William Gayley Simpson

William Gayley Simpson (1892 – 1991) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and lecture-circuit speaker, in latter days associated with William Luther Pierce and the National Alliance.

Early life
The eldest of three children, he was born July 23, 1892, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Lafayette College and graduated in 1912 with Phi Beta Kappa standing and as valedictorian. He attended Union Theological Seminary, graduating in 1915, magna cum laude.

Career
From the fall of 1918 until the spring of 1919 he was associate director of the National Civil Liberties Bureau, now the American Civil Liberties Union. After living in a small religious community for over 10 years, a period of his life he would come to refer to as his "Franciscan" days, Simpson repudiated his previous Christian moorings and embraced the philosophical worldview of Friedrich Nietzsche. Simpson believed that the teachings of Jesus were completely out of step with nature, and that only a few exceptionally zealous men could ever come close to implementing them. Simpson discussed the importance of distinguishing between subjective religious feeling and "scientific reality." He came to believe that much of human behavior is rooted in the innate biological makeup of individuals and their race, and that one's spirituality comes from within.

His 1978 book Which Way Western Man? was republished by National Vanguard Books in 2003. Some quotes from this book include: "I am not naturally a man of violence, but there is one thing from the thought of which I shrink more than from violence or its consequences, and that is the thought that our people may not rise to throw off the death that is being clamped upon them." "The point is to reveal organized Jewry as a world power entrenched in every country of the White man’s world, operating freely across every nation’s frontiers, and engaged in a ruthless war for the destruction of them all." "Let me preface what I am about to say by declaring frankly that I am prepared to accept violence on the part of our people. The Jews’ hold on our throat is not going to be relaxed until we break their grip. Hitler felt that he had to take to the streets. All normal approach to his people was barred. Today, we are confronted with much the same situation here."

His seven-part autobiography titled "One Man's Striving" was originally serialized in 1983 and 1984 issues of National Vanguard magazine, published by the National Alliance. It is a radical right version of Somerset Maugham's "soul voyage" classics such as The Razor's Edge (novel) and Of Human Bondage.

Works

 * A Spiritual Quest and Venture of Faith. (1927)
 * Toward The Rising Sun (New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., 1935)
 * Which Way Western Man? (Cooperstown, New York: Yeoman Press, 1978)