Laird Maurice Wilcox is an American researcher of political fringe movements. He is the founder of the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, housed in the Kenneth Spencer Research Library at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

Early life

Wilcox was raised in a family with, as he described, "political intensity".Wilcox, Carrie (Mar. 22, 2009)
"The Wilcox Collection." Interview with Laird Wilcox.
via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. His relatives' politics ranged from

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

to membership in the far-right

John Birch Society The John Birch Society (JBS) is an American right-wing political advocacy group. Founded in 1958, it is anti-communist, supports social conservatism, and is associated with ultraconservative, radical right, far-right, or libertarian ideas. T ...

. Wilcox's father was a construction accountant. His family moved frequently. Staff writer (Aug. 12, 1992)
"Campus Journal; Far Left and Far Right Meet in a Midwest Library."
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', vol. 141
p. B6.
Archived fro

/ref> Wilcox attended the University of Kansas. He joined the

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

and later dropped out of college. While living in

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe was ...

, he worked as carpenter, investigator and writer.Staff writer (Oct. 12, 2005)
"Wilcox Collection of Political Literature to Celebrate 40 Years at KU."
''KU News''. University of Kansas.

Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements

In 1965, after Wilcox had accumulated four file drawers of literature about radical political movements, some since his teens, the University of Kansas library bought a portion of it for $1,000. The collection, now called the Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, is kept in the Kansas Collection of Kenneth Spencer Research Library.''Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements''.
In
Kansas Collection
Kenneth Spencer Research Library.

. It includes literature relating to, according to the university, "more than 10,000 individuals and organizations. The bulk of the collection covers 1960 to the present and comprises nearly 10,000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, 800 audio tapes, of manuscript materials and more than 100,000 pieces of ephemera including flyers, brochures, mailings, clippings and bumper stickers." From then through at least 1992, Wilcox continued sending two or three boxes each month to add to the collection. In 1986 ''

Reason magazine ''Reason'' is an American libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 50,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the ''Chicago Tribune''. History ''Reas ...

'' described the collection as among the largest archives of

extremist Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

material.

Views

In 1968, Wilcox signed the "

Writers and Editors War Tax Protest Tax resistance, the practice of refusing to pay taxes that are considered unjust, has probably existed ever since rulers began imposing taxes on their subjects. It has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of ...

" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. He has been a member of the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

since 1961 and a member of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

since 1970. Historian

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

described Wilcox in 2003 as a left-wing libertarian. In his 1997 self-published book ''The Watchdogs,'' Wilcox criticized an "anti-racist industry" of groups monitoring extremism, writing that their "identity and livelihood depend upon growth and expansion of their particular kind of victimization".Wilcox, Laird (1997). ''The Watchdogs: A Close Look at Anti-Racist "Watchdog" Groups''. Olathe, KS: Editorial Research Service. . Wilcox accused groups including the

Southern Poverty Law Center The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...

(SPLC), the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

(ADL), and

Political Research Associates Political Research Associates (PRA), formerly Midwest Research, Chicago (1981–87) is a non-profit research group located in Somerville, Massachusetts. Mission PRA studies the U.S. political right wing, as well as white supremacists, and para ...

of a "massive extortion racket" to exaggerate threats from right-wing extremists, whom he estimated at 10,000 in a total US population of 270 million. In response, Mark Potok of the SPLC said that Wilcox "had an ax to grind for a great many years", and

Chip Berlet John Foster "Chip" Berlet (; born November 22, 1949) is an American investigative journalist, research analyst, photojournalist, scholar, and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States. He also studi ...

of Political Research Associates said that Wilcox "is not an accurate or ethical reporter". Historian George Michael noted that Wilcox's examination of memoranda indicated a close working relationship between the ADL and the FBI.Michael, George (2003). ''Confronting Right-wing Extremism and Terrorism in the USA''. London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...

. p. 245. .

Awards

In 1989, Wilcox received the Kansas City Area Archivists Award of Excellence for founding and maintaining the Wilcox Collection. He was awarded the Myers Center Award in 1993 for the Study of Human Rights in the United States, and in 1994 he was awarded the Freedom of Information Award of the Kansas Library Association/SIRS "for outstanding commitment to intellectual freedom". In 1995, he received the Mencken Award of the Free Press Association "for outstanding journalism in defense of liberty". In 2005, the University of Kansas honored Wilcox, then 63, in the Spencer library's North Gallery for his role in founding the Wilcox Collection.

Publications

Periodicals

* ''Guide to the American Left'', annual. Kansas City, Mo.: Editorial Research Service (1984–). . * ''Guide to the American Right'', annual. Kansas City, Mo.: Editorial Research Service (1984–). . .

Books

* ''

Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe ''Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America'' is a 1992 book by John George and Laird Wilcox. It is an examination of political extremism of both the far left and far right in the United States. The a ...

'', with John George. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1992). .
''Crying Wolf: Hate Crime Hoaxes in America''.
Olathe, Kan.: Editorial Research Service (1994). . *
''25th Anniversary Edition, 1994-2019''.
Olathe, Kan.: Editorial Research Service (2019).
''Be Reasonable: Selected Quotations for Inquiring Minds''
with John George. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1995). . * ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists & Others''. with John George. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books (1996). .Collette, Lin (Oct. 1998)
Review of ''American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists & Others''
by Laird Wilcox and John George. '' Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions'', vol. 2, no. 1. pp. 147–148. . * ''The Watchdogs: A Close Look at Anti-Racist "Watchdog" Groups''. Olathe, Kan.: Editorial Research Service (1997). .

References

External links

Official website

blogWilcox Collection
at

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

''Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements''
at Kenneth Spencer Research Library,

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcox, Laird Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American social sciences writers American tax resisters American political writers Writers from Kansas