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Kevin Alfred Strom (born 1956 in Anchorage, Alaska) is the former Managing Director of National Vanguard, a Charlottesville, Virginia based organization that has been described as racist, white separatist, homophobic and a Neo-Nazi hate group. Strom resigned from National Vanguard in July, 2006. National Vanguard reportedly disbanded on March 14, 2007, and their website has been dormant since that time.
Strom currently faces child pornography and witness tampering charges in Virginia.
Child Pornography Charges
On January 4, 2007, Strom was arrested in Greene County, Virginia on charges of possession of child pornography and witness tampering. His arraignment was held in Federal District Court before a federal judge for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia on January 5, 2007. Strom's public defender declined to pursue bail. He is accused of having indecent photos of a juvenile on his computer. The photos were alleged to have been taken between 2005 and 2006 according to a report citing statements in the indictment. A copy of Strom's Court Indictment was later reproduced on the same website, which also reports that Strom's trial has been continued to June 20, 2007 on motion of his public defender, who says she needs more time to review the documentation and evidence in the case.
Strom had previously taken a leave of absence from National Vanguard stating that he has "made mistakes, sometimes serious ones."
Biography
Kevin Alfred Strom was born in Anchorage, Alaska in 1956.
Strom's marriage to his first wife, Kirsten Helene Kaiser, produced three children. Since their marriage ended, Kaiser has spoken out about her life with Strom in several interviews. She has also written a book on her experiences with Strom and the National Alliance entitled The Bondage of Self (ISBN 0-9720705-5-9). Kaiser claimed that Strom was an extremely controlling husband who forced her to abstain from meat, forbade her to wear blue jeans, and predetermined her favorite music, Mozart. She has since disavowed the racist beliefs she held while married to Strom and has summarized their years together: "Hundreds of women like me have gotten hooked up with some man from a racist group who controls their lives. I want them to know that if I can escape and regain my soul, they can too."
Strom's second wife, Elisha Strom, left him last year, shortly after he resigned as Chairman of National Vanguard, and told the Southern Poverty Law Center that she never had sex with him during their marriage.
Activist History
In 1982, Kevin Alfred Strom became a member of the National Alliance, a group that has been described as anti-Semitic, racist,, and neo-Nazi. In 1991, he founded and frequently delivered the American Dissident Voices shortwave and Internet radio broadcasts. In 1995, he founded and edited Free Speech magazine, published by the Alliance as an adjunct to the radio program. In early 2002, a few months before his death from cancer on July 23, the Alliance's founder, William Luther Pierce, named Strom editor of National Vanguard magazine and Media Director for the Alliance. Pierce also named Strom editor of the Alliance's monthly Bulletin.
During the weekend of April 16-17, 2005, Strom and several others were expelled from the National Alliance because of a dispute with the Alliance leadership. The expelled former Alliance members, led by Strom, promptly formed their own organization which they called National Vanguard. As he previously had done for the National Alliance, Strom delivered weekly Internet radio broadcasts which he called American Dissident Voices for National Vanguard, but they were often 1-3 weeks late. These broadcasts effectively ceased with his departure.
Strom was also briefly the managing editor of The Truth at Last newspaper during 2005. Several sources have described this tabloid as anti-Semitic and racist. Strom's boss at The Truth at Last, Edward R. Fields, is a former Grand Dragon of the New Order Knights of the KKK.
Associations
Strom was a close associate of University of Illinois Classics professor and racial-nationalist writer Revilo P. Oliver, who has been described as "one of America's most notorious fascists" and, according to B'nai Brith Canada, was "a long time proponent of antisemitism". Strom was chosen by the Oliver estate to be archivist and publisher of Oliver's papers when Oliver died in 1994. In 2002, Strom published the book The Jewish Strategy by Oliver.
Ideology
Strom is the author of what he calls the Maxim of Self-Determination: "Each people which considers itself to be a people should, to the maximum extent possible, live under its own government." As Strom writes, his Maxim of Self-Determination "means no Pakistani MPs. No Middle Eastern Mosques in London. No Jewish Lords. No Caribbean Blacks taking over whole city wards.", "no Chinese takeover of British Columbia and no Jewish control of the legal system.", "no Africans flooding into Rome anymore, and no more Gypsy gangs preying on White people."
Other
Strom is a former broadcast engineer and is of Norwegian descent.
He holds Amateur radio license WB4AIO.
It has been stated that Strom scored a perfect 1600 on the SAT college-entrance exam, though the date in which he attained that feat is uncertain; surprisingly, he has never attended a university and also has no college degree.
Between 1983 and 1991, a pirate radio station named "Voice of Tomorrow" operated on both shortwave and mediumwave frequencies. , broadcasting openly racist and Neo-Nazi material , presumably from the Lynchburg, Virginia area . According to Strom's ex-wife, Kirsten Kaiser, "Voice of Tomorrow" was operated by Strom himself .
External links
Official
Related
- National Vanguard Website
- Kevin Strom's Art of the West Gallery
- Archive of recent broadcasts and essays
Critical
- Charleston Gazette interview with Strom's ex-wife, Kirsten Helene Kaiser, about life with Strom
- Southern Poverty Law Center profile of Kevin Strom
- SPLC article about life with Strom
References
- National Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report: Active Hate Groups in 2005
- Leadership Shakeup at Neo-Nazi National Alliance Leads to Formation Of New Group Anti-Defamation League. Press release, May 3, 2005
- National Vanguard Statement on Kevin Alfred Strom
- Overthrow.com Article on National Vanguard Disbanding
- ABC News Article on Strom's Child Pornography Charges
- Marcus Baram (January 4, 2007). "White Supremacist Busted on Child-Porn Charge". ABC News. Retrieved January 6, 2007.