The Minutemen was an anti-communist, nativist militia organization formed in the United States in the early 1960s. The founder and head of the group was Robert DePugh, a biochemist from Norborne, Missouri. The Minutemen organized themselves into small cells and stockpiled weapons for an anticipated counter-revolution.
DePugh published a 10-page pamphlet on guerrilla warfare via the Minutemen in 1961.[1] The Minutemen's newsletter was called On Target. He was a founder of the Patriotic Party in 1966.[2]
In 1966, DePugh was arrested on federal weapons charges, which were later dismissed.[3] Their offices were bombed in 1967,[4] and DePugh resigned from the Minutemen in 1967. In February 1968, he was indicted by a federal grand jury in Seattle, Washington, for conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Also in 1968, he was arrested for violation of federal firearms laws. He skipped bail and went underground for over a year until he was caught in 1969 in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. He was convicted in 1970 and released from prison in May 1973. DePugh later wrote an anti-communist quasi-survivalist manual, Can You Survive? and was associated briefly with Liberty Lobby.[5]
- ^ Barth, Alan (November 26, 1961). Report on the 'Rampageous Right'; Today's tensions have led to a proliferation of 'conservative extremists.' The New York Times
- ^ Hamilton, Neil A. (2002). Rebels and Renegades: A Chronology of Social and Political Dissent in the United States. Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-0-415-93639-2
- ^ Associated Press (September 14, 1966). Arms Charge Is Dismissed Against Head of Minutemen. The New York Times
- ^ Staff report (September 1, 1967). Dynamite Wrecks Office Of Leader of Minutemen and DePugh. The New York Times
- ^ "Robert DePugh and The Minutemen" at the Nizkor Project