National Alliance (United States) - History

History

Pierce founded the group in 1974 about the same time as he created the Cosmotheist Community Church (www.cosmotheism.net). He was a former physics professor and the author of The Turner Diaries and Hunter, both novels about a white revolution in America, which he wrote under the pen name Andrew MacDonald. The National Alliance was reorganized from an earlier group: the National Youth Alliance (NYA) which in turn was formed out of the remains of an organization called Youth for Wallace which supported Governor George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign. The NYA broke into factions as a result of infighting, and Pierce gained control of the largest remnant in 1970 and continued the organization under that name until its reorganization in 1974. Pierce previously had been an associate of the assassinated leader of the American Nazi Party, George Lincoln Rockwell, and had been editor of the party's magazine, National Socialist World.

Pierce died of cancer on July 23, 2002, and was succeeded as National Chairman by Erich Gliebe. A few months later, the party administration had a leadership contention with Billy Roper, the Deputy Membership Coordinator, being fired in September 2002. In August 2003 another internal disruption occurred with two members of BoD, firefighter Fred Streed and former economics professor Robert DeMarais resigning.

In April 2005, Kevin Alfred Strom, former Alliance member and then editor of National Vanguard Magazine, issued a declaration calling for Erich Gliebe to step down; the Executive Committee of the National Alliance and most unit coordinators supported this action. Gliebe refused the demand, claiming that the National Alliance operates under the "Leadership Principle" and that he would not yield to any coup. Strom then formed a new group called National Vanguard. Shortly thereafter, Gliebe resigned as National Chairman of the Alliance stating that he needed more time to spend with his family. Gliebe appointed Shaun Walker as his successor and in June 2006, Walker was arrested for Civil Rights violations (in 2007 Walker was sentenced to 87 months). After the arrest, Gliebe again assumed the leadership of the organization.

The splintering of the group did not last long. In January 2007 Strom was indicted on possession of child pornography and of seeking to coerce a 10-year-old sexually. Two of the three charges were dismissed in October 2007 and the third was pending trial in January 2008. Since then, Strom has pleaded to one count of possession of child pornography and all of the other charges have been dropped. He was sentenced to 23 months in prison in April 2008. In March 2007 the National Vanguard dissolved and in its place European Americans United formed. This latter contention is disputed as European Americans United has published a statement on their website stating: "The Anti-Defamation League has slandered and defamed EAU by describing us as a continuation of some other group. This is a vicious lie which we categorically and vehemently deny."