John Howard Buchanan is a freelance journalist, and was a fringeRepublican candidate in the2004 Presidential election.[1] Buchanan was previously based in Florida[2] and lives in ruralGeorgia.
Buchanan discovered documents related toUnion Banking Corporation's business dealings withFritz Thyssen, theNaziindustrialist who broke with the Nazis afterKristallnacht in 1938 and fled to Switzerland during World War II; together with Stacy Michael, Buchanan wrote an article about it for theNew Hampshire Gazette, accusing one of the directors of the bank,Prescott Bush, ofdealing with the Nazis.[3][4][5]
He e-mailed a number of threats against journalists and media outlets who refused to publish his theories, saying that he would expose the journalists as "traitors to the truth." Buchanan was arrested and charged with aggravatedstalking inMiami, Florida, over a dispute of how best to publicize his theories, but the charges were dropped in 2004.[2]
During his presidential campaign, he often referred to himself as "the9/11 Truth Candidate".[6][7]He also opposed the2003 Iraq war. AUnited Press International reporter called his campaign "unhinged."[6]With 836 votes, Buchanan finished in eighth in the2004 New Hampshire primary, in which incumbentGeorge W. Bush was not seriously contested.[8]
Buchanan also mulled a 2004 run with theReform Party. The major contenders for the nomination wereTed Weill andRalph Nader, the latter of whom was ultimately chosen.[dead link][9]
Buchanan served as editor of theBlairsville, GAUnion Sentinel for 13 weeks in 2005. TheAtlanta Journal-Constitution said:
To anyone with access to Google, it's the surreal story of a conspiracy theorist and fringe presidential candidate who once broke a briefly infamous story about Bush family financial links to a Nazi sympathizer — a story that nearly destroyed him.
This journalist tried to leave his mental and legal problems behind for rustic serenity ...
(about the Union Banking Corporation story) After Buchanan's story was published, The Associated Press investigated the allegations. Jonathan Salant, the AP reporter, said he "couldn't prove everything" Buchanan asserted, but wrote a story on what he found in the archives. The documents did show that Prescott Bush served on the bank board but was never charged with any crime.[10]