Editing Pedro del Valle (section)

=== Defenders of the American Constitution ===
In the early 1950s, believing that the United States was in danger of a [[Communism|communist]] threat, del Valle tried to convince the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] to form a vigilante minuteman group. He also believed that the CIA should operate behind [[Russia]]n and [[China|Chinese]] lines. After his ideas were turned down, he decided to form his own group.<ref name=":1">{{Cite magazine |last=Coogan |first=Kevin |date=Winter 2003 |title=The League of Empire Loyalists and the Defenders of the American Constitution |url=https://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/article/issue/46/the-league-of-empire-loyalists-and-the-defenders-of-the-american-constitution/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |magazine=Lobster Magazine |issue=46}}</ref>

On July 24, 1953, del Valle met with Colonel John H. Coffman, Colonel Eugene Cowles Pomeroy, Brigadier General [[Bonner Fellers]], and Major General [[Claire Chennault]] to form the Defenders of the American Constitution (DAC). The DAC believed in a "one-worldist conspiracy" led by New York Jewish financiers who controlled international communism, and described their goal as the defense of "the US constitution against enemies and encroachments, both foreign and domestic."<ref name=":0" /> The idea behind the group was to organize the citizens in each state as vigilantes against sabotage and other forms of treason, then link them up in some national headquarters.<ref name=":1" /> 

The DAC had close ideological and organizational ties with British far-right groups, including the [[League of Empire Loyalists]] (with which it campaigned for the dismissal of [[Ezra Pound]] from [[St. Elizabeths Hospital]]).<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In the DAC's official magazine ''Task Force'', del Valle expressed considerable admiration for the work of the British fascist [[Peter Huxley-Blythe]], calling Huxley-Blythe's 1955 book ''Betrayal'' an "excellent work", a "courageous work" and "a tremendous contribution". ''Task Force'' combined its August and September editions of 1956 in order to reprint ''Betrayal'', calling it "one of the most important articles it has ever been a privilege to publish".<ref name="Mulhall, Joe p. 184">{{Cite book |last=Mulhall |first=Joe |title=British Fascism After the Holocaust: From the Birth of Denial to the Notting Hill Riots 1939–1958 |publisher=Routledge |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-138-62414-6 |location=London |pages=184}}</ref>

In 1964, [[American Nazi Party]] leader [[George Lincoln Rockwell]] informed the [[FBI]] that del Valle had been part of an alleged conspiracy by right-wing former U.S. military officers to overthrow the federal government.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Federal Bureau of Investigation |url=https://archive.org/stream/NationalStatesRightsPartyFBI/NSRP-Chicago-7_djvu.txt |title=National States Rights Party}}</ref>

After del Valle's death at age 85, the DAC ceased to exist.<ref name="grave">{{cite web|access-date=2007-10-17|url=http://www.usna.edu/cemetery/PDF%20Files/Section%209/1744-%20Del%20Valle,%20P.%20A.pdf|title=Cemetery Inventory Form: Del Valle, Pedor A. & Katharine Nelson|work=USNA Cemetery Documentation Project|publisher=United States Naval Academy Cemetery & Columbarium|date=2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930135237/http://www.usna.edu/cemetery/PDF%20Files/Section%209/1744-%20Del%20Valle,%20P.%20A.pdf|archive-date=2007-09-30}}</ref> The American scholar William C. Baum wrote that del Valle displayed all of the signs of a deeply paranoid personality, leading him to conclude that del Valle was "not part of an authentic conservative tradition of thought in America" as he expressed "...abnormal amounts of anger and frustration" in his writings and he had "more in common with the character of General Jack D. Ripper in the memorable film ''Dr. Strangelove'' than with those with a considered commitment to the tenets of modern conservative thought".<ref>{{cite book |last=Baum |first=William |title=The Conservative Press in Twentieth-century America |date=1999 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-21390-8 |editor=Lora |editor-first=Ronald |location=Westport |pages=405–411 |chapter=Task Force |editor-last2=Henry Longton |editor-first2=William}}</ref>