Shaking Hands with the Devil
or Withholding judgment of thoroughly demonized historical figures
This is my introductory editorial in defense of William Dudley Pelley, a minor mid-century political figure who is only mentioned in the same breath as ‘fascist,’ ‘nazi’ and ‘white supremacist.’ He was more than that and maybe none of it. He was a charismatic leader who made himself a perpetual nuisance to the Roosevelt administration leading up to Worl…