John A. Stormer

John A. Stormer
Born (1928-02-09) February 9, 1928
Altoona, Pennsylvania
Residence Florissant, Missouri
Nationality American
Citizenship US
Education Pennsylvania State University, San Jose State University
Occupation author, pastor
Known for 1964 book None Dare Call it Treason
Religion Independent Baptist
Spouse(s) Elisabeth
Children Holly

John A. Stormer (born February 9, 1928) is an American Protestant anti-communist author, best known for his 1964 book None Dare Call it Treason. Both a pastor and a Christian school superintendent, his books have sold millions, warning America about the communist infiltration of American society, politics and culture. He has been called by Daniel Pipes ”the man who may be the most popular U.S. backstairs author of all time.”[1] Richard Hofstadter in The Paranoid Style in American Politics called it a "masterful piece of folkish propaganda."[2]

Biography

Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Stormer attended Pennsylvania State University and served as an Air Force editor and historian during the Korean War. After the war, he graduated from California's San Jose State University with a B.A. in journalism. He served for several years as editor and general manager of an electrical magazine. In 1962, he left the business world for studying and writing about communism. He founded Liberty Bell Press in 1963.

Stormer has been involved in the Republican party, serving on the Missouri Republican State Committee and as state chairman of the Missouri Federation of Young Republicans 1962–64. In 1964, he was a member of the Missouri delegation to the Republican Convention which nominated Barry Goldwater as presidential candidate. In the 1990s, he has been a member of the Council For National Policy.[3][4]

In 1965, Stormer was born again and soon started to preach the gospel and to write for the Fundamentalist Christian Beacon. He served as pastor of Heritage Baptist Church and superintendent of Faith Christian School in Florissant, Missouri for 31 years. He was also president of the Missouri Association of Christian Schools for 10 years. Since 1977 he has conducted weekly Bible studies for members of the Missouri State Legislature. He has published a periodic newsletter, Understanding the Times, which focuses on foreign policy, politics, education, religion, and economics. Since his retirement, he has continued to speak regularly in Bible conferences and Understanding the Times seminars.[5][6][7]

Stormer credits George S. Benson with playing a major part in his awakening and political transformation. He also ascribes the selling of millions of copies of None Dare Call It Treason largely to the work of those who were awakened and trained by Benson and others in the previous few years.[8]

Stormer has honorary degrees from Manahath School of Theology (1965) and Shelton State Community College (1976). He is a member of the John Birch Society,[9] but he has abstained from the kind of conspiracy theories which the society is known for and talks instead of a ”conspiracy of shared values.[1]

Stormer visited Vietnam twice, first in 1965, and has toured many other world trouble spots on fact-finding missions.

He married Elizabeth in 1954 and settled in Florissant, Missouri. They have one daughter.

Writing career

Stormer's main book None Dare Call It Treason argued that America was losing the cold war because it was being betrayed by its elites, who were procommunist. The title of the book is derived from an epigram of Sir John Harington: "Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? Why if it prosper, none dare call it treason." It was published in 1964, during Barry Goldwater's bid for the presidency, and sold over one million copies in the first six months. It was distributed in bulk quantities and during the campaign six million copies were circulated.[10] It was immensely influential with the harder line sections of the American Right[11] and has been described as a cult classic of the New Right.[12] Since it was published by a private imprint, however, it never appeared on best-seller lists.[13]

In the 1968 sequel The Death of a Nation, Stormer linked collectivism to the work of Antichrist and discussed signs of the End Times.

In 1990, Stormer published None Dare Call It Treason...25 Years Later, which contained the original book expanded with an equally long update. Writing in 1989 he also argued that Perestroika and Glasnost were merely Soviet propaganda tools, drawing among others on KGB-defector Anatoliy Golitsyn's New Lies for Old, which in 1984 predicted some degree of retreat from hard-line communism as a way of seducing the West.

His more recent book, None Dare Call It Education is an account of how education reforms are undermining academics and traditional values. The book is written from the point of view of Republican politics and evangelicalism. It argues, with the help of statistics, that American public schools are failing to perform their stated mission.

Another book, Growing Up God's Way, a guide for getting children ready for school and life from birth on, published in 1984, is now in its 10th printing. Spanish and Russian versions have been issued. His latest book, Betrayed by the Bench, details how judicial decisions have transformed the U.S. Constitution, courts and culture.

Bibliography

  • None Dare Call It Treason, 1964
  • The Death of a Nation, 1968
  • The Anatomy of a Smear, 1968
  • Growing Up God's Way, 1984
  • None Dare Call It Treason...25 Years Later, 1990
  • None Dare Call It Education, 1998
  • Betrayed By The Bench, 2005

External links

References

  1. 1 2 Daniel Pipes: None Dare Call It Treason... 25 Years Later Orbis, Spring 1991.
  2. ↑ Richard Hofstadter. The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays Vintage Books, 2008 pg. 111
  3. ↑ John A. Stormer Liberty Bell Press.
  4. ↑ Aho, Barbara, "CNP Past/Present Officers & Prominent Member Profiles", Watch Unto Prayer [watch.pair.com]
  5. ↑ John & Elisabeth Stormer – Missionaries to USA Bible Baptist Church, 2005.
  6. ↑ Robert J. Barcellos: Benefit to feature best-selling author SouthCoastTODAY.com, March 15, 2002.
  7. ↑ Ronald Lora,William Henry Longton (ed.):The Conservative Press in Twentieth-Century America p. 146.
  8. ↑ L. Edward Hicks: Sometimes in the Wrong, But Never in Doubt p. 170. Tennessee University Press, 1997.
  9. ↑ Roger Chapman: Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices
  10. ↑ John A. Stormer: None Dare Call It Treason... 25 Years Later, p. vii.
  11. ↑ David Rieff: Gott Mit Uns David Rieff's blog at World Affairs, February 26, 2010.
  12. ↑ Carl Bogus: What's Killing Conservatism? Review of The Death of Conservatism by Sam Tanenhaus. The American Prospect, September 19, 2009.
  13. ↑ Laura Jane Gifford: The Education of a Cold War Conservative p. 53. in Gregory Barnhisel and Catherine Turner (ed.): Pressing the Fight: Print, Propaganda, and the Cold War. University of Massachusetts Press, 2010.
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