Historian in Missoula links local militia figures, far-right literature and Christian identity in public talk

At a public lecture in Missoula, George, a professor of history at Montana Tech, told attendees he has documented connections between local militia activists, talk-radio programming and a body of far‑right literature that he says echoes European fascism.

"I was hearing chilling echoes of that long forgotten time, of the late 1920s and early 1930s in Europe," George said, describing statements made on a Butte talk show in early 1993. He told the audience the show’s host, Bob Fletcher, aired for roughly three months in prime drive time and that organizers later collected tapes and catalogs that circulated in Montana and neighboring communities.

The lecture focused on several related strands the speaker said shape contemporary U.S. far‑right movements: distribution of antisemitic and Holocaust‑denying material, radio programs and seminars that drew people from Bozeman, Missoula and Deer Lodge, and a religious strain known as Christian identity or dominion theology. George cited publishers and organizers by name, including George Green, Red…