Bo Gritz | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Gordon Gritz (1939-01-18)January 18, 1939 (age 87) Enid, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Party | Populist (1984–1996) |
| Alma mater | University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign |
| Website | bogritz.com viaWayback Machine |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1957–1979 |
| Rank | Lieutenant colonel |
| Unit | B-36,5th Special Forces Group |
| Battles/wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards | Silver Star (3) Legion of Merit (2) Distinguished Flying Cross Soldier's Medal Bronze Star (4) Purple Heart (2) Air Medal (26) |
James Gordon "Bo"Gritz (/ˈɡraɪts/;[1] born January 18, 1939) is a retiredUnited States Army Special Forces officer who served during theVietnam War. Following his military career, Gritz became involved in various failed attempts to rescue prisoners of war (POWs) associated with theVietnam War POW/MIA issue.
In the realm of politics, Gritz ran for the United States presidency in1992 as a candidate of thePopulist Party, advocating an isolationist platform encapsulated in his manifesto, "The Bill of Gritz".[2] His campaign was characterized by the slogan "God, Guns, and Gritz".
Gritz's life has been marked by controversy, including questions regarding his military awards, his involvement in high-profile standoffs with federal authorities, and his involvement with theChristian Patriot movement and otherright-wing militia groups.[3]
Gritz was born inEnid, Oklahoma, and currently resides inSandy Valley, Nevada. He is the father of four children.
Gritz was born on January 18, 1939, inEnid, Oklahoma. His father was a serviceman in theArmy Air Force duringWorld War II and was killed in action.[4] In the wake of his father's death, Gritz was raised by his maternal grandparents.
Gritz's early education was marked by a significant event when he was expelled from his local high school for reasons not specified. This setback, however, did not deter him from pursuing his education. He subsequently attended theFork Union Military Academy in Virginia, a prestigious military school known for its rigorous academic and physical programs. Gritz graduated from the academy, setting the stage for his future military career.[5]
Gritz began his military career when he enlisted in the Army on August 20, 1957, and attendedOfficer Candidate School (OCS). During the Vietnam War, Gritz commanded detachment "B-36" of the5th Special Forces Group (Airborne).[6][7] This detachment was a mixed American and Cambodian-VietnameseMIKE Force composed predominantly of local mercenaries. They operated in theIII Corps area of southern South Vietnam near the Cambodian border.[8] Among his successful missions was the retrieval of theblack box from a downedLockheed U-2 spy plane in enemy territory in Cambodia in December 1966.[9]
After six years in Vietnam, Gritz served in a variety of assignments, including commanding Special Forces in Latin America from 1975 to 1977, serving as a Desk Officer for the Middle East, and acting as Chief of Congressional Relations for the Defense Security Agency (International Security Affairs) in the Office of theSecretary of Defense from 1977 to 1979. He retired in 1979 at the rank oflieutenant colonel. Following his formal retirement, Gritz claims, with video evidence, to have trained theAfghan mujahideen in America on behalf of the government.[10]
GeneralWilliam Westmoreland, in his memoirA Soldier Reports, cites Gritz as "The" American Soldier.[11] Gritz received numerous military awards during his service, although some of these have been called into question. A memo regarding his awards and award recommendations during his time in Vietnam seems to indicate that Gritz was personally involved with the recommendation of some of his medals, including theLegion of Merit, and that some of his award recommendations cited the same missions and incidents, effectively awarding Gritz multiple medals for the same missions, including theSilver Star,Bronze Star,Air Medal andArmy Commendation Medal.[12]
In the early 1980s, Gritz became involved in theVietnam War POW/MIA issue, undertaking a series of private missions into Southeast Asia. His goal was to locate U.S. prisoners of war who, according to some beliefs, had been detained since the Vietnam War by the communist governments of Laos and Vietnam, specifically in areas such asNhommarath.[13][14]
Gritz's missions were initially supported by elements of theDefense Intelligence Agency in 1981, and later financed by high-profile donors likeClint Eastwood andRoss Perot.[15][16] Operating primarily out of Thailand, Gritz used aliases such as "Richard Patrick Clark" to evade detection.[17] Despite his efforts, Gritz was unable to provide any concrete evidence of the existence of the POWs when he testified as a witness before the House committee headed byStephen Solarz in 1983.[18]
Gritz's activities were heavily publicized and controversial, with critics deeming them haphazard and poorly executed. For instance, some commentators pointed out that supposedly secret missions involved women openly selling commemorative POW-rescue T-shirts in border towns.[19][20] In his bookInside Delta Force, CSMEric L. Haney, a formerDelta Force operator, claims that the unit was twice told to prepare for a mission involving the rescue of American POWs from Vietnam. However, both times the missions were scrubbed, according to Haney, when Gritz suddenly appeared in the spotlight, drawing too much attention to the issue and making the missions too difficult to accomplish.[21]
In 1983, Gritz and four of his associates were tried and convicted in Thailand of illegally importing radio equipment during their "Operation Lazarus Omega". One of them, a formerNavy SEAL David Scott Weekly also known as "Doctor Death", was also later convicted in America of smuggling explosives.[22][23] Thai authorities expressed concern that Vietnamese forces in Laos would retaliate against them for cross-border armed intrusions and threatened to jail Gritz for 20 years.[24] Vietnamese Foreign MinisterNguyen Co Thach called Gritz's actions "a flagrant violation of the sovereignty of Laos that everyone should denounce."[25]
In 1984, Gritz obtained theAir Force Academy class ring of a dead American POW, Air Force CaptainLance P. Sijan, who was posthumously awarded theMedal of Honor for evading capture for six weeks in the mountains of Laos, then stubbornly resisting the interrogation by his Vietnamese captors. Gritz got the ring from a Lao intermediary and attempted to convince the Sijan family to hold a gaudy Las Vegas press conference to publicize the ring's return. Implicit in this manipulation of a family's emotions was Gritz's indirect plea for money from the Sijans to cover the "expenses" he had accrued in obtaining their son's ring[26]
In 1986, Gritz traveled toBurma (now Myanmar) to interview drug kingpinKhun Sa about potential locations of U.S. POWs. He returned with a videotaped interview in which Khun Sa named several officials in theReagan administration as allegedly involved in narcotics trafficking in Southeast Asia. Among those named wasRichard Armitage, who later served as Deputy Secretary of State duringGeorge W. Bush's first term as president. During this time, Gritz established contacts with theChristic Institute, a progressive group that was then pursuing a lawsuit against the U.S. government over charges of drug trafficking in both Southeast Asia and Central America.[27]
In the1988 election, Gritz was the candidate forVice President of the United States on thePopulist Party ticket. Initially, unbeknownst to him, he was presented as the running mate of formerKu Klux KlansmanDavid Duke. Gritz withdrew early in the race and publicly distanced himself from Duke,[28] opting instead to run for a Nevada Congressional seat.[29] He was subsequently replaced byFloyd Parker on some ballots. Gritz has stated that he accepted the party's nomination under the impression that he would be the running mate ofJames Traficant. After meeting Duke, Gritz described him as "a brash, untraveled, overly opinionated, bigoted young man" and declared, "I will not support anyone that I know to hate any class of Americans."[30]
In 1989, Gritz established the Center for Action, which focused on various issues, primarily conspiracy theories. He attempted to build bridges among conspiracy theorists and unite activists from both the left and the right, organizing a conference in Las Vegas called "Freedom Call '90". Speakers at the conference included1980 October Surprise theory researcher Barbara Honegger, Bill Davis of the Christic Institute, far-right writerEustace Mullins, and others.
This shift in focus proved to be almost as controversial as his earlier missions searching for POWs. During the 1991Persian Gulf War, Gritz opposed the war and linked it to a conspiracy theory alleging plans to implement a one-world government, known as the "New World Order". He appeared onPacifica Radio stations in California as a guest several times, and for a short period he was sought after as a speaker to left-wing and anti-war audiences. However, during this period, he also became closely associated with theChristian Patriot movement on the right, and spoke at conferences sponsored byChristian Identity pastor Pete Peters. When these associations became known to those on the left, especially after the publication of a report by the Los Angeles-based group People Against Racist Terror labeling Gritz a "front man for fascism",[31] left-wing audiences lost interest in Gritz, and the Christic Institute and Pacifica Radio ended any further association. He has since distanced himself from the movement.
In the1992 election, after failing to secure theU.S. Taxpayers' Party's nomination, Gritz ran forPresident of the United States, again under the Populist Party banner. His campaign slogan was "God, Guns and Gritz", and he published a political manifesto titled "The Bill of Gritz" (a play on his last name rhyming with "rights"). He advocated for staunch opposition to what he termed "global government" and the "New World Order", called for an end to allforeign aid, and proposed the abolition of the federal income tax and theFederal Reserve System.[2] During the campaign, Gritz openly declared the United States to be a "Christian Nation", asserting that the country's legal statutes "should reflect unashamed acceptance of Almighty God and His Laws."[32] He received 106,152 votes nationwide, constituting 0.14 percent of the popular vote.[2] InUtah, he received 3.84 percent of the vote andin Idaho he received 2.13 percent of the vote.[2] InDuchesne County[33] andOneida County, Idaho,[34] his support exceeded ten percent,[2] while inFranklin County, Idaho, Gritz received over twelve percent of the votes, falling just 23 votes short of pushingBill Clinton into fourth place[34] – a feat not achieved by a major party nominee in any county nationwide since 1916. As part of his campaign, Gritz proposed an idea to pay off the National debt by minting a coin at the Treasury and sending it to the Federal Reserve, a concept that predates the 2012trillion-dollar coin idea.[35] Among other proposals, the "Bill of Gritz" called for the complete closure of theborder with Mexico, and the dissolution of the Federal Reserve.[36]
In 1984, Gritz and his wife Claudia joinedthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church, aka the Mormons).[2] In response to some of Gritz's extremist political statements, hisstake president declined to renew Gritz'stemple recommend until Gritz provided proof of federal income tax payment[3] in line with LDS principles of paying one's financial obligations. Consequently, Gritz resigned from the LDS Church.[2][3] In 1999, Gritz and his fourth wife Judy Kirsch became associated with theChurch of Israel, a group with origins in theLatter Day Saint movement that later became involved with the Christian Identity movement.[2] Gritz himself, too, became an adherent of what theSPLC described as a "relatively mild version" of Christian Identity;[37] he has since distanced himself from the movement.[2]
In 1994, Gritz and several partners, including former politicianJerry Gillespie, established a 200-acre survivalist community and paramilitary training center inKamiah, Idaho, called Almost Heaven.[38] Gritz left Almost Heaven in late 1998 shortly after attempting suicide by gunshot.[39] Almost Heaven was already falling apart before his departure, due, in part, to conflicts with local authorities and residents as well as internal power struggles;[37] the community was near defunct by 2003.[40] Influenced by the Church of Israel's ideology, Gritz then relocated to Nevada and rebranded his Center for Action as the Fellowship of Eternal Warriors, a group of "warrior-priests" opposing what Gritz defined as the forces of evil.[37][41]
Gritz has used his influence within the Christian Patriot movement to mediate between legal authorities and far-right activists. In 1992, he mediated during theRuby Ridge crisis involving fellow military veteranRandy Weaver.[42] In 1996, Gritz unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an end to the standoff involving theMontana Freemen, an anti-government White separatist militia group.[43] After unsuccessful negotiations, Gritz left in frustration, predicting that the FBI would arrest the Freemen.[44]
In 1998, Gritz led an unsuccessful search for the Centennial Olympic Park bomber,Eric Rudolph, with the aim of persuading him to surrender to law enforcement.[45] In 2005, he became an active protester in theTerri Schiavo case. On March 19, 2005, following the removal of Schiavo's feeding tube, Gritz was arrested for trespassing after attempting to enter the hospice where she was residing.[46] Starting in 2014, Gritz hosted a radio show on Americanvoiceradio.com titledFreedom Call.[47]
Gritz has authored three books. His first,A Nation Betrayed, published in 1988, contains allegations ofdrug trafficking and a POW coverup, based on his interview with Khun Sa. His second book,Called To Serve, published in 1991, was anautobiography. It expands on the previous book, covering a wide range of conspiracy theories, including theassassination of John F. Kennedy and allegations of a conspiracy to establish anew world order. His third book,My Brother's Keeper, was published in 2003.[48]
Reportedly, Gritz has at least partially inspired various dramatic characters including Colonel Kurtz in the 1979 filmApocalypse Now.[49] The character of John "Hannibal" Smith from the 1980s television seriesThe A-Team was loosely based on Gritz, as were some of Chuck Norris' film characters.[16]
In 1983, actorWilliam Shatner purchased the entertainment rights to Gritz's life story.[50] Gritz himself played the character of Lt. Col. Steel, a highly fictionalized version of himself, in the 1990 filmRescue Force.[51] Gritz was portrayed byBob Gunton in the 1996 CBS television filmThe Siege at Ruby Ridge. Gritz's community, Almost Heaven, was featured in the episode "Survivalists" ofLouis Theroux's Weird Weekends in 1998.
The 2017 documentaryErase and Forget saw filmmaker Andrea Luka Zimmerman follow Gritz for over a decade, including re-enactments of scenes from his life. Gritz was portrayed by Vic Browder in the first episode of the 2018 television miniseriesWaco.
{{cite book}}:Check|isbn= value: checksum (help)| Party political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Populist nominee forVice President of the United States Withdrew 1988 Served alongside:Trenton Stokes | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Populist nominee forPresident of the United States 1992 | Party abolished |
| International | |
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| National | |
