William Dudley Pelley
Text:
Character Key:
Display Name:
William Dudley Pelley
Sort Name:
Pelley, William Dudley
Race:
White
Gender:
Male
Class:
Middle Class
Rank:
Peripheral
Vitality:
Alive
Occupation:
Professional
Specific Job:
Journalist, Politician
First Mentioned:
Date of Birth:
Sunday, April 12, 1885
Origin:
Lynn, Massachusetts
Biography:
Mentioned by Boyd as one of ominous signs on the horizon of contemporary events, William Dudley Pelley was a journalist, a novelist, a screenwriter and publisher before making a name for himself a fascist and a religious leader. In 1936 Pelley ran for president as the candidate for the Christian Party, preaching antisemitism and socialism as staples for a new Christian Commonwealth. He supported Hitler's ideology regarding Jews.
Note:
He promised that American Jews would have to register with the American government. Disturbed by Pelley's religious and political rhetoric, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered an investigation that would reveal Pelley's involvement in any suspicious activity. In 1942, Pelley was arrested and found guilty on eleven charges of sedition and insurrection. He spent fifteen years in federal prison. Faulkner equates Pelley as America's Hitler with the line, "After Hitler gets through with it? Or Yokohama or Pelley or Smith or Jones or whatever he will call himself in this country" (269).
Ontological Status:
Historical/Real
Individual or Group:
Individual
Character changes class in this text:
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