Historic Ties

The National Alliance has a long history of links to other extremist and white supremacist groups. As noted previously, one of the most notorious groups connected to the NA was The Order, formed by the late Robert Mathews and other NA members. Mathews reportedly addressed the 1983 NA Convention not long before he and other members of The Order went on their violent crime spree. Before he was killed in a shootout with the FBI in 1984, Mathews had purchased a $50,000 life insurance policy naming William Pierce and another NA "official," John Ireland, as his beneficiaries.

The World Church of the Creator

In the 1980s, Pierce also developed a bond with Ben Klassen, the late founder of the racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian Church of the Creator (COTC). In a May 1992 letter to Klassen's publication, Racial Loyalty, Pierce sympathized with the difficulties Klassen faced in his dealings with other white supremacists and praised Klassen's work. The problem, Pierce wrote, "is that none of the challengers [to Klassen's authority] will be able to do the necessary things to preserve and advance what you have built. . . . I have always appreciated your work . . . because you have helped to move a substantial portion of the White resistance movement away from Christianity." The tie between the two men was further strengthened when Pierce purchased Klassen's 21-acre compound in Macon County, North Carolina, in 1992. Klassen also appeared to admire Pierce's writing. For years, Racial Loyalty advertised Pierce's novels, The Turner Diaries and Hunter, alongside ads for COTC publications, T-shirts and other paraphernalia.