There was no better-educated racist writer active in my lifetime than Revilo P. Oliver. Dude was super-intelligent... a philologist and professor of classics at the University of Illinois for decades. He was a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar.
As a right-wing anti-Communist, Prof. Oliver was an early writer for National Review and a founding member of the John Birch Society.In the 1960s, he became stridently anti-black and anti-Semitic until he was no longer welcome at National Review. He even broke with the Birchers.
Revilo Oliver’s style of political rhetoric involved casual disdain for his racial enemies (referring to blacks as “the savages”) and lots of smirking sarcasm (the “civil riots movement”... “snivel rights”), all presented with high-toned eloquence.
I find him quite entertaining to listen to.
Yes, some of the professor’s speeches are available on the internets. I’m streaming a couple of pops on my Vox blog.
Click here for a 4-minute excerpt from “Can Liberals Be Educated?,” a 1965 address to the John Birch Society.
Click here for a 5-minute piece of Oliver’s 1968 lecture “Race and Revolution,” presented to the Canadian League of Rights.
By the 1980s, Revilo Oliver felt the white race was doomed to extinction, weakened by its attachment to Christianity. (“... hoping [for] a pat on the head from the ferocious old Jew-God’s son...”)
He committed suicide in 1994.
I guess when you are so full of hate he went out the best way!
ReplyDeleteFascinating, if not disturbing stuff, I'm loving the audio you're throwing our way at the mo.
ReplyDeleteI love race stuff too, but I've been experiencing a bit of race fatigue lately. :-/ But it sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteNever heard of Oliver before. Actually thought he was black when I saw his photo. Ha.
bklyn6, @ first, I thought that was a picture of Thurgood Marshall! LOL
ReplyDeleteMost likley he was Black and passing! With his self hatred finally catching up with him, he killed himself rather than face himself!! Stranger things have happened!! Being from Louisiana and knowing how many of my own family members have crossed the color line gave me pause for thought! I too thought he was black when I looked at the photo.
ReplyDeleteJust my thoughts.
is that his real name? it's the same backwards and forwards. what's that, a palindrome? I bet he changed it to show nothing was gonna change his mind.
ReplyDelete^ Hey Kellybelle. The "Revilo" palindrome thing is supposedly a family tradition that goes back generations.
ReplyDeleteAs for the professor's racially ambiguous looks... yeah, he definitely got a Bob Barr thing going on...
^Bob Barr is pressing his hair.
ReplyDeleteHappy Valentine's day!
After leaving the Birch Society, Oliver wrote for many years for an explicitly pro-nazi publication, Liberty Bell, published by George Dietz in Reedy WV.
ReplyDeleteThe complete works of Oliver may be seen here on a website maintained by neo-nazi Kevin Strom:
http://revilo-oliver.com/
I too, am convinced after seeing that picture that this is another one of those self-hating passers overcompensating to throw people off the scent.
ReplyDelete