{{Short description|Christian Identity advocate (1916–1988)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}} {{Use American English|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox person | image = William Potter Gale, 1960 (cropped).png | caption = Gale in 1960 | alt = | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|11|20}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|1988|4|28|1916|11|20}} | death_place = }} {{Christian Identity sidebar|Individuals}} '''William Potter Gale''' (November 20, 1916 – April 28, 1988){{sfn|Los Angeles Times|1988}} was an American political activist who was involved with several white supremacist groups, including Christian Identity and the Posse Comitatus.{{sfn|Levitas|2002a|p=2}} He had connections to the Church of Jesus Christ–Christian, Aryan Nations, the sovereign citizen movement, and the militia movement.
== Early life and career == William Potter Gale was born on November 20, 1916, the fourth of five children of Charles Gale and Mary Agnes Potter. He was named after his maternal grandfather, William Potter. According to Gale's daughters in interviews with author Daniel Levitas after Gale's death, Charles Gale arrived in the United States in 1894, fleeing from the antisemitic pogroms and the economic instability which were occurring in the Russian Empire, changing his family's name from "Grabifker" to Gale. At the age of 18, Charles Gale lied about his age and place of birth in order to serve in the US Army, but he truthfully listed his ethnicity as "Hebrew" on his military enlistment papers.{{sfn|Levitas|2002b}} Charles abandoned Judaism, married a non-Jewish woman, and raised their children as Christians.{{sfn|Levitas|2002a|p=16}}
An Army Lieutenant Colonel, William Potter Gale served on General Douglas MacArthur's staff during World War II.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=66}} After leaving the army, Gale became an Episcopalian minister, but he eventually founded his own church. He also joined the John Birch Society.{{sfn|Quarles|2014|p=152}}
In 1964, he opened a securities firm in Glendale, California, and ran in the GOP primary for the 27th Congressional District without success.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=93}}
== Beliefs == Gale was one of the few Christian Identity ministers to publish a doctrinal statement. He did this in a 1963 pamphlet titled ''The Faith of Our Fathers''. His position was similar to that of Betrand Comparet.{{Sfn|Barkun|1997|p=130}}
== Activities and affiliations == Along with associates, Gale founded the California Rangers in the 1960s. The Rangers were registered as a civil defense group, although the Anti Defamation League (ADL) has listed them as a paramilitary tax resistance group.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000}} According to his own account, he was involved in the founding of the Christian Defense League (CDL) along with <!-- San Jacinto Capt -->S. J. Capt sometime between 1957 and 1962.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=67}}
In 1964, American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell told the FBI that Gale had been part of an alleged conspiracy by right-wing former U.S. military officers to overthrow the federal government.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/GaleWilliamP.HQ1/Gale,%20William%20P.-HQ-1_djvu.txt |title=Gale, William Potter HQ 1 |language=English}}</ref>
Having been introduced to Wesley Swift by S. J. Capt in 1956,{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=66}} Gale was involved in Swift's Church of Jesus Christ–Christian along with recognizable Christian Identity figures like Bertrand Comparet and Richard Girnt Butler.{{sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=298}} Swift ordained Gale as a Christian Identity minister that same year. Political scientist Michael Barkun refers to Gale as "a major Identity figure, part of the Comparet-Swift-Gale triumvirate that defined Christian Identity in California."{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=66}} Following Swift's death in 1970, Gale turned from advocate to enemy, attacking Swift and his followers in his writings and publications.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=69}}
Gale has been described as the founder of the Posse Comitatus movement.{{sfn|Levitas|2002a|p=2}} According to Barkun, the Posse Comitatus was not specifically an Identity movement. However, prominent Identity figures were associated with it. Gale founded the United States Christian Posse Associates as an offshoot of his Ministry of Christ church.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=221}} Later, he became one of the founders of the Christian Patriot movement in the 1980s.{{sfn|Levitas|2002a|p=3}}
On October 2, 1987, Gale was convicted of tax related crimes and sent to prison. While his appeal was pending, he died on April 28, 1988.{{sfn|Barkun|1997|p=69}}
According to Dan Gayman, it was Gale who played the primary role in bringing revolutionary violence into the Identity community.{{Sfn|Kaplan|2000|p=115}}
== Footnotes == {{reflist}}
== References == * {{cite book |last=Barkun |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Barkun |title=Religion and the Racist Right: the Origins of the Christian Identity Movement |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdGSbDaCQVsC |isbn=0-8078-2328-7 |access-date=February 16, 2021 }} * {{cite book |editor-last=Kaplan |editor-first=Jeffrey |editor-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic) |title=Encyclopedia of White Power: A Sourcebook on the Radical Racist Right |publisher=AltaMira Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNWbbhUYv8oC |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-7425-0340-3 |access-date=February 16, 2021 }} * {{cite book |first=Daniel |last=Levitas |title=The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right |publisher=Thomas Dunne Books |year=2002a |location=New York, NY |isbn=0-312-29105-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/terroristnextdoo00levi |access-date=February 16, 2021 }} * {{cite magazine |last=Levitas|first=Daniel|date=December 18, 2002b|title=Exploring What is Behind the Rare Phenomenon of Jewish Anti-Semites|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2002/exploring-what-behind-rare-phenomenon-jewish-anti-semites|magazine=Intelligence Report|publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=July 22, 2021}} * {{cite news |title=William P. Gale; Led Several Racist Groups |date=May 4, 1988 |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-04-mn-1880-story.html |access-date=January 13, 2021 |ref={{SfnRef|Los Angeles Times|1988}} }} * {{cite book |last=Quarles |first=Chester L. |title=Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion |publisher=McFarland & Company |year=2014 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5BzY2eeyngC |isbn=978-0-7864-8148-4 |access-date=February 16, 2021 }}
== External links == * [https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-hate/Aryan-Nations-CJCC-Extremism-in-America.pdf Aryan Nations/Church of Jesus Christ–Christian]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gale, William Potter}} Category:1916 births Category:1988 deaths Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Christian Identity people Category:California Republicans Category:Sovereign citizen movement individuals Category:John Birch Society members Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:American founders