Edward Leopold Delaney (December 12, 1885 – July 1, 1972) was an American broadcaster of

Nazi propaganda The propaganda used by the German Nazi Party in the years leading up to and during Adolf Hitler's dictatorship of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 to 1945 was a crucial instrument for acquiring and maintaining power, and for the implementation o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He was indicted on charges of treason in 1943, but the charges were dropped after the war due to lack of evidence.

Early life

Delaney was born in

Olney, Illinois Olney ( ) is the county seat in Richland County, Illinois. The population was 9,115 at the time of the 2010 census. History Settlement of the Richland County area began around 1815 when Thaddeus Morehouse, a native of Vermont, arrived by wa ...

. Delaney began an acting career about 1910, playing the part of Blackie Daw in one of

Cohan Cohan is a surname of Irish origins. It is a variant of Cohane, which itself is an Anglicized form of the Irish Ó Cadhain. Cohan is also a variant spelling of the Hebrew surname Cohen. This version of that name is commonly found among Jews ...

and

Harris Harris may refer to: Places Canada * Harris, Ontario * Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine) * Harris, Saskatchewan * Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan Scotland * Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle o ...

's road companies' productions of '' Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford''. Delaney left the troupe in 1915 for Australia, where he played the part of the Killer in '' Seven Keys to Baldpate'' in Josephine Cohan's company. In the early 1920s, Delaney returned to the United States as a theatrical tour manager and in 1934 he published his first book, ''The Lady By Degrees'', followed in 1935 by ''The Charm Girl''. From 1935 to 1939, Delaney was employed by the Transoceanic Film Export Company of New York City, traveling to various European countries. In 1937 and 1938 Delaney went to Germany to write, returning to the U.S. in early 1939. In December 1939 he left the U.S. for Italy. Then through his contacts from his involvement with the ultra-right and Coughlinite politics, he was recruited by the

Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft (RRG; ''Reich Broadcasting Corporation'') was a national network of German regional public radio and television broadcasting companies active from 1925 until 1945. RRG's broadcasts were receivable in all parts o ...

(RRG) to present a series of pro-German broadcasts from an American perspective for its U.S.A. Zone.

Propaganda for Nazi Germany

In January 1940, Delaney began as a commentator for the RRG, German State Radio in Berlin. Using the pseudonym "E. D. Ward", Delaney confined his broadcasts almost entirely to news favorable to Germany and the Axis. Described as a "roving reporter", he denounced the British class system. Delaney claimed never to have formally promoted Nazi doctrine and he is not believed to have made any propaganda broadcasts after U.S. entry into the war on December 11, 1941. Those that were subsequently aired appear to have been recorded earlier. Constant friction with his supervisors at the RRG and interrogation by the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

as to his motives and commitment led to his departure from Berlin in 1943.

Arrest

After his dismissal from the RRG, Delaney avoided internment and lived in Germany and Czechoslovakia in

Occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 an ...

for two years. He was eventually arrested in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

on May 20, 1945 after he disclosed his wartime activities to two '' Stars and Stripes'' reporters, Howard Byrne and

Klaus Mann Klaus Heinrich Thomas Mann (18 November 1906 – 21 May 1949) was a German writer and dissident. He was the son of Thomas Mann, a nephew of Heinrich Mann and brother of Erika Mann, with whom he maintained a lifelong close relationship, and Golo ...

. He was arrested by the Czechoslovak police and subsequently taken into the custody of the

Counter Intelligence Corps The Counter Intelligence Corps (Army CIC) was a World War II and early Cold War intelligence agency within the United States Army consisting of highly trained special agents. Its role was taken over by the U.S. Army Intelligence Corps in 1961 and ...

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Is ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

. He was returned to the US from

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (, , Low German: ''Bremerhoben'') is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany. It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the Riv ...

on board the U.S. Army transport, the USAT ''George W. Goethals'' and arrested on arrival in New York by the FBI on August 8, 1947. The following day he was held on $10,000 bail for grand jury action.

Charges of treason

On July 26, 1943, Delaney, along with Fred W. Kaltenbach,

Douglas Chandler 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. Early life Born in Chicago Ill ...

Jane Anderson Jane Anderson (born 1954 in California) is an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and director. She wrote and directed the feature film ''The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio'' (2005), and wrote the Nicolas Cage film '' It Could Happen to ...

Constance Drexel Constance Drexel (c. November 24, 1884 or c. November 28, 1894 (possible; disputed) – August 28, 1956), a naturalized United States citizen,John Carver Edwards, ''Berlin Calling: American Broadcasters in Service to the Third Reich'', Praeger ...

Robert Henry Best Robert Henry Best (April 16, 1896 – December 16, 1952) was an American foreign correspondent who covered events in Europe for American media outlets during the Interwar period. Later he became a Nazi supporter and well known broadcaster of Na ...

Max Otto Koischwitz Max Oscar Otto Koischwitz (February 19, 1902 – August 31, 1944) was a naturalized American of German origin who directed and broadcast Nazi propaganda against the United States during World War II. Early life Koischwitz was the son of a prominen ...

and

Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...

was indicted ''in absentia'' by a District of Columbia grand jury on charges of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

. Delaney was returned to the U.S. on August 8, 1947, but the charges against him were dropped by the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

due to lack of evidence on October 27, 1947. A United States Government memorandum held by the DOJ dated June 14, 1946, had stated the following:

Although he may be classified as a political commentator and although he was indicted for treason in 1943, it does not appear worthwhile to continue our efforts to develop information as to his activities in view of the very few wartime recordings made by him.

Later life

Delaney spent a number of years touring the U.S. as an ultra-conservative lecturer and finally settled down in Southern California, where he spent the rest of his life as a political author and small-town newspaper columnist. His publications include ''False Freedom'' 1954, which published through

Sequoia University Sequoia University was an unaccredited higher education institution in Los Angeles, California, which acquired a reputation as a prolific "degree mill" selling degree certificates. Although it was shut down in 1984 by a court order, it is most not ...

Press, ''Freedom's Frontier'' 1964, and ''Harvest of Deceit'' 1971. He published his autobiography, ''Five Decades Before Dawn'' in 1969. He died in an automobile accident in California in 1972.

References

External links

Courtroom Battles of World War II (Part 1 of 3).
contains information on the careers and fates of some of the Nazi broadcasters and other collaborators.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delaney, Edward Leo 1885 births 1972 deaths American defectors American expatriates in Germany American fascists American collaborators with Nazi Germany Nazi propagandists Writers from Illinois Old Right (United States) Road incident deaths in California People from Olney, Illinois