Will H. Johnson
From Kook Science
William Henry Johnson (b. c. 1895) was an African-American Baptist lay preacher and coal miner who achieved notoriety in 1956-'57 from international press coverage of his trial over a decade-long mail fraud scheme in which he posed as Adolf Hitler, claiming to have escaped Germany following the Second World War to an underground base in Kentucky, and sent out letters requesting support to re-establish the Nazi regime in America that managed to draw over $11,000 USD in donations, the bulk of it from G. A. Huber ($10K) and Charlie Brown ($1K) of Bristol, Virginia. Johnson was ultimately sentenced in 1957 to three years in federal prison over the scheme.
Press Coverage
- LHL (14 Aug. 1956), "Man Posing As Hitler Is Arrested", Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, KY): 1, 10, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/684034985/
- UP (15 Aug. 1956), "'Hitler' Unmasked as Ky. Hill Preacher, U.S. Charges; Confessed Hoax, Henry Cook Relates; Claimed To Be Ex-Nazi Chief In Asking Funds", Kentucky Post and Times-Star (Covington, KY): 1, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/760876307/
- UP (13 Nov. 1956), "Mountain 'Hitler' Probed by U.S. Jury", Kentucky Post and Times-Star (Covington, KY): 1, https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/761037406/
- Seitz, Ed (12 Apr. 1957), "Another Inglorious End... 'No 2. Fuehrer's' Death Leads To Jail Term For 'Hitler' In 10th Year As World Leader", Cincinnati Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH): 12, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51749777/cincinnati-inquirer/
- Griffin, Gerald (12 Apr. 1957), "Preacher Posing as 'Hitler' Given 3-Year Term; 'Furrier No. 1' Was Paid $11,000 Through Fraud", Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY): 15, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51702659/louisville-courier-journal/
Reading
- Hitt, Tarpley (22 May 2020), The Kentucky Miner Who Scammed Americans by Claiming He Was Hitler and Plotting a Revolution With Invisible Spaceships, thedailybeast.com, https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-kentucky-miner-who-scammed-americans-by-claiming-he-was-hitler-and-plotting-a-revolt-with-spaceships