Jerome Robert Corsi (born August 31, 1946) is an American author, best-known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command (with co-author John O'Neill). Both books, the former written in 2008 and the latter in 2004, attacked Democratic presidential candidates and were strongly criticized for including numerous factual errors.
In other books and columns for conservative websites such as WorldNetDaily and Human Events, Corsi has discussed topics that are considered conspiracy theories in some circles, such as the alleged plans for a North American Government, criticism of the United States government for allegedly covering up information about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, promoting the Abiogenic theory of the origin of oil (arguing that oil is produced from chemical reactions in the Earth, in contrast to the scientific community's consensus that oil is produced from the bodies of animals and/or plants), and alleged United States support of Iran in its attempts to develop nuclear weapons.
Early life
Jerome Corsi was born in
East Cleveland, Ohio, to Louis E. Corsi, a union public relations director, and Alice Corsi, née Hanlon. He married Joy Dugan on May 8, 1970. The marriage ended in
divorce. He married Monica Corsi in 1991.
He graduated St. Ignatius High School in 1964. He earned a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University in 1968, and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University in 1972; his dissertation was titled Prior Restraint, Prior Punishment, and Political Dissent; a Moral and Legal Evaluation.
Career
In 1972 Corsi researched the political protests around the 1972
Democratic and
Republican National Conventions in
Miami Beach, and the involvement of the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War. His research was then published by the Lemberg Center for the Study of Violence (
Brandeis University, 1974).
In 1995 Corsi helped launch a mutual fund to invest in formerly Communist Poland after the fall of the Soviet Union, which eventually lost $1.2 million, much of it from a group of about 20 Minnesota investors. The FBI found no basis for bringing criminal charges.
In January 2005, Corsi told the Boston Herald that he planned to bid for John Kerry's Senate seat in Massachusetts in 2008 as a Republican or Independent candidate. He later said his wife had "vetoed" this plan. Then Corsi stated "Howard Phillips of the Constitution Party asked me to consider seriously running for president in 2008 and I am doing so." He then agreed to be nominated at the Constitution Party National Convention, but he dropped out in July 2007.
Writings and theories
Corsi has written about a variety of subjects, including Democratic politicians and
conspiracy theories. According to
The Guardian, Corsi — who is
Catholic — has been accused by the American press "of being
anti-Islamic,
anti-Catholic,
anti-Semitic and
homophobic, and of exploiting
racial prejudices in an attempt to 'scare white America'." In 2004, Corsi wrote a critical biography of then Democratic Presidential candidate
John Kerry called
. In 2005 he published
Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians, which claimed Democratic politicians are corrupted by
Iranian money and are helping the
mullahs, who seek
nuclear weapons, in
Tehran. That same year he co-authored
Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil (2005) with Craig R. Smith.
In 2006, he co-authored Showdown with Nuclear Iran: Radical Islam's Messianic Mission to Destroy Israel and Cripple the United States with Michael D. Evans. In August 2006 he published Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders with Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist. This book criticized President George W. Bush's border protection policies, accusing him of furthering plans to create a North American Union. In May 2006, Corsi co-wrote the book Rebuilding America with Kenneth Blackwell, then Ohio secretary of state and a Republican candidate for Governor of Ohio.
In March 2008 Corsi reported in WorldNetDaily that a "Muslim terrorist group with ties to criminal drug networks and al-Qaida" has given "strong support" to John McCain. In 2007 Corsi wrote that he is not a Republican and complained that "the Republican Party is controlled by what used to be called the 'Rockefeller Wing'." In addition, Corsi has called for the impeachment of George W. Bush." On August 15th, 2008, Corsi endorsed Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, who has campaigned to reopen the investigation into the September 11, 2001 attacks in support of the 9/11 Truth Movement.
Corsi has also referred to Martin Luther King Jr. as a "shakedown artist".
Unfit for Command
In August 2004, Corsi's Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, with attributed coauthor John O'Neill, was published by Regnery Publishing. The book sold more than 1.2 million copies.
The main theme of Corsi's portion of the book was to criticize Kerry's antiwar activities after returning from Vietnam, and to dispute many of his and other antiwar activists' assertions that US soldiers had committed war crimes and atrocities, burned down villages, and murdered innocent civilians in Vietnam. Kerry gained notoriety, the book argues, by bringing to light such horrific events as the My Lai Massacre, thus damaging the image of the US Military in the Winter Soldier hearings.
The other theme of the book was that Kerry's four month tour in Vietnam had been marked by cowardice under fire and fraudulently obtaining medals. In that regard, the book contained statements by some veterans of the Vietnam War who served with John Kerry on Swift Boats, several of whom executed affidavits in support of their claims; these claims were repudiated by other veterans who served with Kerry and often were disproven by outside sources, including the Navy's official records.
After controversial comments Corsi had made at the Free Republic website were publicized by the Media Matters for America website, John O'Neill claimed that Corsi was not actually a co-author of the book Unfit for Command, but rather was "simply an editor." Nevertheless, O'Neill described Corsi as the book's "coauthor" in a 2007 letter to the New York Times. Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler describe Corsi's efforts in writing the book, referring to him as one of its "authors," in their book To Set the Record Straight.
In 2007 Corsi, along with Bill Gertz, Lt. Col. Robert (Buzz) Patterson, Joel Mowbray and Richard Miniter, sued Regnery's parent company, Eagle Publishing, claiming the company “orchestrate[d] and participate[d] in a fraudulent, deceptively concealed and self-dealing scheme to divert book sales away from retail outlets and to wholly owned subsidiary organizations within the Eagle conglomerate.” The suit was dismissed on June 30, 2008
The Obama Nation
Corsi's book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality was released on August 1, 2008, and is critical of Barack Obama and his candidacy for President. In response, the Obama campaign issued a 40 page rebuttal called "Unfit for Publication" on his website FightTheSmears.com, alleging factual errors. Corsi proclaimed the Obama report a confession that the most serious charges against Obama are true, because (he said) the campaign report cited minor issues, responded to charges different from those that Corsi had made, and implicitly confirmed many of Corsi's allegations.
According to various American news sources, many of the accusations made in the book are unsubstantiated, misleading or inaccurate.
According to The New York Times, "Significant parts of the book, whose subtitle is 'Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality,' have been challenged in the days since its debut on Aug. 1." Corsi conducted over 100 interviews promoting the book, on The Political Cesspool, a white supremacist radio talk show. He previously appeared on the show on July 20, but he canceled his August 17 appearance because of a change in "travel plans". In August 2008, Corsi appeared on Alex Jones' radio show and promoted The Obama Nation.
Paul Waldman criticized The Obama Nation as "filled with falsehoods." In a debate with Corsi on Larry King Live, Waldman accused him of using baseless innuendo as a tactic to 'smear' Obama.
On October 7, 2008, Corsi and his media consultant Tim Bueler were detained by immigration authorities in Kenya while doing further research related to the book, allegedly for failure to have a work permit. Corsi had scheduled a press conference to announce new research proving that Obama had raised a million dollars for the election campaign of Kenyan prime minister Raila Odinga, and had helped run Odinga's campaign as a strategist, including setting the stage for the campaign of violence and bloodshed that had brought Odinga to power after a disputed election. The meeting was interrupted by Kenyan immigration officials when they detained Corsi.
Corsi was eventually deported.
Black Gold Stranglehold
Corsi has also promoted the concept of
abiotic oil production (as opposed to the theory for
formation of petroleum from biological matter); the idea that
oil is naturally produced underground through chemical processes under extreme heat and pressure, rather than by the conversion of biological material. In his book
Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil, Corsi questions the "truism that oil is
fossil fuel." As oil wells have drilled ever deeper, and discovered oil at 30,000 feet beneath the surface (5½ miles) it becomes clear, Corsi argues, that no
dinosaur remains were buried 30,000 feet under ground.
Corsi argues that oil men have long noticed that oil wells pumped dry sometimes "refill" with oil, suggesting a much deeper source for the oil, rising up under pressure to refill oil wells. Meanwhile, scientists have detected the presence of "fossil fuels" or
hydrocarbons on
Saturn's moon
Titan.
Furthermore, Corsi, argues, science has never put forward a satisfactory explanation for how a dinosaur can turn into oil.
Corsi suggests that the world buys into scientific views of petroleum formation because it would be "disastrous - both to oil companies and to politicians in office" in terms of pricing to admit that oil is not a scarce commodity. The abiotic oil theory is in conflict with scientific consensus. On the inside flap of the book:
"Jerome R. Corsi and Craig R. Smith expose the fraudulent science that has been sold to the American people in order to enslave them: the belief that oil is a fossil fuel and a finite resource. On the contrary, this book presents authoritative research, currently known mostly in the scientific community, that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests. Rather, it is a natural product of the earth. The scientific evidence cited by Corsi and Smith suggests that oil is constantly being produced by the earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation.
Atomic Iran
In 2005 Corsi's
Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the Bomb and American Politicians was published by
WND Books with an introduction by
Craig R. Smith. In the book he claims Democratic politicians are corrupted by
Iranian money and are helping the
mullahs, who seek nuclear weapons, in Tehran. and on
WEJEW Radio.
On the topic in April 2005, Corsi wrote "An atomic Iran is imminent ... mullahs may have bomb by June." One year after the publication, Corsi wrote in his WorldNetDaily column, "I told you so", and claimed his book was right about failed talks. The book was taken as highly controversial, generating opposing views.
North American Union theories
Corsi claims that "President Bush is pursuing a
globalist agenda to create a
North American Union" a theoretical
continental union of
Canada,
Mexico and the
United States, that will supplant the United States. In 2007 he predicted an
amero currency to replace dollar for this union will happen within 10 years. The "Union" is a theme in two of his books
The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada (2007) and
Minutemen: The Battle to Secure America's Borders (2006) as he explained on
The Conservative Caucus's TV show. On December 15, 2006 Corsi reported for the first time he "had found a major intellectual leader behind the push to integrate North America suggesting that a crisis of
9-11 proportions might be just what was needed to advance the process toward establishing a North American Union and the
amero."
In 2007 he claimed a North American Union driver's license was created and that the U.S. State Department was in talks to "move toward a transatlantic union." That same year he claimed, "Virgil Goode, R-Va., has introduced a House of Representatives resolution expressing congressional opposition to construction of a NAFTA Super Highway System or entry into a North American Union with Mexico and Canada." The validity of those claims was criticized in Newsweek and the author noted: "Corsi offered a warning: President Bush's supposed determination to force North American integration, he told the audience, could cost the GOP the 2008 presidential election. Corsi may have a conspiratorial bent. But he sure knows how to spin stories that shake up an election — and at least one candidate seems happy to help him."
John Hawkins, a fellow writer for Human Events, responded: "Yesterday, Jerome Corsi was prattling on about the North American Union again after Michael Medved deservedly spanked him for spreading conspiracy theories. While I don't think Corsi is any more worthy of being taken seriously than those who think Jews rule the world or the 'Truthers' who think President Bush is responsible for 9/11, I thought I would respond to him one last time." Michael Medved, a conservative writer, listed Corsi as number three on his list of "The Most Annoying People on the Right", and wrote: "Nobody has worked harder to convince people that the completely moronic North American conspiracy theory is real than the right's version of Dylan Avery, kooky Jerome Corsi." Additionally, conservative Hugh Hewitt said Corsi is "from the fringe."
In October 2009, his book America for Sale: Fighting the New World Order, Surviving a Global Depression, and Preserving USA Sovereignty was published, which alleges "the globalists' plan to put America on the sale block, from financial services firms to public infrastructure such as highways and airports." To promote the book, he appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News and then discussed the issue on Coast to Coast with George Noory. It has been reported that audio and a Youtube video has been circulating of Corsi's January 29, 2008 interview on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' radio show. In the interview Corsi discusses "the findings of Steven Jones, physicist and hero of the '9/11 Truth' movement who claims to have evidence that the World Trade Center towers collapsed due to explosives inside the building, not just the planes hitting them, during the attacks." Corsi has also appeared on INN World Report, a news program on the left-wing Free Speech TV, to advance his claims.
Accusation of plagiarism
Conservative author and pundit
Debbie Schlussel has accused Corsi of
plagiarizing elements from columns that she has published, and subsequently posting them under his byline in his
WorldNetDaily column.
Books
By Corsi
Selected works
Corsi, Jerome R. The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger With Mexico and Canada. WND Books, July 4, 2007, ISBN 0979045142.
Blackwell, Kenneth and Jerome R. Corsi. Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare. WND Books, May 4, 2006. ISBN 1581825013
O'Neill, John E. and Jerome R. Corsi. . Regnery Publishing, 2004. ISBN 0-89526-017-4.
Lewis, Ralph G. and Jerome R. Corsi. To Make the World Safe for Picnics: The 1972 Political Conventions in Miami Beach. 1974
About Corsi
Swett, Scott and Tim Ziegler, To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, New American Media Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-0-9799841-5-0
See also
Swiftboating
William Estabrook Chancellor
Francis Alphonse Capell
References
External links
Jerome Corsi articles at WorldNetDaily
Jerome Corsi articles at Human Events
Jerome Corsi Interview - The Global Townhall
Jerome Corsi on The Dangers of the "North American Union" from The Conservative Caucus
Unfit For Publication: An Investigative Report On The Lies In Jerome Corsi's "Obama Nation" – Obama for America official response
*Unfit for Publication from Obama for America
Video discussion/debate with Jane Hamsher on Bloggingheads.tv
Category:1946 births
Category:Living people
Category:American political pundits
Category:American political writers
Category:Conspiracy theorists
Category:Harvard University alumni
Category:Case Western Reserve University alumni
Category:People from Cleveland, Ohio
Category:Human Events people
Category:Constitution Party (United States) politicians
