Fourth Reich Archaeology

Join us as we take a final dusting to the artifact-in-the-making that is the 2024 presidential election. Will we make an endorsement? Not likely. Will we have a few laughs? Definitely.

We’ve subjected ourselves to hours upon hours of presidential slop. We went ears deep in the trough for you, listener. We’ll give a few highlights from Kamala’s performance on the Breakfast Club, Trump on Rogan, JD Vance on Tim Dillon. Seriously, we had to bathe with a steel loofah after listening to all this shit. 

Not unexpectedly, we conclude - while not begrudging anyone’s right to fear-vote democrat - that the two candidates for Hitler are pretty much a wash. Both pledge to continue committing genocide. Both pledge to criminalize immigration and build a wall. Both pledge to protect crypto assets (lol). It’s a race to the bottom and we ask aloud whether these parties are really trying to lose.

In an election where the party of Dick Cheney is calling the OTHER guy fascist, you know you’re in the Fourth Reich. Hope this helps you keep your distance from the madness as the barbarians approach both sides of the gates.

In Money Pt. 2, we switch lenses from macro to micro and link back up with Jerry as he navigates the scene we set in part one. Recall that in part one, we gave a big-picture view of the U.S. as it emerged out of WWII as the victor and began its reign over the rubble left in the wake of the War.  We discussed how the “Cold War” was not so cold after all, as Nazi General Reinhard Gehlen’s “stay-behind” armies (under the direction and on the payroll of the ClA) waged guerrilla warfare against the Soviets in Eastern Europe. The American transition from fighting the Nazis to working with them against the Russians was seamless. 

In part two, we zoom in on Congressman Ford as he takes the reigns of power as a lucrative congressional appropriations committee and subcommittee member. 

Of course, we have our usual cast of characters, too. For example, Betty gives her husband advice that ultimately causes Congressman Tabor to take a shine on old Jerry. And that's how Jerry ends up with a cushy spot on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, with his hands on the purse strings for the US war machine. This is also where Jerry first crosses paths with the Dulles brothers.

Whereas in part one we saw the secret love between Reinhard Gehlen and Foster Dulles, this one turns into a three-way bromance between Jerry and the Dulles brothers. Jerry takes a multi-week tour of the Pacific with John Foster Dulles. John and Jerry do a literal tour of the Fourth Reich's post war pickings in Asia: they went to a prisoner exchange in Korea; they met with French and South Vietnamese troops, including a night out on the town in Saigon; and they made a stop in occupied Japan. But Jerry also catches the eye of Allen Dulles, who taps him for the super secret Intel subcommittee assignment in 1956.

In the 1950s, Jerry was in the money. He was cozied up with the Horsemen of the Fourth Reich and signaled that he was ready to serve. We told you things were getting dark. Here we see how willing Jerry was to shed away all decency and do the bidding for Dulles et al. Of course, that will come in full swing in our soon-to-be-released mini-series "The Warren Commission Decided." 

And if you've read this far, that means you are a true Jerryhead and journeyman Reichiologist. If we got that right, please show us some love by donating to our Patreon so we can lock in and focus on our project full-time. Fourth Reich Archaeology is bound for glory, and we promise we won't forget those of you who have been with us since day one. 

With that, let's get digging. . .

Congressman Gerald R. Ford Jr. - once upon a time known as Leslie Lynch King, Jr. - is in the money. Not literally. Yet. But he’s moving major stacks for Uncle Sam. You see, with a maneuver of cunning and of sidling up to just the right power brokers, Jerry lands himself a seat on the much-coveted House Appropriations Committee in his first term in office. From rookie to MVP contender in the House. Not only that, but he’s also on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. 

This is another 2-parter; there’s just too much to cram into one ep. So, part 1 sets the stage and gives the context for Jerry’s rapid rise into the inner sanctum of power in the budding National Security State. The beating heart of the emerging US global empire spreading its reign over the rubble left in the wake of WWII.

We catch up with some of our “Horsemen” of the Fourth Reich, tracking them from the (twice) failed Dewey campaigns into a secluded perch nestled between the State Department and the newborn CIA, with roots firmly planted in the private sector. Their top priority was to integrate the remnants of Hitler’s Eastern-front intelligence apparatus into the American CIA. You see, the CIA was busy in the postwar period claiming its place atop the pyramid of Western intelligence, edging out the Brits who had been the Yankees’ faithful mentors heretofore… But the boys from Foggy Bottom (before the Langley HQ had even opened) had a secret weapon to propel them to the top of the Cold War hierarchy. We’re talking about the secret love between the CIA and the Nazi Gehlen Organization. In this episode, we introduce the figure of Reinhard Gehlen and, with the help of some old Dave Emory tapes, situate his role in shaping the Cold-War world.

While the horsemen and their boy Gehlen  had a foot in the door by way of Frank Wisner’s Office of Policy Coordination (OPC), the election of Eisenhower and Nixon in 1952 handed them the keys to the kingdom. Ike’s cabinet was like a who’s-who of corporate CEOs and high priests of capital. We touch on some of the all-stars in Ike’s lineup, with special focus on John Foster Dulles - Secretary of State and mind-melded brother to CIA director Allen Dulles. Foster put an American spin on Gehlen’s extremist and alarmist worldview as he led the US into a global conflict on behalf of the owners of capital against national liberation movements disguised as a global battle against Soviet communism.

Things are getting dark, dear listener. So please put on your helmet flashlight, and let’s keep digging.

Here we go! In our last episode, Jerry bought the ticket to Congress, and in this episode, he takes the ride. Already aboard the ride and two years deep into their own nascent political careers were fellow Navy combat vets Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon, whom we cover in this episode.

This week, we pick things up with Jerry during the first term of his Congressional career. He's the classic outsider candidate turned people's Congressman. You know Jerry is on that grindset, and once he is in office he works round the clock for the people. His constituent services are top-notch. He's chasing down social security checks. He's finding jobs at the pentagon for recent college grads. The people of Grand Rapids, and everywhere else, love him.  

And, we call this episode "Carousel" because the people, events, and themes that come up in JW6 will come up again and again in significant ways. In other ways, "Carousel" is apt because here we see, yet again, that time is a flat circle. For example, in this episode, Jerry says goodbye to his mentor, Senator Vandenberg, who now views Jerry as the man who will be his legacy—the new man of the people for Michigan. With Vandenberg's death, the student becomes the master.   

We don't mean to get too folksy about it, after all, Jerry is not just a folk hero congressman. He is cutting his teeth as an insider, too.  For starters, Jerry had no personal reason to campaign in the 1950 election cycle, as he was hot stuff and the shoo-in incumbent. There were even murmurs that Jerry would be the obvious choice for Senate in 1952. And so he didn't have to put any effort into campaigning to keep his seat. So, he campaigned for his political allies. And in the process, caught the eyes and ears of very important people. 

And then, of course, we dive into what we call our "bizarre love triangle." The budding friendship of Jerry Ford, Jack Kennedy, and Dick Nixon during their early years in Congress. Well, Jack was more of a frenemy to Jerry. The real bromance was between Jerry and Dick. A friendship that would bear fruit for both Nixon and Ford in more ways than either could ever imagine and which would eventually see them both embroiled in the assassination and cover-up of their one-time friend, Jack. A man they got to know as a shy but confident playboy bachelor, complaining to them in his Boston-Brahmin drawl about how boring it was to be a lowly Congressman... 

We also take a brief contextual detour into the sociopolitical scene at large during the late 40s and early 50s. The battle between communism and capitalism was under way, fueling (and providing propagandistic moral cover for) the rise of American imperialism worldwide. The national security state had just oozed onto the scene. On the domestic front, politicians were building their careers and their political platforms around the "Red Menace." Dick Nixon was just one such politician. Hand-selected by the likes of Nazi-funder and dynastic patriarch Prescott Bush, and ideologically aligned with … well, another dynastic patriarch, and ... er Jack's dad, Joe Kennedy.

We hope you enjoy this week's episode. And if you do, please consider sponsoring our cause on Patreon.

We're back with Part 2 of Love / Machine! After a quick recap of Part 1, we link up with our hero circa 1948. Jerry's in Grand Rapids practicing law at the firm of Butterfield, Keeney & Amberg, where Harvard-trained OG superlawyer Julius Amberg takes Jerry under his wing.

We dig into Amberg's background, yielding rich results. Amberg is the scion of Grand Rapids's first well-established Jewish family. And wouldn't you believe it, Amberg's grandfather even once held the same Congressional seat Gerald Ford eventually occupied!

It is in no small part thanks to Amberg's support and guidance that Gerald Ford is able to launch his underdog, outsider campaign to primary Grand Rapids's incumbent conservative representative - Bartel J. "Barney" Jonkman. According to Ford, he was motivated to run (besides having dreamt of a political career since his boyhood dreams of playing a role in some Arthurian legend) by Jonkman's outdated, out-of-touch commitment to isolationism in foreign policy, expressed among other positions through Jonkman's vocal opposition to the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe.

The alternative to isolationism - championed by both Gerald Ford and his political godfather, Senator Arthur Vandenberg (whom we also dig into) - was known as "internationalism." We spend some time situating this liberal, anti-communist brand of "internationalism" within the 20th-century trajectory of the Fourth Reich's development, distinguishing it from proletarian internationalism and checking in on the fruits it has borne in our present times. This leads us into a full treatment of the '48 primary, which Jerry wins in an unlikely landslide thanks to his signature grindset. 

Once Jerry has made a home out of the House (of Representatives), he's ready to join a lodge. On September 30, 1949, just over 75 years to the day before this episode's publication, Jerry and his two half-brothers are inducted into the Grand Rapids Malta Lodge. We dig lightly into the history of freemasonry in Grand Rapids, Ford's deep involvement in freemasonry and its offshoots (including the notorious Royal Order of Jesters), and hear Ford's own words about his relationship with the old fraternal order.

Jerryworld is back, baby! This week, we introduce the female lead in our saga, Betty Bloomer Ford, and we explore the parallels and rhymes between Betty’s and Jerry’s lives.

For example, like Jerry, Betty was raised by a mother who was acutely aware of ancestry, social status, and etiquette. In fact, Betty’s mother, Hortense, and Jerry’s mother, Dorothy, ran in the same social circles.  Also, like Jerry, Betty had an alcoholic biological father who spent much of his life tormented by his demons. And, like Jerry, Betty always had a good attitude about life and a cheery disposition.  So the story goes. 

Betty’s life was not without its excitements, nor was she far removed from the Cold War deep state. Betty spent some of her most formative years studying modern dance with Martha Graham - one of the State Department’s (and the CIA’s) favorite cultural exports to expound the virtues of the American way of life. We’ll pick up some of the threads we opened up in our interview with Matt Farwell around Frank Wisner’s “Mighty Wurlitzer” and the dynamic between propaganda on a mass scale and mind control at a more micro level. 

Wherever we dig in Fourth Reich Archaeology, we always find something that ties back into that continuity of interests and tactics between the Third Reich and the (American) Fourth.

We’ll also catch up with the man himself, as he returns to Grand Rapids as Lieutenant Commander Ford, ready to take on the McKay political machine.  In fact, one of the first things Jerry does when he gets back from the war is take over his stepfather’s duties as president of the Republican Home Front Organization. Jerry also takes a job in private practice for the prestigious law firm Butterfield, Kenney, & Amberg. With looks to kill and a job in Grand Rapids’ preeminent law firm, it’s no surprise that the people of Grand Rapids think Jerry is the town’s most eligible bachelor. 

In part 1 of this two-parter, we focus on Betty’s background and her and Jerry’s courtship. In part 2, we’ll pick up with Jerry’s law firm gig in Grand Rapids and his final face-off with the weakened McKay machine, from which he’ll emerge a victorious Congressman.

It's Fourth Reich Archaeology's first interview, and it's with the great Clancy-hunter himself, Matt Farwell. Matt and Don grab their shovels and break a little ground on Propaganda. We talk about super-spook Frank Wisner, into whose life and archives Matt has been plunging, and the way Wisner played the press like a "Mighty Wurlitzer" before losing his mind, first figuratively, then literally. We connect the dots from CIA to the media, the newspapers, and the major publishing houses, and - of course - tracing it all back to the Nazis and Perfidious Albion. Continuity strikes again.

Don takes a detour to Paris 1919 (with a little John Cale, of course) to recount the tale of Three Young Fellas - John Foster Dulles, his brother Allen, and a publicist named Edward Bernays - who lucked out on front-row seats to the peace conference that set the stage for war (yay, markets!). That British voice you hear is Adam Curtis, in "Century of the Self" - speaking of limited hangouts...

And Matt brings us forward in time, to that glorious period about which Dr. Strangelove is truly a documentary, giving us an aural tour of the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, and its midcentury Führerbunker  built to house Congress in the event of a nuclear blast or other Continuity-of-Government type situation.

Follow Matt Farwell @HuntClancy

Subscribe at https://thehuntfortomclancy.substack.com/

Buy book at https://www.amazon.com/American-Cipher-Bergdahl-Tragedy-Afghanistan/dp/0735221049

Enjoy!!

We're back in Jerryworld in times of war. After a quick recap, we follow Jerry Ford into the Navy in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Jerry quickly finds himself in his element - leading sports and physical training among the recruits just like in his (very recent) coaching days. But he's not contented with stability and gets back on his grindset, landing himself significant promotion and a spot on the bridge of a light carrier in the Pacific theater.

Once again, the hand of providence seems to guide Jerry through dangerous situations, brushes with death, and up the ladder. First in the Navy, and later on the Grand Rapids political scene.

Jerry kept in regular contact with his step dad and stayed abreast of the goings-on in his hometown, even while overseas. Gerald Ford Sr. began to serve as a surrogate for Jerry Jr. in the Republican Home Front group - a well-intended conspiracy of local leaders and likely freemasons to unseat the party boss holding the keys to political participation in Michigan; Frank McKay.

Jerry's participation in the political war against McKay parallels in some respects his participation in the hot war in the Pacific. Each bring their typical (for Jerry) mix of luck, cunning, charm, and timing.

We even check in with Harry Conover and follow the eventual termination of Gerald Ford's partnership in his modeling agency.

This week on Fourth Reich Archaeology, it's back to business as usual at our favorite dig site—Jerryworld. In a two part episode called "WAR,” we explore the four wars Jerry fought in the 1940s. 

Of course, there is WWII, in which Jerry was a Navy man on board the USS Monterey. Leveraging the charm he inherited from his biological father, the keen social awareness he obtained from his mother, and the attitude he adopted from his stepfather, Jerry moves up the ranks onboard the “Mighty Monterey.” Before long, Jerry catches the captain’s eye and gets an appointment to be the ship’s assistant navigator. Jerry snags this coveted spot on the bridge despite having no prior relevant experience. Classic Jerry. 

We also dive deep into Jerry’s willingness to participate in the Cold War. Namely, by applying for a position in Hoover's FBI. Jerry’s application to be a G-Man shows he wanted to be not just a noble soldier for the USA, but also an infiltrator. Indeed, along with his application to the FBI, Jerry also applied to work in the Office of Naval Intelligence. 

And there is the war at home, in Grand Rapids, against the corrupt party boss Frank McKay. Mckay was the prototypical mobbed up political wheeler and dealer. The guy had his grubby fingers in all aspects of the Republican party of Michigan, which at the time, meant he had control of the State. With booze running, corruption, bribery, extortion, and, of course, murder, the McKay saga is nothing short of a classic mob tale.  

Last, we explore the internal war that Jerry was waging. Including his decision to end his relationship with the beauteous Phyllis Brown and Jerry's decision to forgo working in New York and DC after Yale, to instead return to Grand Rapids and hang a shingle with his longtime friend and frat bro, Phil Buchen.

This week on Fourth Reich Archaeology, we take a brief hiatus from Jerryworld and travel back to the present day for a special episode on the 2024 election cycle.  

A true American spectacle, the sights and sounds of the 2024 campaign trail appear to have been inspired by the pomp and circumstance of modern professional wrestling. In fact, with a steady bombardment of character arcs, secret alliances, double-crosses, over-the-top walkout songs, cheesy catchphrases, and interludes from rappers and comedians to boot, you’ve been so busy being entertained this election cycle that you don’t even realize your favorite politician hasn’t said a lick about policy. While we otherwise may not know exactly what kind of terrible shit is going to come out of the mouths of our political leaders, you can always count on it being unhinged.  

But lest you think we are departing from our favorite object of study... to the contrary, we apply the artifacts we've unearthed in the first three episodes of Jerryworld to help make sense of the senselessness of the 2024 presidential election. Indeed, the life and times of Jerry Ford are as relevant as ever. Whereas Gerald Ford's eventual identity as a mere brand ambassador for the entrenched powers that be had a ring of tragedy to it, Kamala and Donald inhabit a world of hyper-farce, playing the role of carnival-barker for feuding (but ultimately compatible) factions of the ruling class. Moreover, while there are issues each nominee has championed for their respective financial backers, or to pacify or incite their faithful followers, the substance of their actual policy positions on the things that really matter don’t meaningfully differ. 

Like every election before it, 2024 will likely once again break the record for most expensive election ever. But in our view, money in politics nowadays isn't so much about swaying elections as inflating the spectacle of "democracy," generating viewership through the corporate media machine, and imposing hard limits on what is considered acceptable political discourse. Thus, to paraphrase our favorite Thomas Pynchon quote once again, the true election cycle is not the culmination of a democratic process but a celebration of markets. 

And to all our Jerry heads out there, don't fret—we will return to our regularly scheduled program next week with Jerryworld Episode 4.

Meanwhile, check out our Patreon, which we're finally rolling out. We won't paywall any content just yet, but we do invite and encourage you all to get in on the ground floor. The sooner we can quit our day-jobs, the more time we can pour into the pod, and the deeper we can dig into the hellscape of the Fourth Reich.

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Song List: 

Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime

Bob Dylan – Masters of War

Metallica – For Whom the Bell Tolls 

Neutral Milk Hotel – Oh Comely

Trey Parker and Matt Stone - I’m a Little Bit Country 

David Bowie – Five Years 

Opening Clip is from Dr. Oblivion’s monologue in David Cronenberg’s Videodrome