Three pamphlets from the isolationist, Japanese agent, and Great Sedition trial defendant, Ralph Townsend: America Has No Enemies In Asia!; The High Cost of Hate; Seeking Foreign Trouble

Townsend, Ralph

Published by Published by the author, San Francisco, 1940

About this Item

In 1942 Ralph Townsend was arrested by the FBI for failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938. He was sentenced to two years in prison during which he was indicted along with 27 other far right activists in what became the Great Sedition trial. Townsend's efforts on behalf of Japan and Germany during the war were informed by his foreign service in China as vice consul from 1931-33. These experiences led to his first published book, Ways That Are Dark: The Truth About China (1933), which was highly critical of Chinese culture and ethics. In 1936 he published Asia Answers, in which he venerated the Japanese and their growing influence in Asia. Townsend became involved with the burgeoning neutrality movement and eventually joined America First. It was during this time that he self-published a succession of pamphlets arguing against U.S. involvement in the increasing build up of war in Europe. These included: Townsend, Ralph. America Has No Enemies In Asia! San Francisco: Published by the author, [1938]. Stapled wrappers, 48 pp., illustrated. Townsend argues that the Soviet Union wants America's help in the former's proxy war in China. Ownership signature of Mrs. Albert T. Leatherbee, a Boston socialite and crusading anti-suffragist. Underlining by her in portions of the text. Townsend, Ralph. The High Cost of Hate. San Francisco: Published by the author, 1939. Stapled wrappers, 61 pp. Townsend maintains that a small minority of "alien-minded" people are promoting hatred toward Germany, Italy and Japan. He defends the U.S.'s relationship with all three countries, especially trade with Japan. He refrains from overt anti-Semitism, but there is much concerning "internationalism," "bolshevism," "international finance," and criticism of powerful Jews such as Bernard Baruch and Baruch's "racial resentment against Germany." Swarthmore stamp to the front cover. Townsend, Ralph. Seeking Foreign Trouble. San Francisco: Published by the author, 1940. Stapled wrappers, 110 pp. Townsend's last plea for neutrality before U.S. entry into WWII. He argues that Germany, Italy and Japan are the only three countries not controlled by Internationalists and compares Germany's racial laws against the Jews with the U.S.'s racial Jim Crow laws. Ownership signature of Mrs. Albert T. Leatherbee, a Boston socialite and crusading anti-suffragist. Underlining by her in portions of the text. After his legal troubles during the 1940s, Townsend moved to Fairfax, VA where he become executive director of the Chamber of Commerce. He played an important role in lobbying the CIA to establish its headquarters in Virginia and became an active conservationist. He also wrote for Willis Carto's anti-Semitic magazine American Mercury and worked with revisionists such as Harry Elmer Barnes. The Barnes Review later republished Ways That Are Dark. Townsend died in 1976.

Seller Inventory # 14816

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Three pamphlets from the isolationist, Japanese agent, and Great Sedition trial defendant, Ralph Townsend: America Has No Enemies In Asia!; The High Cost of Hate; Seeking Foreign Trouble
• Publisher: Published by the author, San Francisco
• Publication Date: 1940
• Binding: Soft cover
• Seller catalogs:
  • Asian History
  • WWII
  • Far Right