Richard Girnt Butler
Encyclopedia
Richard Girnt Butler was an American
aerospace engineer
for Lockheed
, who later became the leader of the Christian Identity
white supremacist
group Aryan Nations
.
, to Winfred Girnt and Clarence Butler. His father was of English
ancestry, while his mother was of German ancestry. He was raised in Los Angeles, California
, and after graduating from high school in 1938, he became an aeronautical engineering major at Los Angeles City College
. He was a co-inventor of the rapid repair of tubeless tire
s, for which he held both U.S. and Canadian patents.
While he was a member of a Presbyterian church
, Butler was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces
where he served as a pilot
during World War II
. He married Betty Litch in 1941, with whom he fathered two daughters. Litch died on December 1, 1995 after 54 years of marriage.
In 1946, Butler organized and operated a machine plant for the production and precision machining of automotive parts and engine assemblies for commercial and military aircraft in the United States, Africa, and India. Butler was a marketing analyst for new inventions from 1964 through 1973. Butler later became a senior manufacturing engineer for Lockheed Martin
in Palmdale, California
.
In the early 1970s, he moved with his family from Palmdale, California, to North Idaho, where he founded the Aryan Nations
, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, whose ideology is a mixture of Christian Identity
and Nazism
. The organization operated from a 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho
, a suburb of tourist town Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
, which became the center of a U.S. neo-Nazi network with worldwide links. Butler was implicated in plots to overthrow the United States government beginning in the 1980s, and had ties to the neo-Nazi group known as The Order
. His group often blanketed the community with fliers and mass mailings, and held an annual parade in downtown Coeur d'Alene, however the parade was a pariah since the Aryan Nations was condemned by the town of Coeur d'Alene. Locals responded almost immediately by forming the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, with legal battles often overshadowing the parades.
Butler organized yearly gatherings of white supremacists at his compound in Idaho which he termed the "Aryan Nations World Congress." At their height in 1984-86, several hundred people would attend including most of the well known leaders of the American far right, such as Klansman Louis Beam
, White Aryan Resistance
leader Tom Metzger
, Gordon "Jack" Mohr, Robert E. Miles
, Posse Comitatus
leader James Wickstrom
, Thomas Robb
, Grand Wizard
Don Black, and John Trochmann leader of the Militia of Montana
.
In 1987, Butler was "indicted for seditious
conspiracy
," by the State of Arkansas, however "prosecutors failed to convince an Arkansas jury that Butler and several other prominent racists had conspired to start a race war."
In 2000, Victoria and Jason Keenan, two Native Americans who were harassed at gunpoint by Aryan Nations' members, successfully sued Butler. Represented by local attorney Norm Gissel and Morris Dees
's Montgomery, Alabama
-based Southern Poverty Law Center
, they won a combined civil judgment of $6.3 million from Butler and the Aryan Nations' members who attacked them. Butler then sold the compound. In September 2000, fellow Sandpoint, Idaho
millionaire Vincent Bertollini
provided Butler with a new house in Hayden, Idaho
. The house was troublesome for neighbors; police were forced to respond to at least one domestic disturbance call, in which two Aryan Nation members were engaged in an altercation on his lawn.
From late 2003 until his death, his reputation within the Aryan Nations suffered; when Butler and his traveling companion attempted to board a plane at a Spokane, Washington
airport, his companion, who turned out to be porn star Bianca Trump (famous for her explicit, interracial sex scenes), was arrested on an outstanding forgery warrant.
Butler died in his home on September 8, 2004. A spokesman for the Aryan Nation stated that he passed away in his sleep from congestive heart failure. At the time of his death, the Aryan Nations had 200 members, Butler's World Congress in 2002 drew less than 100 people, and when he ran for mayor, he lost by about 2,100 votes to 50.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
aerospace engineer
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
for Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
, who later became the leader of the Christian Identity
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
white supremacist
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
group Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
.
Biography
Butler was born in Denver, ColoradoDenver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, to Winfred Girnt and Clarence Butler. His father was of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
ancestry, while his mother was of German ancestry. He was raised in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and after graduating from high school in 1938, he became an aeronautical engineering major at Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College, known as LACC, is a public community college in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard...
. He was a co-inventor of the rapid repair of tubeless tire
Tubeless tire
Tubeless tires are pneumatic tires that do not require a separate inner tube. Unlike traditional pneumatic tires which use a separate inner tube, tubeless tires have continuous ribs molded integrally into the bead of the tire so that they are forced by the pressure of the air inside the tire to...
s, for which he held both U.S. and Canadian patents.
While he was a member of a Presbyterian church
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
, Butler was drafted into the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....
where he served as a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He married Betty Litch in 1941, with whom he fathered two daughters. Litch died on December 1, 1995 after 54 years of marriage.
In 1946, Butler organized and operated a machine plant for the production and precision machining of automotive parts and engine assemblies for commercial and military aircraft in the United States, Africa, and India. Butler was a marketing analyst for new inventions from 1964 through 1973. Butler later became a senior manufacturing engineer for Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
in Palmdale, California
Palmdale, California
Palmdale is a city located in the center of northern Los Angeles County, California, United States.Palmdale was the first community within the Antelope Valley to incorporate as a city on August 24, 1962; 47 years later, voters approved creating a charter city in November, 2009. Palmdale is...
.
In the early 1970s, he moved with his family from Palmdale, California, to North Idaho, where he founded the Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, whose ideology is a mixture of Christian Identity
Christian Identity
Christian Identity is a label applied to a wide variety of loosely affiliated believers and churches with a racialized theology. Many promote a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity.According to Chester L...
and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. The organization operated from a 20 acres (80,937.2 m²) compound in Hayden Lake, Idaho
Hayden Lake, Idaho
Hayden Lake is a both a city and a lake in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. Hayden Lake is one of several natural lakes in northern Idaho...
, a suburb of tourist town Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene is the largest city and county seat of Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. It is the principal city of the Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Statistical Area. Coeur d'Alene has the second largest metropolitan area in the state of Idaho. As of the 2010 census the population of Coeur...
, which became the center of a U.S. neo-Nazi network with worldwide links. Butler was implicated in plots to overthrow the United States government beginning in the 1980s, and had ties to the neo-Nazi group known as The Order
The Order (group)
The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen or Silent Brotherhood, was an organization active in the United States between 1983 and 1984...
. His group often blanketed the community with fliers and mass mailings, and held an annual parade in downtown Coeur d'Alene, however the parade was a pariah since the Aryan Nations was condemned by the town of Coeur d'Alene. Locals responded almost immediately by forming the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations, with legal battles often overshadowing the parades.
Butler organized yearly gatherings of white supremacists at his compound in Idaho which he termed the "Aryan Nations World Congress." At their height in 1984-86, several hundred people would attend including most of the well known leaders of the American far right, such as Klansman Louis Beam
Louis Beam
Louis Beam is a Texan white nationalist. After high-school he served as a helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Back in the U.S. he became a Klansman, leading a maritime Louisiana KKK element against government help to Vietnamese immigrant fishermen. He...
, White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance is a neo-Nazi white separatist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. Part of the American far right, it is based in Warsaw, Indiana and is incorporated as a business....
leader Tom Metzger
Tom Metzger
Thomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
, Gordon "Jack" Mohr, Robert E. Miles
Robert E. Miles
Robert E. "Pastor Bob " Miles was a White Supremacist leader from Michigan.A major "dualist" religious leader, Miles allied himself with various groups that constituted the racist and anti-Semitic political-religious movement known as Christian Identity, including Aryan Nations...
, Posse Comitatus
Posse comitatus
Posse comitatus may refer to:* Posse comitatus , the authority of a law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him* Posse Comitatus , a loosely organized far right social movement that opposes the United States federal government and believes in localism* "Posse Comitatus", a...
leader James Wickstrom
James Wickstrom
James P. Wickstrom is a far right radio talk-show host and Christian Identity minister, who resides in Rhodes, Michigan. He is known for his strong opinions on racial issues, globalization, and Jews...
, Thomas Robb
Thomas Robb
Thomas Robb, also known as Thom Robb, is the national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and a pastor at the Christian Revival Center.-Early life:Thomas Robb was born in Detroit, Michigan into a Baptist family and grew up in Tucson, Arizona....
, Grand Wizard
Grand Wizard
Grand Wizard was the title given to the leader of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan which existed from 1866 to 1871.In 1915, the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan was created, initially as a fraternal organization. The highest-ranking leader of the latter organization was the Imperial Wizard. National...
Don Black, and John Trochmann leader of the Militia of Montana
Militia of Montana
The Militia of Montana is an organized paramilitary organization founded by John Trochmann, a retired maker of snowmobile parts, of Noxon, Montana, USA. The organization formed from the remnants of the United Citizens for Justice in late 1992 in response to the standoff between agents of the...
.
In 1987, Butler was "indicted for seditious
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
," by the State of Arkansas, however "prosecutors failed to convince an Arkansas jury that Butler and several other prominent racists had conspired to start a race war."
In 2000, Victoria and Jason Keenan, two Native Americans who were harassed at gunpoint by Aryan Nations' members, successfully sued Butler. Represented by local attorney Norm Gissel and Morris Dees
Morris Dees
Morris Seligman Dees, Jr. is the co-founder and chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center , and a former direct mail marketeer for book publishing. Along with his law partner, Joseph J...
's Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
-based Southern Poverty Law Center
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
, they won a combined civil judgment of $6.3 million from Butler and the Aryan Nations' members who attacked them. Butler then sold the compound. In September 2000, fellow Sandpoint, Idaho
Sandpoint, Idaho
Sandpoint is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho, United States. Its population was 7,365 at the 2010 census.Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products and light manufacturing, tourism and recreation and government services...
millionaire Vincent Bertollini
Vincent Bertollini
R. Vincent Bertollini is an American anti-semite and white supremacist who gained notoriety for providing financial support to Richard Butler, the founder of the Aryan Nations....
provided Butler with a new house in Hayden, Idaho
Hayden, Idaho
Hayden is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. The population was 9,159 at the 2000 census.- History :Hayden was once called "Hayden village." In 1955, it was incorporated as Hayden City...
. The house was troublesome for neighbors; police were forced to respond to at least one domestic disturbance call, in which two Aryan Nation members were engaged in an altercation on his lawn.
From late 2003 until his death, his reputation within the Aryan Nations suffered; when Butler and his traveling companion attempted to board a plane at a Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
airport, his companion, who turned out to be porn star Bianca Trump (famous for her explicit, interracial sex scenes), was arrested on an outstanding forgery warrant.
Butler died in his home on September 8, 2004. A spokesman for the Aryan Nation stated that he passed away in his sleep from congestive heart failure. At the time of his death, the Aryan Nations had 200 members, Butler's World Congress in 2002 drew less than 100 people, and when he ran for mayor, he lost by about 2,100 votes to 50.
External links
- Comment by Edgar J. Steele, Butler's lawyer