This archive report was first published on 17 July 2021.
Published on July 17, 2021, William H. Regnery II, a conservative activist, left a lasting impact on the American political landscape. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied political science and joined the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative student organization co-founded by William F. Buckley.
Regnery's early involvement in politics began when he worked on Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. In a 2017 interview with Buzzfeed, he claimed to have attempted to deter Democratic voters in Philadelphia by seeding the skies with dry ice, a tactic he called 'Operation Dewdrop.'
Regnery's career took a turn when he became the president of Joanna-Western Mills in 1980. However, he was ousted a year later due to poor financial performance. He went on to work in various businesses and dabble in Illinois politics.
Regnery's shift away from the Republican Party began in 1993, when he listened to a speech by economist Milton Friedman. He ran for Illinois secretary of state in 1994 on the Term Limits and Tax Limits Party ticket but lost. Five years later, he convened a conference in Florida, featuring a who's who of white supremacists, where he delivered a speech advocating for the break-up of the United States into smaller countries based on ethnic groups.
Regnery's racism became increasingly explicit, with plans to start a whites-only dating site in 2004. He continued to worry about the extinction of the white race, stating in a 2006 speech that 'the white race may go from master of the universe to an anthropological curiosity.'
