{{Short description|American far-right activist (1923–2009)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Use American English|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = Robert DePugh, 1966 wirephoto.png | caption = 1966 photo of DePugh | birth_name = Robert Boliver DePugh | birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|4|15}} | birth_place = Independence, Missouri, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2009|6|30|1923|4|15}} | death_place = Richmond, Missouri, U.S. | organization = Minutemen }} '''Robert Boliver DePugh''' (April 15, 1923 – June 30, 2009) was an American anti-communist activist who founded the Minutemen militant anti-Communist organization in 1961.
==Life and career== DePugh was born in Independence, Missouri, where his father served as deputy sheriff.<ref name="hamilton1996">Hamilton, Neil A. (1996). ''Militias in America: A Reference Handbook.'' ABC-CLIO, {{ISBN|978-0-87436-859-8}}</ref> He enlisted in the United States Army during World War II, but he was dismissed for nervousness and depression. He attended Kansas State University for a few months before dropping out. DePugh founded a veterinary drug firm in 1953 that folded in 1956. He enrolled at Washburn University briefly, then started BioLab, another veterinary drug firm, in Norborne, Missouri, which was more successful.<ref name="nizkor.org">[http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/adl/paranoia-as-patriotism/minutemen.html "Robert DePugh and The Minutemen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322170433/https://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/adl/paranoia-as-patriotism/minutemen.html|date=March 22, 2015}}</ref> In addition to veterinary products, the company produces a malt-flavored ultra-compact storage food for humans called Minuteman Survival Tabs.<ref>[http://www.survivaltabs.com/tabs-story.html Survival Food Tabs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125081136/http://www.survivaltabs.com/tabs-story.html|date=January 25, 2009}}</ref> Some 45 years later, this product is still used in survivalist circles. He became a member of the John Birch Society,<ref name="marks">Marks, Kathy; Adolfo Caso (1996). ''Faces of Right Wing Extremism'' Branden Books, {{ISBN|978-0-8283-2016-0}}</ref> and according to a biography he was influenced by the House Un-American Activities Committee.<ref name="nizkor.org"/>
DePugh published a 10-page pamphlet on guerrilla warfare via the Minutemen in 1961.<ref name="barth1961">Barth, Alan (November 26, 1961). Report on the 'Rampageous Right'; Today's tensions have led to a proliferation of 'conservative extremists.' ''The New York Times''</ref> The Minutemen's newsletter was called ''On Target''. He was a founder of the Patriotic Party in 1966.<ref name="hamilton2002">Hamilton, Neil A. (2002). ''Rebels and Renegades: A Chronology of Social and Political Dissent in the United States''. Taylor & Francis, {{ISBN|978-0-415-93639-2}}</ref>
In 1966, DePugh was arrested on federal weapons charges, which were later dismissed.<ref name="ap1966">Associated Press (September 14, 1966). Arms Charge Is Dismissed Against Head of Minutemen. ''The New York Times''</ref> Their offices were bombed in 1967,<ref name="bomb1967">Staff report (September 1, 1967). Dynamite Wrecks Office Of Leader of Minutemen and DePugh. ''The New York Times''</ref> and DePugh resigned from the Minutemen in 1967. In February 1968, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington for conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Also in 1968, he was arrested for violation of federal firearms laws. He skipped bail and went underground for over a year until he was caught in 1969 in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. He was convicted of federal firearm violations in 1970, and sentenced to 10 years in prison. DePugh was released on parole in May 1973, having served about six years. DePugh later wrote an anti-communist quasi-survivalist manual, ''Can You Survive?'', and was associated briefly with Liberty Lobby.<ref name="nizkor">[http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/adl/paranoia-as-patriotism/minutemen.html "Robert DePugh and The Minutemen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322170433/https://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/adl/paranoia-as-patriotism/minutemen.html |date=March 22, 2015 }} at the Nizkor Project</ref>
In the 1980s, DePugh became involved in the Christian Identity movement.{{Cn|date=January 2024}} In the early 1990s he was tried but acquitted on a morals and pornography charge with an underage girl<ref name="greaney2009">Greaney, TJ (August 6, 2009). Minuteman outlasted notoriety, died with regrets'. ''Columbia Daily Tribune''</ref> and on three counts of federal firearms violations.<ref name="jackman1992">Jackman, Tom (February 21, 1992). DePugh convicted on gun charges: Jury not swayed by testimony of son that the weapons were his. ''Kansas City Star''</ref> DePugh eventually grew disgusted with all politics and retired from activism.<ref name="hamilton2002"/>
DePugh is believed to be the likely author of the anonymous ''Deguello Report'', an insider far-right document that alleges numerous conspiracies about the movement, distributed in 1976.{{sfn|George|Wilcox|1992|p=293}}{{sfn|Kaplan|1993|p=80}} DePugh, suspected by other members of the far-right, denied that he was the author.{{sfn|George|Wilcox|1992|p=293}} Jeffrey Kaplan deemed it to have "possibly" been written by DePugh,{{sfn|Kaplan|1993|p=80}} while John George and Laird Wilcox argued that despite his denial, it was almost certainly written by DePugh. They cited his past rhetoric, noting it as having his "psychological fingerprints", and called it "a virtual transcript" of his past conversations, saying the report was him getting back at his enemies, which had become at that point the entire far right.{{sfn|George|Wilcox|1992|p=293}} If it was written by DePugh, it was the first major instance of antisemitic ideology in his political ideology, whereas previously he had been mostly focused on communists.{{sfn|George|Wilcox|1992|p=294}}
He died on June 30, 2009, at his home in Richmond, Missouri.<ref name="Standardobit">Staff report (June 2009). [http://www.excelsiorspringsstandard.com/obits-0609.html#depugh Area obituaries: "Bob" DePugh.] ''Excelsior Springs Standard'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710211500/http://www.excelsiorspringsstandard.com/obits-0609.html#depugh|date=July 10, 2011}}</ref><ref>Carrollton, Missouri ''Democrat'', July 3, 2009</ref> After being visited by a friend, he said, "I've done some really interesting things in my life, but I just wish it hadn't hurt so many people." Near the end of his life, "his writings were anti-Bush, pro-Obama, and anti-Semitic, all at the same time."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Greaney |first=T. J. |title=Minuteman outlasted notoriety, died with regrets |url=https://www.columbiatribune.com/story/news/local/2009/08/06/minuteman-outlasted-notoriety-died-with/21549420007/ |access-date=2025-02-25 |website=Columbia Daily Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref>
==Selected publications==
*''Blueprint for Victory'', Robert DePugh. 1966. *''Can You Survive?'' Robert DePugh. Published by Desert Publications, El Dorado, AZ, 1973. 214 pages. {{ISBN|0-87947-442-4}} *''Deguello Report'' (suspected) 1976.{{sfn|Kaplan|1993|p=80}}{{sfn|George|Wilcox|1992|p=293}}
==References== {{reflist}}
=== Works cited ===
* {{Cite book |last=George |first=John |title=Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America |title-link=Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe |last2=Wilcox |first2=Laird |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87975-680-2 |location=Buffalo |pages=274–298 |language=en |chapter=Robert Bolivar DePugh and the Minuteman}} * {{Cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic) |date=February 1993 |title=The context of American millenarian revolutionary theology: The case of the 'identity Christian' church of Israel |journal=Terrorism and Political Violence |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=30–82 |doi=10.1080/09546559308427196 |issn=0954-6553}}
==External links== *FBI files on the Minutemen and DePugh, obtained under the FOIA and hosted at the Internet Archive: **[https://archive.org/details/foia_DePugh_Robert_B.-Minutemen-HQ-1 Part 1] **[https://archive.org/details/foia_DePugh_Robert_B.-Minutemen-HQ-2 Part 2] **[https://archive.org/details/foia_DePugh_Robert_B.-Minutemen-HQ-3 Part 3]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Depugh, Robert}} Category:1923 births Category:2009 deaths Category:People from Independence, Missouri Category:American bank robbers Category:American white supremacists Category:Christian Identity people Category:John Birch Society members Category:People from Richmond, Missouri Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:People convicted of illegal possession of weapons Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Category:American founders