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Ralph Perry Forbes
Black and white photo Forbes wearing a suit
Forbes, pictured 1963
Born(1940-03-12)March 12, 1940
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
DiedJune 10, 2018(2018-06-10) (aged 78)
Russellville, Arkansas, U.S.
Burial placeArkansas State Veterans Cemetery
OrganizationAmerican Nazi Party
SpouseKaren Paula Wright
Children12

Ralph Perry Forbes (March 12, 1940 – June 10, 2018) was an American Christian Identity minister and neo-Nazi who unsuccessfully ran for various Arkansas political offices. A former US Marine, he was a member of the American Nazi Party throughout the 1960s. Starting in 1963, Forbes led the ANP's California branch, the Western Division, until his expulsion in 1967. His religious views created conflict between him and the otherwise largely secular organization. In 1965, party leader George Lincoln Rockwell enlisted him to become the ANP's Christian Identity minister in an effort to appeal to a wider American audience; Forbes mixed neo-Nazism with Christian Identity ideology.

As leader of the Western Division he was involved in a dispute with the city of Glendale, California, in 1964 and 1965. After Rockwell was murdered in 1967, Forbes, a Rockwell loyalist, left the ANP after a power struggle within the Western Division. He moved to London, Arkansas, where he continued his Christian Identity adherence and was active in local politics. He was involved in an effort to mainstream the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s. He ran for office several times, and was the campaign manager for David Duke's 1988 presidential campaign with the Populist Party. In the 1970s, he founded the Sword of Christ Good News Ministries, a Christian Identity group.

Forbes was also known for filing several high-profile lawsuits. In 1986, he sued, among others, the Arkansas Department of Education, the Church of Satan, and Satan, in an effort to stop the Arkansas school system from celebrating Halloween. Federal judge George Howard Jr. agreed to hear the case, and eventually dismissed the suit. A 1992 lawsuit by Forbes after he was excluded from a television debate resulted in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals requiring public broadcasters to declare a "viewpoint-neutral" reason for excluding candidates; this was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States decided against him in Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes.

Early life

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Ralph Perry Forbes was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 12, 1940.[1][2] He moved to Flint, Michigan with his family in his youth. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1957; Forbes did not graduate from high school, but received his GED after his enlistment.[1] While enlisted in Washington, D.C., he married Karen Paula Wright. Together they had twelve children.[1][3]

Political activity

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American Nazi Party

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After he left the Marines, Forbes became acquainted with neo-Nazi George Lincoln Rockwell, and joined Rockwell's American Nazi Party in 1960.[4] Initially, he was Rockwell's driver, but graduated by 1961 to being one of the most prominent members and leaders within the group.[5] In February 1961, he was dispatched alongside two other stormtroopers (the term for ANP members) to picket the premiere of the film Exodus (a reoccurring action by the group) at the Boyd Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; they were greeted by counter protestors and police looking to prevent violence from Nazis and their opponents. It ultimately erupted into violence when, prior to the ANP members even arriving, the anti-Nazi protestors mistook a group of unrelated youth for the Nazis and attacked them, leading to the teens being severely injured. When the three actually arrived they had objects thrown at them. In the aftermath of the event, 64 anti-Nazis and the three neo-Nazis, including Forbes, were arrested; the three were charged with inciting a riot, disorderly conduct, and breaching the peace. They were jailed for thirty days, but come the trial were found not guilty.[6]

In July, when the ANP left a courthouse meeting in their base of operations in Arlington, Virginia, Forbes, the driver for the ANP's Hate Bus, was arrested when he was found to be driving without a registration permit. Unable to pay his $100 bail, he was jailed.[7] When Karl Allen decided to join the ANP, his presence created factional disputes within the group; due to his credentials as a successful architect, beyond what most members of the party achieved, many people feared he was actually a spy as him joining seemed too good to be true. Forbes was one of the members most opposed to him; they later became good friends.[8] In 1962 he marched outside the White House carrying anti-Jewish signs and was attacked.[9]

In April 1963, John Patler, who had previously left the ANP, arrived back and requested he be readmitted. Forbes despised Patler, and was one of the strongest opponents to his re-admittance.[5][10] When he was eventually readmitted, Forbes immediately resigned, despite Rockwell's pleas.[5][10] However, at about this time, the leader of the Californian branch (the Western Division) of the ANP, Leonard Holstein, needed to be replaced after he was jailed; to replace him, Rockwell sought out Forbes.[10] Rockwell asked Forbes to operate the Western Division, and Forbes quickly agreed and returned to the ANP after less than a month. He and his family moved west to California, with Forbes announcing his transfer to the west division of the ANP on May 2, 1963.[5][10][11] Beginning after they helped him get a rally permit in 1963, Forbes had what was described by the Encyclopedia of Arkansas as a "long love-hate relationship with the [American Civil Liberties Union]". He cancelled the rally after he could not pay the required bond.[1]

The Californian branch was noted as particularly contentious.[11] As leader of the Western Division, Forbes led 25 ANP members who donated funds and attended group meetings, with Forbes allowing observer members for up to three meetings before they had to officially become a member.[12] He organized several protests and counter protests against the civil rights movement in particular.[13] One of these was a campaign of disruption against the civil rights group Congress of Racial Equality. Forbes disrupted a CORE rally led by Marlon Brando, jumping in front of his way waving a sign labeled "Marlon Brando Is a Nigger-Loving Creep"; Brando had no response.[14] In 1964, after Rockwell was unable to attend, Forbes instead he gave a speech to an audience of 6,500 at the audience of the University of California, Berkeley; the audience largely heckled him.[15] He was a frequent speaker on Californian college campuses.[1] His recruiting was largely poor.[9]

At one point Forbes contemplated assassinating Martin Luther King Jr. He may have discussed this plan with Rockwell, though there is no proof of this. He later declared that he "wouldn't hesitate to do it—or at least try" if it would "solve the [...] problem [...] but I don’t think it would accomplish anything but make a martyr out of him. Violence isn’t the solution today."[16][17] Rather, he said, the solution was to send all Black people back to Africa.[17] He was a captain within the organization's ranks.[2]

Dispute with the city of Glendale

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The Western Division relocated to Glendale, California, in late 1964, and afterwards Forbes and other ANP members became involved in a dispute with the city. The Glendale authorities attempted to evict them, and the city refused to turn on the electricity unless Forbes signed an affidavit promising to not use the house for Nazi activities, which Forbes refused. Forbes said that his lease allowed him to use the property for political purposes, which the homeowner had thought was the Republican or Democratic political parties, not the Nazi Party. The city then filed against Forbes a complaint for "operating a meeting hall in a single-family dwelling without a permit"; this dispute eventually escalated to also involve the Los Angeles County.[18]

In January of the next year, Forbes, his heavily pregnant wife, and their two children all protested the shut-off of electricity to their home solely due to their occupancy by sleeping in at the Glendale City Hall.[3] His wife Karen protested carrying a sign labeled "I'll have my baby here—there is electricity". Karen was arrested for obstruction of city business but then released, and their third child was born three days later. Forbes eventually filed suit to force the city to turn the power on; they obliged in February. Also in January, he and two other ANP members were brought to trial for "converting a house into an assembly building without a permit". They defended themselves with help from the ACLU.[19] At this time they opened a new unit in San Francisco, California; in celebration, Forbes gave a press conference.[17] Forbes was ultimately convicted of violating the city building code and ordered to pay $550 and spend five days in jail. He was booked, but released on bail pending an appeal.[20] The conviction was overturned later that year.[20] His eviction was stayed and he was allowed to live in his home until the expiration of the lease; his landlord was instead ordered to pay for his eviction proceedings.[12]

Christian Identity and exit from the ANP

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Forbes was known within the neo-Nazi movement for, according to writer William H. Schmaltz, his "strident racial views, his flair for the dramatic and his loyalty to Rockwell". He was extremely loyal and very close to Rockwell and was one of the few ANP leaders to consistently stay loyal to Rockwell throughout his time in the party, and was the one he most often assigned delicate or sensitive assignments.[21][22] He also had what scholar Jeffrey Kaplan described as an "affinity for the mystical",[11] an obsession with the idea that he was witnessing prophecies and signs around him.[23] He also had an "unbridled hatred" for Black people and Jews.[2]

At the same time, the ANP had problems attracting more of the general population. Rockwell came to believe that they needed a religious angle to truly gain mass appeal in America. After meeting with Christian Identity minister Wesley A. Swift, they decided to bring their movements closer together.[2][5][11] Christian Identity is a White supremacist interpretation of Christianity.[2][24] Seeing an opportunity with Forbes, in August 1965 Rockwell wrote a letter to Forbes, asking him to take on this assignment, and secretly convinced Forbes to become the ANP's official Christian Identity minister.[2][5][11] Forbes was at the time the youngest division leader in the party.[2] California was also home to several other Christian Identity ministries, making Forbes an ideal candidate for Rockwell's purposes.[21] Forbes agreed.[25]

Forbes blended neo-Nazism with Christian Identity, the first to do so; Rockwell hoped that this would broaden the audiences for both the ANP and Christian Identity and synergize them, justifying their racism through religion.[11][21] Despite it being done on Rockwell's order, Forbes's increasing focus on religion alienated some group members,[11] as many of them were inherently opposed to Christianity and saw it as in total opposition to neo-Nazism. Rockwell aimed to quiet their complaints while Forbes integrated the Western Division with Christian Identity. Rockwell advised Forbes on suggested theological ideas, like paralleling the lives of Adolf Hitler and Jesus, and insinuating that Hitler had actually been the Second Coming. He also manipulated Forbes's interest with hidden signs to get him to draw parallels between Nazism and Christianity.[25]

In 1966, the Western Division moved to El Monte, California, after the rent on Forbes's house increased four times over.[26] In July of that year, Forbes, dressed in religious garb, led a picketing of the NAACP national convention.[27] He was arrested in religious apparel in September 1966 at a Nazi march for attempting to stop Rockwell's arrest; upon his arrest, he said he was a reverend who led the "the Second Covenant Church of Jesus Christ". He was jailed.[1][28] Rockwell was murdered by Patler in August 1967, and afterwards the conflict between the secular stance of the ANP and Forbes's beliefs came to the forefront, with his legitimacy as a leader now in question without Rockwell. Members Allen Vincent and James K. Warner led a schism within the Western Division, and Rockwell's successor Matt Koehl had to travel to California to mediate it. Koehl decided Forbes should be the legitimate leader; in response, members rebelled, resulting in schisms and a plethora of minor neo-Nazi groups.[5][29] Later that year, Forbes was ousted by the Western Division.[5][30] Koehl transferred him to Arlington,[31] but Forbes left the group entirely soon after.[5][30]

Arkansas politics

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After he left the American Nazi Party, Forbes moved to London, Arkansas in 1972, where he settled with his family on a farm. Though his original switch to Christian Identity started due to Rockwell's manipulations, it became a deeply held belief of his.[1][30][32] Forbes garnered a substantial amount of followers in his ministry, persisting even after Rockwell died and he left the ANP.[25] He eventually integrated politics and religion in his belief system completely, and portrayed Rockwell as a deity within Christian Identity.[32] He marked the anniversary of Rockwell's death as a religious holiday, and declared him "God's latter day apostle to America and all the lost sheep, the nations of true Israel."[33] Writing numerous works on Christian Identity, which scholar Jeffrey Kaplan described as "turgid and derivative", he founded in London in the 1970s the Christian Identity group the Sword of Christ Good News Ministries (also just the Sword of Christ). Their front group, the Shamrock Society, sold antisemitic literature and membership fees for another group also led by Forbes, God's White Army. Though it had only a small amount of original works the group had a large national mailing list.[30][34][9] He was an active publisher of these through the 1990s; his newsletter, Straight Shoot'n: The Chaplain's Report to Christian Soldiers, was one of the most influential Christian Identity periodicals.[30][35]

Calling himself the "Judgebuster", Forbes became known for filing numerous federal lawsuits, most which ended up being decided against him. In a first, 1985 lawsuit, he sued arguing that the judge Henry Woods did not have the right to rule in an Arkansas desegregation case. Some of his lawsuits were filed with Warren Carpenter, a fellow segregationist and perennial candidate, and many were about the ruling in the school desegregation case. In October of the next year, he sued the Church of Satan, the Arkansas Department of Education, the Arkansas Education Association, the Russellville School District, and Satan, on behalf of Forbes himself in addition to "Jesus Christ, and Children", in an effort to end "all non-Christian rituals in public schools"; the suit also claimed that "the Arkansas educational system was playing footsie with Satan by permitting pupils to wear costumes to school on Halloween" and called Halloween "the Christmas of the anti-Christs". Federal judge George Howard Jr. agreed to hear the case, while lawyer John Wesley Hall Jr. agreed to defend the devil "at no cost"; Hall argued that Forbes did not provide evidence that "Satan transacts business, owns property or has committed torts in Arkansas", so the case should be dismissed. Howard dismissed the case.[1]

He became a prominent figure in Arkansas politics, running frequently, and unsuccessfully, for local office.[1][5][29] In 1985, he tried to file as a candidate in a Little Rock school board election, but did not meet residency requirements. The next year, he ran for.[1] Forbes ran under the New America First Party, which associated with some members of the original, 1940s America First Party.[30] He was involved in an effort to mainstream the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s.[36] He entered the 1986 Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas, where Forbes attempted to downplay his history as a neo-Nazi, and polled up to 47% of the vote. Nobles withdrew, but Forbes was not chosen as his replacement nominee. He received 52 write in votes. He also tried to enter the senate election as a candidate for the American First Party, but a court ruled he had missed the ballot access deadline.[1][5] The next year, he assisted David Duke in his campaign for president on the Populist Party ticket, becoming campaign manager of his ticket. In 1990, he ran for Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas again in the Republican Primary.[5][30][37] In a three-way election, Forbes won the first round with 46% of the primary vote, but in the next rounds; during the campaign he praised the Ku Klux Klan as "a godly institution", accused his Black opponent of being a drug dealer, and declared the most fundamental tenet of his religious belief to be the preservation of the White race. It was the first Republican Party runoff election in the state. During the campaign, Forbes was assaulted by Robert "Say" McIntosh, a Black politician and activist, which resulted in statewide notoriety. McIntosh later claimed to actually support Forbes. These various incidents seriously harmed his reputation, and Forbes ultimately lost the primary to Kenneth "Muskie" Harris, a conservative Black man, in the runoff, getting only 14% of the vote.[1][5][37]

After losing the primary, Forbes filed more lawsuits and attempted to achieve congressional office two more times.[1] In 1992, Forbes ran as an independent in Arkansas's 3rd congressional district as an independent.[1][5] When he was excluded from a television debate as part of the campaign, Forbes sued. Initially lower courts refused to take action, but the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately agreed with Forbes. This resulted in the circuit requiring public broadcasters to declare a "viewpoint-neutral" reason for excluding candidates.[5] This was appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, which in Arkansas Educational Television Commission v. Forbes decided against him.[1] As of 2002, he was still seeking public office and using it to advance white supremacist causes.[5] He eventually left politics and went to live on his farm, though maintained his Christian Identity practices.[1]

Later life and death

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His wife Karen died in 2004. Afterwards Forbes's health declined and he moved into a nursing home in Russellville, Arkansas. Forbes died June 10, 2018, and was buried in the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery.[1] Jeffrey Kaplan wrote of him in 2000 that he would not be remembered for his writings or Christian Identity thought, but rather his constant attempts to run for office.[30]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Edmonds, Revis. "Ralph Perry Forbes (1940–2018)". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Simonelli 1999, p. 120.
  3. ^ a b Schmaltz 2000, p. 237.
  4. ^ Atkins 2002, pp. 99–100.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Atkins 2002, p. 100.
  6. ^ Schmaltz 2000, pp. 106–107.
  7. ^ Schmaltz 2000, pp. 122–123.
  8. ^ Schmaltz 2000, pp. 125–126.
  9. ^ a b c Newton 2014, p. 151.
  10. ^ a b c d Schmaltz 2000, p. 174.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g Kaplan 2000, p. 111.
  12. ^ a b Schmaltz 2000, p. 251.
  13. ^ Schmaltz 2000, pp. 187–189.
  14. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 187.
  15. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 212.
  16. ^ Simonelli 1999, pp. 76–77.
  17. ^ a b c Schmaltz 2000, p. 238.
  18. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 229.
  19. ^ Schmaltz 2000, pp. 237–238.
  20. ^ a b Schmaltz 2000, pp. 237–238, 251.
  21. ^ a b c Schmaltz 2000, p. 270.
  22. ^ Simonelli 1999, pp. 77, 120.
  23. ^ Simonelli 1999, pp. 120–121.
  24. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 211.
  25. ^ a b c Simonelli 1999, p. 121.
  26. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 279.
  27. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 284.
  28. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 293.
  29. ^ a b Kaplan 2000, pp. 111–112.
  30. ^ a b c d e f g h Kaplan 2000, p. 112.
  31. ^ Schmaltz 2000, p. 335.
  32. ^ a b Simonelli 1999, pp. 121–122.
  33. ^ Simonelli 1999, p. 122.
  34. ^ Beit-Hallahmi 1998, p. 346.
  35. ^ Simonelli 1999, p. 175.
  36. ^ Atkins 2002, p. 99.
  37. ^ a b Schmaltz 2000, p. 339.

Works cited

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