Kent Courtney
Encyclopedia
Kent Harbinson Courtney was a leading figure in the "Radical Right" of American
politics from the 1950s to the 1970s. Courtney was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, but his family moved to New Orleans, when he was a young child. He later relocated to Alexandria
, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city
in central Louisiana
.
and then worked as a pilot
for Pan American Airlines. Later, he was a commercial officer with the British consulate in New Orleans. For a time, he was a public relations
spokesman for a fruit shipping company. He received a degree in business administration in 1950 from Tulane University
(along with his sister Claire Courtney) in New Orleans. He then taught economics
, banking, and marketing
for three years at Tulane.
He was a member of the American Legion
and served on its "Americanism" committee. In 1954, Courtney was the chairman of the New Orleans branch of Ten Million Americans Mobilizing For Justice, a group formed to defend U.S. Senator
Joseph R. McCarthy against censure
.
Courtney lost his Democratic
race for the New Orleans City Council in 1954, when deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., was mayor. One of the winners in that council election was future Lieutenant Governor James E. Fitzmorris, Jr.
Thereafter, Courtney and his wife Phoebe (March 13, 1918 – September 14, 1998) launched their Free Men Speak newspaper, which was renamed the Independent American. Courtney traveled a great deal during this period to address right-wing groups around the country while Phoebe edited the newspaper.
In 1956, Courtney organized a campaign to prevent pro-civil rights
professor Walter Gellhorn of Columbia University
in New York City
from lecturing at Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge.
, which included a banquet to honor Robert W. Welch, Jr.
, the founder of the anticommunist
John Birch Society
. William F. Buckley, Jr.
, publisher of National Review
magazine and a leading columnist, also attended. The meeting called for the establishment of a new party on grounds that the Republicans
were too similar in philosophy to the Democrats as to offer conservative voters little choice in general election
s. The rally for a new party was promoted by columnists Tom Anderson
of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
, and Medford Evans
, Utah
Republican Governor
J. Bracken Lee
, and investigative conservative journalist and former FBI agent Dan Smoot
.
, elected to his second nonconsecutive term. Also in that gubernatorial general election
was the Republican nominee, Francis Grevemberg
, former superintendent of the Louisiana State Police.
Kent Courtney's brother, Cy Courtney, also of New Orleans, had been an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor on a segregationist intraparty "ticket" with gubernatorial hopeful William M. Rainach
of Claiborne Parish in the 1959 primary. Cy Courtney lost out to fellow Democrat Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
, a conservative from Franklin
in St. Mary Parish
. Ironically, Kent Courtney, as a member of a third party, could not actually vote for his brother in the Democratic
primary for lieutenant governor.
In the November 1960 general election, Courtney was a States Rights Party presidential elector, along with future Republican Congressman and Governor David C. Treen
. The Democratic ticket of John F. Kennedy
and Lyndon B. Johnson
won Louisiana's electoral votes that year.
After the gubernatorial disaster, Courtney organized a southern conference that again included columnists Tom Anderson and Medford Evans as speakers, along with other controversial right-wing figures Matt Cvetic, David Molthrop, Robert Nesmith, Harold Poeschel, and Clayton Rand.
senator as too accommodating to the moderates in his own party. In January 1964, Mrs. Courtney wrote about Courtney's meeting with Goldwater after the senator announced his presidential candidacy. According to Phoebe, "Kent told Goldwater that on the basis of the strong anti-communist position contained in his opening announcement that the Independent American would support him."
In 1961, Phoebe Courtney had urged Goldwater to quit the GOP
and to campaign as an independent conservative. The Courtneys were outraged when Goldwater said that were he a New York
er, he would vote in 1962 to reelect Governor Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Jacob Javits, both liberal Republicans
.
In April 1961, Courtney sponsored a "Convention of Conservatives" to call again for a new political party. He claimed that Goldwater, who had once called the Eisenhower administration a "dime store New Deal," had been tainted by "socialism". Courtney and 17 others signed a "Declaration of Conservative Principles."
In the 1964 pre-convention campaign, Goldwater's last intraparty rival, Governor William Warren Scranton, Sr.
, of Pennsylvania
, questioned the senator's connections with Kent Courtney. Scranton asked why Courtney, identified nationally as a "radical," was supporting any Republican candidate for president.
Despite their reservations, the Courtneys still voted for Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election over the victorious Lyndon Johnson.
, a former Birch Society coordinator, as national field organizer for his new group. In June 1962, Courtney announced his CSA had 1,500 members representing 47 states. Among CSA endorsers on CSA letterhead were the following: Bryton Barron, Medford Evans, Dan Hanson, George J. Hess, J. Bracken Lee, Harold Poeschel, Frank Ranuzzi, E. Merrill Root, and Major General Charles Willoughby.
Courtney, a member of the John Birch Society
, endorsed the views expressed by Robert W. Welch, Jr. in his controversial book The Politician, which claimed that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower
was a "conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy." Many Republican candidates at the time repudiated the John Birch Society in part because of the outrage felt over Welch's book.
In 1962, Look magazine declared that Courtney's CSA had a staff of fifteen and an income of $133,000 in 1960 and $181,000 in 1961. The CSA also rated members of Congress. In 1962, it declared that there were only two 100 percent conservative Senators, Strom Thurmond
of South Carolina
(still a Democrat) and Republican John Tower
of Texas
, and three perfect House conservatives, James B. Utt
of California
, Clare Hoffman
of Michigan
, and Bruce Alger
of Texas
. Goldwater received an 88 percent rating, and Senate Republican Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen
of Illinois
garnered only a 64 percent rating. Over the years, Tower would lose his high standing with the most conservative Republicans as he steadily moderated his views. Alger's staunchly conservative views presumably contributed to his defeat for reelection by Democrat Earle Cabell
in the Democratic landslide year of 1964.
Courtney, also in 1962, published America's Unelected Rulers, a book which claimed that the private organization Council on Foreign Relations
was seeking to hijack American foreign policy to create world government.
Courtney refused to support Nixon in 1968 and served as campaign manager for George Corley Wallace, Jr.
, of Alabama
.
of Northwestern State University
(then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches, Louisiana
, who declared that it would be "impossible" to integrate white and black society. Evans further said that integration was one of the two chief communist operations designed to bring about world conflict. Courtney was also active in the White Citizens Councils, which were organized to fight the desegregation
of public schools, once the Supreme Court issued Brown v. Board of Education
.
Courtney was a strong supporter of staunchly conservative and segregationist Democratic Congressman John Rarick
of St. Francisville
in West Feliciana Parish. Rarick ran for governor in 1967, but for Courtney to have been able to vote for him he would have had to have been a registered Democrat at the time. In that same Democratic primary, Courtney was supporting another right-wing fixture in Louisiana
, Ned O'Neal Touchstone
(1926–1988), a Shreveport bookstore owner, who was challenging Education Superintendent William J. "Bill" Dodd (1909–1991).
. Karst was originally from New Orleans, but records do not clearly reveal how the two became politically connected. Karst vacated the mayoral office in June 1973. As mayor, Karst was not particularly known for conservative policy issues.
Kent Courtney surfaced again in 1976, when, running as an independent, he challenged the reelection of popular Eighth District Democratic Congressman Gillis William Long
, also of Alexandria. A third-party conservative, Dr. S.R. Abrahmson of Marksville
, the seat of Avoyelles Parish had also challenged Long four years earlier. In that 1972 election, Long had easily prevailed: 72,607 votes (68.6 percent); Abramson, 17,844 (16.8 percent); and Republican Roy C. Strickland
, then of Gonzales
in Ascension Parish, 15,517 (14.6 percent). Courtney polled on 6,526 votes, or 5.8 percent against Long, more than 11,000 votes fewer than Abramson had received in 1972. No Republican filed for the race in 1976; there is speculation that at least half of Courtney's vote came from regular Republicans who wanted an alternative to Long on the ballot.
The Courtneys later divorced, and Phoebe relocated to Littleton, Colorado
(Jefferson County
), where she continued to publish so-called "Tax Fax" pamphlets that the couple had begun years earlier.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not investigate the Courtneys, but Director J. Edgar Hoover
referred to them in a reply to an inquiry as "known rabble rousers and hate mongers."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politics from the 1950s to the 1970s. Courtney was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, but his family moved to New Orleans, when he was a young child. He later relocated to Alexandria
Alexandria, Louisiana
Alexandria is a city in and the parish seat of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the south bank of the Red River in almost the exact geographic center of the state. It is the principal city of the Alexandria metropolitan area which encompasses all of Rapides and Grant parishes....
, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
in central Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
.
Early years
Courtney served in the U.S. Navy in World War IIWorld 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...
and then worked 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...
for Pan American Airlines. Later, he was a commercial officer with the British consulate in New Orleans. For a time, he was a public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
spokesman for a fruit shipping company. He received a degree in business administration in 1950 from Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
(along with his sister Claire Courtney) in New Orleans. He then taught economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, banking, and marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
for three years at Tulane.
He was a member of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
and served on its "Americanism" committee. In 1954, Courtney was the chairman of the New Orleans branch of Ten Million Americans Mobilizing For Justice, a group formed to defend U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Joseph R. McCarthy against censure
Censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
.
Courtney lost his Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
race for the New Orleans City Council in 1954, when deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison, Sr., was mayor. One of the winners in that council election was future Lieutenant Governor James E. Fitzmorris, Jr.
Jimmy Fitzmorris
James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr. , is a New Orleans businessman and civic leader who was the Democratic Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana from 1972–1980...
Thereafter, Courtney and his wife Phoebe (March 13, 1918 – September 14, 1998) launched their Free Men Speak newspaper, which was renamed the Independent American. Courtney traveled a great deal during this period to address right-wing groups around the country while Phoebe edited the newspaper.
In 1956, Courtney organized a campaign to prevent pro-civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
professor Walter Gellhorn of Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
from lecturing at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
in Baton Rouge.
Rallying for a new political party
In October 1959, Courtney sponsored a two-day meeting in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, which included a banquet to honor Robert W. Welch, Jr.
Robert Welch
Robert Welch may refer to:*Robert Stanley Welch , politician in Ontario, Canada*Robert W. Welch, Jr. , American anti-communist and co-founder of the John Birch Society*Robert Welch , British designer and silversmith...
, the founder of the anticommunist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
. William F. Buckley, Jr.
William F. Buckley, Jr.
William Frank Buckley, Jr. was an American conservative author and commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted 1,429 episodes of the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing was noted for...
, publisher of National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
magazine and a leading columnist, also attended. The meeting called for the establishment of a new party on grounds that the Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
were too similar in philosophy to the Democrats as to offer conservative voters little choice in general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
s. The rally for a new party was promoted by columnists Tom Anderson
Thomas J. Anderson
Thomas Jefferson Anderson was an American conservative author, farmer, and candidate for the U.S. presidency.-Early life:...
of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge, Tennessee
Pigeon Forge is a mountain resort city in Sevier County, Tennessee, located in the southeastern United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 5,875....
, and Medford Evans
Medford Bryan Evans
Medford Bryan Evans was a college professor, author, editor and father of M. Stanton Evans.Evans was born August 21, 1907 in Lufkin, Texas, the son of Lysander Lee Evans and Bird Medford Evans. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1927 and took a Ph.D....
, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
Republican Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
J. Bracken Lee
J. Bracken Lee
Joseph Bracken Lee was a political figure in the state of Utah, United States. A Republican, he served two terms as the ninth Governor of Utah , six two-year terms as mayor of Price, Utah , and three terms as the 27th mayor of Salt Lake City ., Lee is the most recent Governor of Utah who was not a...
, and investigative conservative journalist and former FBI agent Dan Smoot
Dan Smoot
Howard Drummond Smoot , better known as Dan Smoot, was an FBI agent and a conservative political activist...
.
Running for governor and presidential elector
In April 1960, Courtney ran as the Louisiana States Rights Party gubernatorial nominee and received 12,515 votes, or less than 2.5 percent. The winner that year was former Governor Jimmie DavisJimmie Davis
James Houston Davis , better known as Jimmie Davis, was a noted singer of both sacred and popular songs who served two nonconsecutive terms as the 47th Governor of Louisiana...
, elected to his second nonconsecutive term. Also in that gubernatorial general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
was the Republican nominee, Francis Grevemberg
Francis Grevemberg
Francis Carroll Grevemberg , was the superintendent of the Louisiana State Police from 1952 to 1955, best remembered for his fight against organized crime....
, former superintendent of the Louisiana State Police.
Kent Courtney's brother, Cy Courtney, also of New Orleans, had been an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor on a segregationist intraparty "ticket" with gubernatorial hopeful William M. Rainach
William M. Rainach
William Monroe Rainach, Sr., known as Willie Rainach , was a state legislator from rural Summerfield in Claiborne Parish who led Louisiana's "Massive Resistance" to desegregation during the last half of the 1950s...
of Claiborne Parish in the 1959 primary. Cy Courtney lost out to fellow Democrat Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock
Clarence C. Aycock
Clarence C. "Taddy" Aycock , a conservative Democrat from Franklin in St. Mary Parish, was the only three-term lieutenant governor in modern Louisiana history. He served from 1960 to 1972. Aycock failed in his only bid for governor in the 1971 Democratic primary...
, a conservative from Franklin
Franklin, Louisiana
Franklin is a city in and the parish seat of St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,354 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
in St. Mary Parish
St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
St. Mary Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Franklin. As of 2000, the population was 53,500.The Morgan City Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of St. Mary Parish.-Geography:...
. Ironically, Kent Courtney, as a member of a third party, could not actually vote for his brother in the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
primary for lieutenant governor.
In the November 1960 general election, Courtney was a States Rights Party presidential elector, along with future Republican Congressman and Governor David C. Treen
David C. Treen
David Conner "Dave" Treen, Sr. , was an American attorney and politician from Mandeville, St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana – the first Republican Governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana since Reconstruction. He was the first Republican in modern times to have served in the U.S...
. The Democratic ticket of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
won Louisiana's electoral votes that year.
After the gubernatorial disaster, Courtney organized a southern conference that again included columnists Tom Anderson and Medford Evans as speakers, along with other controversial right-wing figures Matt Cvetic, David Molthrop, Robert Nesmith, Harold Poeschel, and Clayton Rand.
Courtney and Goldwater
In July 1960, Courtney organized a "Goldwater for President" rally in Chicago on the eve of the Republican National Convention. He hoped to derail the certain nomination of Vice President Richard M. Nixon as the GOP presidential nominee. Courtney, who considered Nixon as liberal as nearly any Democrat, also grew disillusioned with Goldwater because he perceived the ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
senator as too accommodating to the moderates in his own party. In January 1964, Mrs. Courtney wrote about Courtney's meeting with Goldwater after the senator announced his presidential candidacy. According to Phoebe, "Kent told Goldwater that on the basis of the strong anti-communist position contained in his opening announcement that the Independent American would support him."
In 1961, Phoebe Courtney had urged Goldwater to quit the GOP
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
and to campaign as an independent conservative. The Courtneys were outraged when Goldwater said that were he a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
er, he would vote in 1962 to reelect Governor Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller and U.S. Senator Jacob Javits, both liberal Republicans
Rockefeller Republican
Rockefeller Republican refers to a faction of the United States Republican Party who held moderate to liberal views similar to those of Nelson Rockefeller...
.
In April 1961, Courtney sponsored a "Convention of Conservatives" to call again for a new political party. He claimed that Goldwater, who had once called the Eisenhower administration a "dime store New Deal," had been tainted by "socialism". Courtney and 17 others signed a "Declaration of Conservative Principles."
In the 1964 pre-convention campaign, Goldwater's last intraparty rival, Governor William Warren Scranton, Sr.
William Scranton
William Warren Scranton is a former U.S. Republican Party politician. Scranton served as the 38th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967. From 1976 to 1977, he served as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.-Early life:...
, of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, questioned the senator's connections with Kent Courtney. Scranton asked why Courtney, identified nationally as a "radical," was supporting any Republican candidate for president.
Despite their reservations, the Courtneys still voted for Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election over the victorious Lyndon Johnson.
The Conservative Society of America
On April 15, 1961, Courtney formed the "Conservative Society of America" in Chicago, with himself as the national chairman. The announced purpose was to support conservatives already in Congress and to recruit new candidates who would oppose liberal and/or socialist-voting congressmen regardless of partisan affiliation. By 1962, he hired Ward Poag of Nashville, TennesseeNashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, a former Birch Society coordinator, as national field organizer for his new group. In June 1962, Courtney announced his CSA had 1,500 members representing 47 states. Among CSA endorsers on CSA letterhead were the following: Bryton Barron, Medford Evans, Dan Hanson, George J. Hess, J. Bracken Lee, Harold Poeschel, Frank Ranuzzi, E. Merrill Root, and Major General Charles Willoughby.
Courtney, a member of the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, endorsed the views expressed by Robert W. Welch, Jr. in his controversial book The Politician, which claimed that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
was a "conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy." Many Republican candidates at the time repudiated the John Birch Society in part because of the outrage felt over Welch's book.
In 1962, Look magazine declared that Courtney's CSA had a staff of fifteen and an income of $133,000 in 1960 and $181,000 in 1961. The CSA also rated members of Congress. In 1962, it declared that there were only two 100 percent conservative Senators, Strom Thurmond
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
of South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
(still a Democrat) and Republican John Tower
John Tower
John Goodwin Tower was the first Republican United States senator from Texas since Reconstruction. He served from 1961 until his retirement in January 1985, after which time he was the chairman of the Reagan-appointed Tower Commission that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. He was George H. W...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, and three perfect House conservatives, James B. Utt
James B. Utt
James Boyd Utt was a conservative Republican Congressman from populous Orange County, California, from 1953 to 1970.-Biography:...
of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, Clare Hoffman
Clare Hoffman
Clare Eugene Hoffman was a United States Representative from Michigan.Hoffman was born in Vicksburg, Union County, Pennsylvania, where he attended the public schools. He graduated from the law department of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, in 1895...
of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, and Bruce Alger
Bruce Alger
Bruce Reynolds Alger is an American politician and a former Republican U.S. representative from Texas, the first to have represented a Dallas district since Reconstruction. He served from 1955 until 1965. He was born in Dallas but was reared in Webster Groves, Missouri, a small suburb of St...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. Goldwater received an 88 percent rating, and Senate Republican Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen
Everett Dirksen
Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician of the Republican Party. He represented Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate...
of Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
garnered only a 64 percent rating. Over the years, Tower would lose his high standing with the most conservative Republicans as he steadily moderated his views. Alger's staunchly conservative views presumably contributed to his defeat for reelection by Democrat Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell
Earle Cabell , was a Texas politician who served as mayor of Dallas, Texas. Cabell was mayor at the time of the assassination of John F. Kennedy and was later a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was son of Dallas mayor Ben E. Cabell and grandson of Dallas mayor William L. Cabell...
in the Democratic landslide year of 1964.
Courtney, also in 1962, published America's Unelected Rulers, a book which claimed that the private organization Council on Foreign Relations
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit nonpartisan membership organization, publisher, and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
was seeking to hijack American foreign policy to create world government.
Courtney refused to support Nixon in 1968 and served as campaign manager for George Corley Wallace, Jr.
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
, of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
In defense of segregation
Courtney agreed with former Professor Medford EvansMedford Bryan Evans
Medford Bryan Evans was a college professor, author, editor and father of M. Stanton Evans.Evans was born August 21, 1907 in Lufkin, Texas, the son of Lysander Lee Evans and Bird Medford Evans. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1927 and took a Ph.D....
of Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University
Northwestern State University, known as NSU, is a four-year public university primarily situated in Natchitoches, Louisiana, with a nursing campus in Shreveport and general campuses in Leesville/Fort Polk and Alexandria. It is a part of the University of Louisiana System.NSU was founded in 1884 as...
(then Northwestern State College) in Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches, Louisiana
Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...
, who declared that it would be "impossible" to integrate white and black society. Evans further said that integration was one of the two chief communist operations designed to bring about world conflict. Courtney was also active in the White Citizens Councils, which were organized to fight the desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
of public schools, once the Supreme Court issued Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
.
Courtney was a strong supporter of staunchly conservative and segregationist Democratic Congressman John Rarick
John Rarick
John Richard Rarick was a lawyer who served as a Louisiana state district court judge from 1961 to 1966 in St. Francisville, Louisiana, the seat of West Feliciana Parish, and as a Democratic U.S. representative from the Sixth Congressional District from 1967 to 1975...
of St. Francisville
St. Francisville
St. Francisville may refer to a place in the United States:* St. Francisville, Illinois* St. Francisville, Louisiana** New Roads-St. Francisville Ferry, crossing the Mississippi River...
in West Feliciana Parish. Rarick ran for governor in 1967, but for Courtney to have been able to vote for him he would have had to have been a registered Democrat at the time. In that same Democratic primary, Courtney was supporting another right-wing fixture in Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, Ned O'Neal Touchstone
Ned Touchstone
Ned O'Neal Touchstone was a newspaper publisher who was a leader of the [Conservative Right-Wing Movement]] in Louisiana politics during the 1960s...
(1926–1988), a Shreveport bookstore owner, who was challenging Education Superintendent William J. "Bill" Dodd (1909–1991).
The Alexandria years
Sometimes prior to 1973, Courtney relocated to Alexandria to serve as an aide to Democrat-turned-Republican Mayor Charles Edward "Ed" KarstEd Karst
Charles Edward "Ed" Karst was an attorney and politician remembered for his controversial tenure as the mayor of Alexandria, the seat of Rapides Parish and the largest city in central Louisiana...
. Karst was originally from New Orleans, but records do not clearly reveal how the two became politically connected. Karst vacated the mayoral office in June 1973. As mayor, Karst was not particularly known for conservative policy issues.
Kent Courtney surfaced again in 1976, when, running as an independent, he challenged the reelection of popular Eighth District Democratic Congressman Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long
Gillis William Long was a Democratic U.S. Representative from Louisiana and member of the Long family. Long served seven non-consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives but placed third in two campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nominations in 1963 and 1971...
, also of Alexandria. A third-party conservative, Dr. S.R. Abrahmson of Marksville
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,537 at the 2000 census. Louisiana's first land-based casino, Paragon Casino Resort, opened in Marksville in June 1994...
, the seat of Avoyelles Parish had also challenged Long four years earlier. In that 1972 election, Long had easily prevailed: 72,607 votes (68.6 percent); Abramson, 17,844 (16.8 percent); and Republican Roy C. Strickland
Roy C. Strickland
Roy Clifton Strickland was a businessman in The Woodlands, Texas, north of Houston, who was a pioneer in the development of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Strickland challenged the Democrat Gillis William Long, a part of the Long political dynasty, for the United States House...
, then of Gonzales
Gonzales, Louisiana
Gonzales is a city in Ascension Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,156 at the 2000 census. It has been called the "jambalaya capital of the world" and is famous for its annual Jambalaya Festival. Gonzales is part of the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Statistical Area.State...
in Ascension Parish, 15,517 (14.6 percent). Courtney polled on 6,526 votes, or 5.8 percent against Long, more than 11,000 votes fewer than Abramson had received in 1972. No Republican filed for the race in 1976; there is speculation that at least half of Courtney's vote came from regular Republicans who wanted an alternative to Long on the ballot.
The Courtneys later divorced, and Phoebe relocated to Littleton, Colorado
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a Home Rule Municipality contained in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. Littleton is a suburb of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and the 20th most populous city in the state of...
(Jefferson County
Jefferson County, Colorado
Jefferson County , whose slogan is the "Gateway to the Rocky Mountains", is the fourth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. Located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, Jefferson County is adjacent to the west side of the state capital, Denver....
), where she continued to publish so-called "Tax Fax" pamphlets that the couple had begun years earlier.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation did not investigate the Courtneys, but Director J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
referred to them in a reply to an inquiry as "known rabble rousers and hate mongers."