Ed Bodin | |
|---|---|
 Bodin in the 50s | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Longstreet Bodin (1894-08-05)August 5, 1894 Watchung, New Jersey, United States |
| Died | August 2, 1983(1983-08-02) (aged 88) Erie, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Party | Spiritual Party |
Edward Longstreet Bodin (August 5, 1894 – August 2, 1983), better known asEd Bodin, was an Americanliterary agent,columnist,mystery writer, and politician who founded the Spiritual Party as a platform to run forPresident of the United States in the1952 presidential election.[citation needed]
Born in Watchung, New Jersey, not much is known about Bodin's early life or family. His father was a formerSussex County judge, and he claimed to be family friends withWoodrow Wilson, a man who had a profound impact on his life.[1]
Bodin attended theUniversity of Pennsylvania, and afterwards became a newspaper reporter.
Bodin served in France during WWI. He met his French wife Juliette inToulon. They were married on June 24, 1919.[2]
After the war, Bodin worked for theCrowell Publishing Company for eleven years. He became a literary agent in 1931.[3]
In 1932, Bodin began his writing career with the weekly columnThe Manuscript Man inThe Birmingham News (Alabama), which provided news and tips on the New York freelance writing market. The column ran until 1947.
Bodin wrote forStrange Stories magazine as "Lucifer" andThrilling Mystery magazine as "Chakra". In the 1930s, he served as aliterary agent andmentor toL. Ron Hubbard.[4]
In 1953, he suggested that ifWinston Churchill doublecrossed the United States, theatom bomb should be used to divert theGulf Stream in order to freeze England.[5] He suggested the same thing two years later inUpper Purgatory, claiming to have received a letter fromWilliam E. Bergin,Adjutant General of the United States, treating the idea seriously (pages 17–18).
In 1949, Bodin was treasurer of theBernarr Macfadden Foundation, and managing editor of Macfadden'sPhysical Culture magazine.[6] In 1956, Bodin was the president of the foundation, worth about $5,000,000.[7] That year he also provided the foreword to a book by Blanche A. Draper, the pastor of the Church of the Radiant Flame, a woman who worked as apsychic andmedium.[8]
In the late 1950s, Bodin wrote a monthly column for the metaphysical publicationOrion Magazine.
He died in Erie, Pennsylvania, at age 88.
In 1940, Bodin began writing books, starting withScare Me! In the book, he addressedghosts,ectoplasm,demons,zombies,werewolves and other similar topics, as well as claiming to be a descendant ofJean Bodin. In it, he thanked sixty-eight people, includingArthur J. Burks,Jack Dempsey,Ruth Lyons,Lowell Thomas,Nathaniel Schachner,Theodore Tinsley,F. Orlin Tremaine,Arthur Leo Zagat,William B. Ziff andL. Ron Hubbard.
In 1946, Bodin publishedGive Me Liberty, a collection of poems framed as a dialogue between Bodin and his mentor, "Old Vagabond" in a sort ofSocratic dialogue. Old Vagabond serves as a vector for Bodin to express his views, where he derides those who seek conflict based on class or race, champions bothRobert E. Lee andAbraham Lincoln as true American heroes, and calls for a universal religious brotherhood regardless of faith. Old Vagabond frequently brings up the virtues of being a vagabond, extoling thatCain was the first vagabond, and althoughTubalcain promoted brotherhood, Cain was not brought back into good untilChrist, a vagabond as well, died on the cross. Old Vagabond consistently writes from apopulist angle, decrying all forms of aristocracy as well as those who would use democracy as a farce. However, he also strikes at liberals who would sacrifice their nation or faith for politics, as a good vagabond is patriotic.
The figure of the vagabond is central to Give Me Liberty, and all good values are extolled as ones a "true vagabond" holds. Among these is the idea that your name should be short, hence why he went as Ed and not Edward.
His 1955 novelUpper Purgatory covered such subjects asESP,flying saucers, theafterlife, and theShakespeare authorship question. In the book (which Bodin claims to be a non-fictional work), Bodin is present to a series of seances held by a WW2 veteran for his friend who perished in the conflict. During them, the ghost of the departed soldier imparts knowledge beyond average comprehension, such as the true number of planets being 12, with the first named Vulco. Bodin also mentions the death ofFDR, calling it tragic.