Willis Carto

Willis Allison Carto (July 17, 1926 – October 26, 2015) was an American far-right political activist and publisher. He described himself as a Jeffersonian and a populist, but was primarily known for his promotion of antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. Throughout his life, Carto established and controlled a variety of right-wing periodicals and organizations, most significantly the Liberty Lobby. Carto ran a group supporting segregationist George Wallace's 1968 presidential campaign and reorganized the group into the National Youth Alliance, later taken over by Carto's associate William Luther Pierce and turned into the National Alliance. Carto founded the Holocaust denial organization the Institute for Historical Review, though later lost control of the organization in a dispute. Carto helped found the Populist Party, which served as an electoral vehicle for white supremacists. He also ran a number of far-right periodicals throughout his career, including Right, Liberty Letter, The American Mercury, The Spotlight, and the American Free Press, among others. An intensely private person despite his influence, Carto remains little known and had a reputation as a "shadowy" figure even among other far-right activists. He was also known for his frequent, bitter disputes with other right-wing figures and former associates. Extremism scholar George Michael, the author of a biography of Carto, argued that despite his public obscurity, Carto was "undoubtedly the central figure in the post-World War II American far right".