William H. Regnery II - 2021-07-02

William H. Regnery II July 2, 2021, Southern Poverty Law Center

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For three generations, William H. Regnery II's family has been a force in right-wing politics. His grandfather, William H. Regnery, was a founding member of the America First Committee, dedicated to maintaining American neutrality towards Nazi Germany. His uncle, Henry, was the founder of Regnery Publishing, a right-wing press that has published conservative luminaries ranging from William F. Buckley and Jack Welch to Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.

And his cousin, Al, is a former president of Regnery Publishing, as well as a former official in the Department of Justice under Ronald Reagan. There, as reported at the time by The New Republic, "[h]e was criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for awarding a $186,710 grant to a dean at Jerry Falwell's Liberty College for the purpose of designing a high-school course on the Constitution. He drew even more bipartisan criticism when he awarded $789,000 to Judith Reisman, a former songwriter for the 'Captain Kangaroo' show, to do a study of the cartoons in Penthouse, Playboy, and Hustler." Al Regnery currently chairs the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, an organization that promotes "traditionalist" conservatism on college campuses.

William II's political activism differs from that of the rest of his family in two respects. First, Regnery abhors the limelight. Where his relatives have headed corporations, held public office, and run high-profile civic groups, the younger William works hard to keep his activities out of the public eye. And second, while the other Regnerys worked to cultivate an air of mainstream respectability, William ran headlong into the fever swamps of white nationalism, where his familial and financial clout allowed him to set himself up as a major force shaping the entire movement.

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | title = William H. Regnery II | url = https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/william-h-regnery-ii | work = Southern Poverty Law Center | date = July 2, 2021 | accessdate = August 8, 2021 }}