Hans Vogel

Reagan and Vogel, pals

     Earlier today, the SOCCCD community received an email from the district noting the passing and singing the praises of the district’s first board president, Hans Vogel (1922-2015):

     Dr. Hans W. Vogel, President of our first Board of Trustees, recently passed away at the age of 93.
     It was Valentine’s Day in 1967 that residents approved the formation of Saddleback Junior College District, dubbing it the “Sweetheart of Orange County.” In July 1968 the board hosted then-Governor Ronald Reagan for a high-profile dedication of Saddleback Junior College. Dr. Vogel would ultimately serve as Board President four times in his eight-year tenure….

     Over the years, in an attempt to understand our benighted district, I've written about Vogel often. It's pretty clear that Vogel—a war hero, successful volleyball coach, contractor, lawyer, and right-wing paranoid—was a very interesting man and someone perhaps best viewed, as they say, as a man of his time. He sure was!
     Not long ago, I was surprised to learn that Vogel had a significant role in the political career of Ronald Reagan. (Some will be impressed; others will be horrified.) Two years ago, I encountered this description of Vogel in a book by Tom Rogers, chairman of the OC GOP from 1969 until 1972:

     Hans Vogel was one of the first county residents to become involved in conservative politics. As a local businessman and bookstore owner, Hans was able to gather a circle of friends and associates to informal discussion concerning many issues. He was an early supporter of [John Bircher] John Schmitz, but his most impressive accomplishments was to sponsor a book-signing event at his Tustin bookstore, featuring a rising star in GOP politics, Ronald Reagan who had written a book Where’s the Rest of Me? [1965] The event was a success by all standards, and really introduced the future governor to local conservatives who came away with a signed book and a determination to support Ronald Reagan in his political career.
     Hans was also active in the County Republican Central Committee as publisher and editor of the Observer. [Elsewhere, Rogers explains that Vogel did an excellent job in that role. The Observer faded from the scene many years ago.]

DtB posts mentioning Hans Vogel:

• Right-wing paranoia and foolishness c. 1970: "The depths of your own mind"
• A weird windowless library, alleged marauding flag-swiping Hippies, the protean name, and other district mysteries—Solved!
• SOCCCD's first superintendent: clashed with trustees; bailed fast
• The 1967 board: the "immorality" of district membership in the School Boards Association
• Charter trustees: the curious Mr. Alyn Brannon
• Did right-wing loons establish the SOCCCD?
• Bremer: just saying “No” to long hair and windowlessness
• More of John Williams' fascinating campaign documents
• James B. Utt remembered
• The board meeting: faculty address the board re the contract & Nancy carps about a seal

"Utt" Library, September 1972

More on Utt the Nut: "Extensive experiments in hypnotism and rhythm"

     Saddleback College’s library is named after Congressman James B. Utt, who died in 1970. I’ve been posting about the fellow and his views and pronouncements.
     This morning, I scraped up a few new factoids:
     There are several references to James B. Utt in the excellent Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right, by Lisa McGirr.
     On p. 120, McGirr quotes from a letter by Utt to Richard Nixon, complaining that Nixon’s denunciation of the John Birch Society (owing to leader Welch's remarks) was “ridiculous.” Later, Ronald Reagan, whom Utt championed, refused to disown Birch support, again distinguishing between leader and followers (p. 311).

Utt liked Birchers but
didn't like leader Welch

     As near as I can tell, Utt was never actually a member of the JB Society, but he certainly agreed with many of the views with which that organization is associated and he defended it often.
     Utt seemed to have a fondness for nutty "scientific" theories. Historian and journalist Rick Perlstein quotes from a speech by Utt in the Congressional Record:

“The Beatles and their mimicking rock-and-rollers use the Pavlovian techniques produce artificial neuroses in our young people. Extensive experiments in hypnotism and rhythm have shown how rock-and-rock music leads to a destrtuion [sic] of the normal inhibitory mechanism of the cerebral cortet [sic] and permits easy acceptance of immorality and disregard for all moral norms.”

     The speech is also quoted in part in Perlstein’s Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America.
     According to journalist Howard Blum in Wanted!: the search for Nazis in America,

Sometime before his ominous pronouncements about Operation Water Moccasin and just after his discovery of "a plot to centralize the Girl Scouts," Representative James B. Utt became involved in the case of Andrija Artukovic.

James B. Utt

     Utt helped Artukovic fight extradition to Yugoslovia for war crimes. Artukovic was known as the “Himmler of the Balkans.” Eventually, the extradition occurred (in the 80s). (Evidently, “Operation Water Moccasin” was a planned U.S. military maneuver in Georgia. At the time [1963], the far right was convinced that the operation was a cover for a move to disarm the U.S. and make it subject to the U.N.)
     James B. Utt on Space Travel (1963). Pretty goofy. Evidently, Utt supposed that, someday, a Star Trek-like transporter would be invented, though it appears that he wouldn't want to use it. Smart.
     Utt on muckraker Jessica Mitford. Utt was really down on Mitford’s famous exposé of the funeral industry (The American Way of Death, 1963). Called her a Commie, owing to her long-ago membership. I think she appreciated the publicity. Utt was a big supporter of HUAC.
     Utt on Medicare. Yeah, he was down on that sort of thing. Civil rights, too.
     Although I haven't been able to verify it, Utt reportedly once warned that Chinese soldiers were massing on the Mexican border. He wrote that in his notorious newsletter. The rumor was widespread among the far right in those days.
     Gosh, if anybody had kept those newsletters, they'd be gold now!