Elwood Towner | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1897 |
Died | October 6, 1954
Multnomah,
Portland, Oregon, U.S. | (aged 57)
Resting place | Willamette National Cemetery Portland, Oregon |
Occupation(s) | Attorney, tribal advocate, pro-Nazi speaker |
Years active | 1930s–1940s |
Spouse | Evelyn M. Redpath |
Elwood Alfred Towner (c. 1897 – October 6, 1954), [1] [2] who also adopted the title of Chief Red Cloud, was an American attorney, tribal advocate, and antisemitic speaker. [3] [4]
A mixed-race Native American Hupa [5] from Portland, Oregon, [3] Towner was active as a speaker during the late 1930s, making speeches throughout the American Northwest, [4] where he "defended Hitler while excoriating Jews." [6] He was drawn to the ideals of William Dudley Pelley, specifically Pelley's stated goal of 'setting free' Native Americans from reservations and replacing them with Jews. [7] He was also active within the American Indian Federation, and garnered support for the organization through Fascist organizations such as the German American Bund and the Silver Legion of America. [4] [6] [8]
Towner was born on the Siletz Reservation in the late 1890s, and attended the Chemawa Indian School in Salem as a young boy. [4] He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the First World War as a private, graduating from Willamette University College of Law in 1926. [4] [8] He advocated for native clients, calling for the closure of the Chemawa school in 1933 as a part of the "emancipation" of Indians, and opposed the federal government's dam projects on the Columbia River. [4]