William James Guy Carr (R.D.[1] Commander R.C.N. (R)) (born June 2, 1895, died October 2, 1959) was a Canadian naval officer and an author born in England. Though his accounts of wartime naval experiences found a general audience, he is best remembered today as a conspiracy theorist, "the most influential source in creating the American Illuminati demonology", according to the American folklorist Bill Ellis[2]. Carr was also the author of famous books on the english submarine war as well as a popular lecturer.
In the fifties, he was the leader of the anti-Communist National Federation of Christian Laymen of Toronto. He was also one of the presidents of the Naval Club of Toronto[3].
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Commander Carr served as Navigating Officer of H.M.S. Submarines during World War One (see : Royal Navy Submarine Service) and as Naval Control Officer and Senior Naval Officer in World War Two. In World War II he was Naval Control Officer for the St. Lawrence, then Staff Officer Operations at Shelbourne, N.S., then Senior Naval Officer at Goose Bay, Labrador. As an Officer on the staff of Commodore Reginald W. Brock he organized the 7th Victory Loan for the twenty-two Royal Canadian Naval Training Divisions.[4].
His experiences in the submarine fleet in the First World War became the subject of By Guess and By God (1930), prefaced by his superior, Admiral S.S. Hall of the Submarine Service. Going through several printings, it was followed by sequels, including Hell's Angels of the Deep (1932). In 1931, he started giving conferences in different canadian clubs on the topic of "International conspiracy" which was subdivided in two main subjects : "International communism" and "International capitalism", both controled by the Illuminati and what he called the "International bankers" which, according to Carr, are represented mainly by the Rothschild and the Rockefeller families[5].
After working for the Canadian Intelligence Service during World War Two (he was a Senior Naval Officer at Goose Bay, Labrador) he wrote Checkmate in the North (1944), a book where he pretended (according to secret documents) that an invasion of the Axis forces was suppose to take place in the area of the Goose Bay Air base. During 1944 and 1945 he gave other conferences on world conspiracies.
In the fifties, after he retired from the Navy, Carr' writings turned essentialy to conspiracy themes from a firmly Christian standpoint. With his Pawns in the Game (1955) and Red Fog over America (1955) he became one of the most famous post-war conspiracy theorists (500 000 copies sold of Pawns in the Game before his death)[6]. This succes of Carr is closely linked to the fear of communism and the Cold War atmosphere.
According to the "Political Associates" :
Carr's works were notably influenced by the writings of Nesta Webster and the well known French hoaxter Léo Taxil (see Taxil hoax). He also refers to the theories of l'abbé Augustin Barruel and John Robison who explained the French Revolution as a Freemasonic plot linked to the german Illuminati of Adam Weishaupt (frequently associated to the conspiracy theory of the New World Order)[8]. One of Carr's books published after his death, The Conspiracy to destroy all existing Governments and Religions clearly refers to Robison's main work : Proofs of a Conspiracy Against All the Religions and Governments of Europe Carried on in the Secret Meetings of Freemasons, Illuminati and Reading Societies (1798).
According to the French philosopher and historian Pierre-André Taguieff, the works of Carr (especially Pawns in the game), "largely contributed to popularise the themes of anti-Masonic conspiracism in the United States and in Canada ; first, it reached the chrisian fondamentalists milieu (mainly concerned with his "luciferian" conspiracies), than the whole far-right movements and the new generations of conspiracy theorists"[9]. Even Dan Brown - although he probably had his information from a different source - includes in his novel Angels & Demons an interpretation of the Illuminati through an american 1$ bill that repeats the main arguments of Carr in Pawns in the game[10].
The first editions of Carr's book were mainly published by the Federation of Christian Laymen. Carr was actually the President of the Federation of Christian Laymen (Toronto). He directed the monthly anti-Masonic and anti-Semitic[11] newsletter of the association : News Behind The News (Willowdale, Toronto, Vol. 1, # 1, 1956-) where he published numerous articles discussing the power of the Illuminati in U.S. and world affairs.[12]. In that paper, Carr defends the politics of the Wisconsin anti-Communist Senator Joseph McCarthy.
The political ideas of this Christian association were close to those of John Horne Blackmore the first leader of the Social Credit Party of Canada[13] and Ron Gostick, another important member of the same party. Carr's Federation was closely linked with the Californian Council of Christian Laymen (1949-1964), especially with Alfred Kohlberg, Edward Geary Lansdale and Stan Steiner [14]. The council also distributed Carr's New's Behind The News ; its president was Verne Paul Kaub who was also known for being an anti-Communist and a conspiracy theory author. During the fifties, both organisations fought Communism and were involved in a campaign against water fluoridation (brochure, 1956 ; articles about this topic were also published in News behind the News in 1958)[15]. The historian Daniel Pipes studied this particular case and he mentions that "in the 1950s, the National Federation of Christian Laymen portrayed fluorine as the « devil's poison » and considered its addition to drinking water (to prevent tooth decay) « one of the most dastardly plots ever attempted against the human race »"[16].
One of Carr's most lasting contributions to modern-day conspiracy theory was his discussion of an alleged plan for Three World Wars (often referred as the 3WW), which he believed was developed by Confederate general and Masonic scholar Albert Pike.
In Pawns in the Game, Carr claims that the First World War was fought so as to enable the Illuminati to overthrow the powers of the Tsars in Russia and turn that country into the stronghold of Atheistic-Communism. The differences stirred up by the agents of the Illuminati between the British and German Empires were used to foment this war. After the war ended, Communism was built up and used to destroy other governments and weaken religions. After this, World War Two, was fomented by using the differences between Fascists and Political Zionists. This war was fought so that Naziism would be destroyed and the power of Political Zionism increased, so that the sovereign state of Israel could be established in Palestine. During world war two International Communism was built up until it equalled in strength that of united Christendom. At this point it was contained and kept in check until required for the final social cataclysm.
Moving beyond historical events, Carr claimed that World War Three will be fomented by the agents of the Illuminati (also involved, according to him, with the United Nations) as they stir up between the Political Zionists and the leaders of the Moslem world. The war will be directed in such a manner that Islam (the Arab World including Mohammedanism) and Political Zionism (including the State of Israel) will destroy themselves, while at the same time the remaining nations, once more divided against each other. They will be forced to fight among themselves until they are in a state of complete exhaustion physically, mentally, spiritually and economically.[17]
Carr states that he learned of this conspiracy from a letter, allegedly written by Pike and addressed to Italian revolutionary leader Giuseppe Mazzini. He states that he learned about this alleged letter from the anti-Mason, Cardinal Caro y Rodriguez of Santiago, Chile, author of The Mystery of Freemasonry Unveiled (Hawthorne, CA, Christian Book Club of America, 1971). However, Carr's later book, Satan, Prince of This World (written in 1959), includes the following footnote: "The Keeper of manuscripts recently informed the author that this letter is NOT catalogued in the British Museum Library. It seems strange that a man of Cardinal Rodriguez's knowledge should have said that it WAS in 1925." [18] More recently, the British Museum confirmed in writing to researcher Michael Haupt that such a document has never been in their possession. Pierre-André Taguieff states that Carr gave an utltimate and synthetic account of this "legend" that links together the Illuminati, Mazzini and Pike in a satanic plot for world domination[19].
Carr's books often discuss a Luciferian conspiracy by what he calls the "World Revolutionary Movement," but he later attributed the conspiracy more specifically to the "Synagogue of Satan." The term "Synagogue of Satan" was not a reference to Judaism. Carr wrote, "I wish to make it clearly and emphatically known that I do not believe the Synagogue of Satan (S.O.S.) is Jewish, but, as Christ told us for a definite purpose, it is comprised of 'Them who say they are Jews ... and are not ... and do lie' (Rev. 2:9 and 3:9)" [20].
This quote is taken from Satan, prince of this world, the book Carr had been working on at the time of his death. It was edited by his elder son W.J. Carr, Jr. and presented as the : "last manuscript [of the author] exposing the Luciferian Conspiracy, Satanism, secret societies and the Synagogue of Satan as driving forces behind the World Revolutionary Movement"[21]. Carr's son also mentions he did'nt publish some parts of the manuscript because many references were missing.
One of the most interesting thing to note about Carr's luciferian conspiracies, is that he believes they were already at work during Christ's time. As Taguieff points it out, there is a transhistorical scheme in Carr's idea of word conspiracy. In this kind of philosophy of history anticipating a final "World Government", the Illuminati are part of a satanic historical force that contributes to the evil original plot. According to that point of view Carr believe's that there are "natural born" conspiracists which is nothing more for Taguieff than myth and paranoia invented from a delirious worldview[22]. It is indeed an orignal aspect of Carr's theories since most plot theorists usually start their "genealogy" with the modern age, especially with the french Revolution. As a christian traditionalist, Carr has a strong Manichean way of thinking that is common to many anti-Mason and anti-Communist conspiracy theorist of the the Cold War period.
Whatever the source of the alleged plan for Three World Wars, it has become a topic for discussion among conspiracy researchers, and is cited in seminal "conspiracy" books such as Des Griffin's Fourth Reich of the Rich (1976) who published the fourh edition of Pawns in the Game and a cassette tape of one of Carr's speech in Chicago in his own publishing house, Emissary Publications (Colton, OR).
William Guy Carr also inspired Dan Smoot (The Invisible Government, 1962), Gary Allen (The Rockefeller File, 1976), Phoebe Courtney, (Beware Metro and Regional Government, 1973), Richard T. Osborne (The Great International Conspiracy, 1974 ; and lately The Coming of World War III, 2006), Myron C. Fagan, (Audio Document (LP) : The Illuminati and The Council on Foreign Relations, recorded in the 1967-1968, ed. by the Sons of Liberty. Fagan outlines the Illuminati world elite plans of global conspiracy for the New World Order and world domination), David Icke (The Biggest Secret, 1999), Jan van Helsing, and the French Canadian Social credit member Serge Monast (1945-1996) who pretended being Carr's disciple[23][24]. All these plot theorists argue for the continuing influence of the Illuminati as Carr suggested it in his two main works.
The works of Carr and his influence among conspiracy theorists has been studied by the American historian Daniel Pipes (1997) and the Folklorist Bill Ellis (2000). The French philosopher and historian Pierre-André Taguieff recently wrote (French) La Foire aux illuminés : Ésotérisme, théorie du complot, extrémisme (2005) ("The Illuminati fair : Esotericism, Plot Theory, Extremism") where he makes an analysis of Pawns in the game. He shows that Carr belongs to a tradition of conspiracy theorists that goes far back to l'abbé Augustin Barruel and is represented by the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (frequently quoted in Carr's work) in the twentieth century. Taguieff also studied Carr's theories in (French) L'imaginaire du complot mondial : Aspects d'un mythe moderne ("The World plot imaginary : about a modern myth"), 2006).
Since 1998, Carr's most famous books (Pawns in the Game, The Conspiracy to destroy all existing Governments and Religions and Satan, Prince of this World were translated in french (French) Éditions Delacroix and Éditions Saint-Rémi, Cadillac, France). His french editor Jacques Delacroix is also a conspiracy theorist who claims being one of Carr's successor[25].