdinAryans and Jews: A Study in Racial DifferencesThe White Racial Basis of American CivilizationSecrets of the Synagogue of Satan
  • ''The Real Hate Mongers''