Douglas Chandler

{{short description|American journalist and Nazi propagandist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2022}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Douglas Chandler | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | birth_date = {{Birth date|1889|05|26}} | death_date = Unknown; sometime after 1970 | criminal_status = Deceased | criminal_penalty = Life imprisonment; conditionally commuted to time served | module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes |allegiance= {{Flagicon|United States|1912}} United States |branch= United States Navy |battles=World War I |awards= }} | occupation = {{hlist|Radio broadcaster|journalist|propagandist}} | image = File:Dougas Chandler.png | caption = Chandler during his trial (1947) | conviction = Treason (10 counts) }}

'''Douglas Chandler''' (May 26, 1889 – after 1970s) was an American broadcaster of Nazi propaganda during World War II. He was convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 but was released in 1963.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U3rJxPYT32MC&q=%22DOUGLAS+CHANDLER%22+treason&pg=PA53|title=The Guide to United States Popular Culture|first1=Ray Broadus|last1=Browne|first2=Pat|last2=Browne|date=December 7, 2017|publisher=Popular Press|isbn=9780879728212|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Early life== Born in Chicago, Illinois, Chandler was an officer in the United States Navy during the First World War and later wrote a weekly news column for a newspaper in Baltimore.<ref name="NatGeo1" />

He was financially ruined in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and "fed up to the chin with the Depression and the miasma that was enveloping Washington."<ref name="Time">{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,795376-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106022843/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,795376-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 6, 2012|title=Radio: Hi-Yo, Chandler!|date=June 9, 1941|publisher=|via=www.time.com}}</ref> He moved from the United States to France and then to Germany in 1931. There he worked as a journalist who showed Nazi Germany in an ideal light and contributed on that theme to the ''National Geographic Magazine''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EYtCuqAb_boC&q=%22DOUGLAS+CHANDLER%22+GERMANY&pg=PA58|title=Presenting America's World: Strategies of Innocence in National Geographic Magazine, 1888-1945|first=Tamar Y.|last=Rothenberg|date=December 7, 2017|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=9780754645108|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Propaganda for Nazi Germany== In April 1941, Chandler began to broadcast Nazi propaganda from Berlin for the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft, German state radio, working as a commentator in its U.S.A. Zone. When Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, American citizens were repatriated by the U.S. government, but Chandler chose to stay.

Chandler broadcast to the United States under the pseudonym "Paul Revere."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2188111|title=Propaganda Broadcast by "Paul Revere"|last=Department of Justice. Criminal Division. 1919-|series=Series: Sound Recordings of English Language Programs Aired over German Radio Broadcasting Corporation During World War II, 1790 - 2002|date=September 9, 1941|publisher=|via=US National Archives Research Catalog}}</ref> His programs began with the sound of clattering hooves and the song "Yankee Doodle" and were mainly anti-Roosevelt and anti-Semitic in content. He appealed to Americans to "throw off tyranny" and to their isolationist sentiment. He also asserted that Roosevelt was under the control of Jewish advisers.

Chandler became known as America's Lord Haw-Haw because of his cultivated American voice.<ref name="time.com1">{{cite web|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934617,00.html#ixzz0z9H08f66|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203105545/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,934617,00.html#ixzz0z9H08f66|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 3, 2012|title=TREASON: American Lord Haw-Haw|date=July 7, 1947|publisher=|via=www.time.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/sound-recordings.html|title=Voices of World War II, 1937-1945|date=August 15, 2016|publisher=}}</ref> Though he had become a convinced Nazi, his activities were not motivated by idealism alone. He was paid $3,200 a month as a broadcaster, which put him in the top six on the Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft’s payroll.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/874989362.html?dids=874989362:874989362&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+07,+1947&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc=%27Paul+Revere%27+Got+$3200+Monthly+For+Nazi+Broadcasts&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120714221323/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/874989362.html?dids=874989362:874989362&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&type=historic&date=Jun+07,+1947&author=&pub=Hartford+Courant&desc='Paul+Revere'+Got+$3200+Monthly+For+Nazi+Broadcasts&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 14, 2012|title=The Hartford Courant article archive - 'Paul Revere' Got $3200 Monthly For Nazi Broadcasts|website=pqasb.pqarchiver.com}}</ref>

Towards the end of 1943, the increased Allied bombing of Berlin caused Chandler to be relocated first to Vienna and then to Munich, where he made his last broadcasts sometime in February 1945.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

==Arrest== Chandler was taken into custody by the U.S. Army at his home in Durach, Bavaria, in May 1945, but he was released on October 23, 1945. He was then rearrested by the U.S. Army on or about March 12, 1946, at the request of the Department of Justice.<ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Loislaw Libraries on Fastcase - Fastcase|url=http://www.loislaw.com/livepublish8923/doclink.htp?alias=F1CASE&cite=171+F.2d+921|access-date=|website=www.loislaw.com}}</ref>

He was then flown to the United States to stand trial and arrived on December 14, 1946.

==Trial==

On July 26, 1943, Chandler, along with Fred W. Kaltenbach, Jane Anderson, Edward Delaney, Constance Drexel, Robert Henry Best, Max Otto Koischwitz, and Ezra Pound, had been indicted ''in absentia'' by a District of Columbia grand jury on charges of treason.<ref name=DoJ4>{{cite web | url=https://www.justice.gov/criminal/foia/records/ezra-pound-p4.pdf | title=Proposed Indictments for Treason of the Following American Citizens-articles, transcripts, letters| publisher=US Department of Justice | date=April 24, 1942 | author= William L. Shirer | author-link= William L. Shirer | author2=Wendell Berge (US Assistant Attorney General)|display-authors=etal| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250713221432/https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal/legacy/2010/04/11/ezra-pound-p4.pdf| archive-date=2025-07-13| url-status=live}}</ref>

Chandler stood trial at the Boston Federal District Court on June 6, 1947. He entered a defense of insanity<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=sdcKAAAAIBAJ&pg=4205,862855&dq=douglas-chandler&hl=en|title=St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> because of paranoia<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=KUUpAAAAIBAJ&pg=3362,7236207&dq=douglas-chandler+paranoia&hl=en|title=Lewiston Evening Journal - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref> and did not testify at his trial. The prosecution relied mainly on the evidence provided by recordings of Chandler's wartime broadcasts from Germany recorded by the Federal Communications Commission station at Silver Hill, Maryland, to show his active participation in propaganda activities against the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4EhPAAAAIBAJ&pg=5422,919325&dq=douglas-chandler&hl=en|title=St. Petersburg Times - Google News Archive Search|website=news.google.com}}</ref>

Chandler was found guilty of all ten counts of treason on June 28, 1947.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/06/07/archives/trial-of-chandler-for-treason-opens-17-germans-former-members-of.html|title=TRIAL OF CHANDLER FOR TREASON OPENS; 17 Germans, Former Members of Nazi Radio Office, Will Testify Against Him|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 7, 1947|publisher=}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/06/29/archives/chandler-guilty-in-treason-case-baltimore-writer-convicted-by-us.html|title=CHANDLER GUILTY IN TREASON CASE; Baltimore Writer, Convicted by U.S. Jury at Boston, Faces Death by Hanging|newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 29, 1947|publisher=}}</ref><ref name="time.com1"/><ref name="Time"/> He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to life imprisonment by Federal Judge Francis Ford.<ref name="auto">United Press, "Chandler Given Life Sentence: Convicted Traitor Also Receives Fine," ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Thursday July 31, 1947, Volume 53, page 4.</ref> On being convicted for treason, Chandler also automatically lost his U.S. citizenship.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=tCIaAAAAIBAJ&pg=6571,2132122&dq=douglas-chandler&hl=en|title=Treason Case Judge Levies 10,000 Fine. Loss Of Citizenship... - The Milwaukee Journal, March 25, 1949|publisher=}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> According to a contemporary newspaper, "Death by hanging had been demanded by Special Government Prosecutor Oscar R. Ewing who characterized the tall and gray-haired defendant as a black-hearted traitor who 'gave his heart and soul to Hitler' because he wanted Germany to win the war."<ref name="auto"/> Chandler's subsequent appeal was denied.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aIkwAAAAIBAJ&pg=3013,5424071&dq=douglas-chandler&hl=en|title=Court Won't Review Case - Tri City Herald, February 28, 1949|publisher=}}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.loislaw.com/livepublish8923/doclink.htp?alias=F1CASE&cite=171+F.2d+921|title=Loislaw Libraries on Fastcase - Fastcase|website=www.loislaw.com}} {{dead link|date=May 2025}}</ref>

==Release== In 1963, Chandler's sentence was commuted by then U.S. President John F. Kennedy on the condition of leaving the United States, never to return. Chandler was released from the United States Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, on August 9, 1963, and immediately returned to Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1908449892.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+10,+1963&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+(1960-1979)&desc=JFK+Pardon+Frees+Nazi-Voice+Chandler&pqatl=google|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713140102/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/boston/access/1908449892.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Aug+10,+1963&author=&pub=Boston+Globe+(1960-1979)&desc=JFK+Pardon+Frees+Nazi-Voice+Chandler&pqatl=google|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 13, 2012|title=JFK Pardon Frees Nazi-Voice Chandler|website=pqasb.pqarchiver.com}}</ref> In 1970, Chandler wrote a letter to National Geographic editor Melville Bell Grosvenor, requesting reimbursement for expenses incurred on an assignment that had been canceled shortly after his Nazi sympathies were revealed. Later unverified witness reports placed him on the Canary Islands in the 1970s; however this cannot be confirmed.<ref name="NatGeo1">{{cite web|last=Strochlic|first=Nina|date=April 27, 2017|title=The Nazi Who Infiltrated National Geographic|url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/lost-found-douglas-chandler-nazi/|url-status=dead|website=National Geographic|publisher=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428032750/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/04/lost-found-douglas-chandler-nazi/ |archive-date=April 28, 2017 }}</ref> Inquiries to the [https://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/cultura/archivo_historico_tf Archivo Histórico Provincial de Santa] [https://www.gobiernodecanarias.org/cultura/archivo_historico_tf Cruz de Tenerife] in 2004 revealed that Chandler and his wife lived in La Orotava, a town on Tenerife. A Municipal Register of Residents for the year 1975 suggests his residency began in 1963, the year of his pardon and penitentiary release. The form was later amended to include the date of his death as June 20, 1977. He was not buried in the municipal cemetery according to the [https://www.registrocivilcentral.es/en/la-orotava/ La Orotava Civil Registry].<ref>https://archive.org/details/douglas-chandler-canary-islands-information</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== *[https://courtroombattles.blogspot.com/2007/12/aftermath-of-war-part-2.html Courtroom Battle of World War II (Part 1 of 3).] Contains information on the careers and fates of some of the Nazi broadcasters and other collaborators. *[https://courtroombattles.blogspot.com/2007/12/werner-best.html Courtroom Battles of World War II (Part 2 of 3).] *[https://courtroombattles.blogspot.com/2007/12/terboven.html Courtroom Battles of World War II (Part 3 of 3).] *{{Internet Archive|id=PropagandaBroadcastByPaulRevere|name=Propaganda Broadcast by Douglas Chandler, September 9, 1941}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Douglas}} Category:1889 births Category:Year of death missing Category:Military personnel from Chicago Category:United States Navy personnel of World War I Category:American broadcasters for Nazi Germany Category:American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:American radio journalists Category:American radio reporters and correspondents Category:American expatriates in Germany Category:Antisemitism in Germany Category:Radio personalities from Chicago Category:United States Navy officers Category:Loss of United States citizenship and deportation by prior Nazi affiliation Category:Nazis convicted of crimes Category:People convicted of treason against the United States Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States military Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government Category:Recipients of American presidential clemency Category:20th-century American male journalists Category:20th-century American journalists