Christian Party (United States, 1930s)

Christian Party
Leader	William Dudley Pelley
Founder	William Dudley Pelley
Founded	August 16, 1935 (1935-08-16)
Dissolved	circa 1939
Headquarters	Asheville, North Carolina, U.S
Paramilitary wing	Silver Legion of America
Ideology	Christian fascism
Colors	Silver

The Christian Party was an American fascist political party which was founded by William Dudley Pelley in 1935.^[1] He chose 16 August 1935 as the Christian Party's founding date, because it was a so-called "pyramid date".^[2] The party can be considered the political wing of Pelley's paramilitary organization, the Silver Legion of America. It ran with Pelley as its candidate for the 1936 presidential campaign^[3] (Silver Legion member Willard Kemp was the vice presidential candidate). Pelley gained just 1,600 votes in the election.^[4] The party quickly vanished after the United States entered World War II.

References

1. Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: The Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. UNC Press Books. p. 91. ISBN 9780807846384.
2. Scott Beekman: William Dudley Pelley – A Life in Right-Wing Extremism and the Occult, Syracuse (NY): Syracuse University Press 2005, p. 113.
3. Schultz, Will. "William Dudley Pelley (1885-1965)". North Carolina History Project. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
4. Beekman, Scott (October 31, 2006). "Pelley, William Dudley". American National Biography (online ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1501310. (subscription required)