| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Pierce was born in Atlanta, Georgia and graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics in 1951. He worked at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory before attending graduate school, first at Caltech and then the University of Colorado, at Boulder, where he earned his Ph.D in 1962. He soon lost interest in physics and joined various white nationalist groups, forming his own group, the National Alliance, in 1974. He also adopted the religion of CosmotheismCosmotheism is a form of classical pantheism that identifies God with the cosmos that is, with the universe as a unified whole. Overview Cosmotheism asserts: "all is within God and God is within all". It considers the nature of reality and of existence to at about the same time.
Pierce came to public attention following the Oklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was an attack against the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. At 9:02 am on April 19, 1995, in the street in front of the Murrah building, attackers exploded a rented Ryder truck containing about 5. The perpetrator, Timothy McVeighTimothy James McVeigh ( April 23, 1968 — June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist convicted and executed for his part in the April 19, 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Hundreds were injured and 168 men, women and children died when a truck loaded with, was alleged to have been influenced by The Turner DiariesThe Turner Diaries is a novel written in 1978 by William Pierce (under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald , the late leader of the white separatist group National Alliance. Although The Turner Diaries was only available by mail order and at gatherings and gun ( 1978Events January January 1 The Copyright Act of 1976 takes effect, making sweeping changes to United States copyright law. January 1 Air India's Boeing 747 explodes near Bombay 213 dead. January 4 Referendum in Chile supports policies of Augusto Pinochet.), a novel written by Pierce under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. The book is a graphically violent depiction of a future race war in the United States as told through the perspective of Earl Turner, an active member of the white separatist revolutionary underground. Early on, the book's main character is put in charge of bombing the FBIFor other uses of the initials FBI see FBI (disambiguation). The Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). Title 28, United States Code (U. Code), Section 533, which authorizes headquarters. He did so in a manner which appeared strikingly similar to the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Although The Turner Diaries was originally only available by mail order and at special events (events where booths could be easily reserved for independent sellers). It is believed to have sold half a million copies.
The Turner Diaries is also believed to have been the inspiration behind a small group of militant white nationalists in the early 1980sMillennia: 1st millennium 2nd millennium 3rd millennium Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s Years: 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 Events and trends who called themselves the Brüder Schweigen, or sometimes simply The Order. The Order was connected to numerous crimes, including counterfeiting and bank robbery. The Order's leader, Robert Jay Matthews, died in a shoot out with police and federal agents on Whidbey Island in Washington. Other Order members, most notably David Lane, were captured and sent to federal prisons, where they continue to voice their support for white nationalism.
Other titles by Pierce include Hunter ( 1984), which reads more like a survival manual for individual militants than a blueprint for revolution, and New World Order Comix # 1:The Saga of White Will!! ( 1993), which is directed at white youth.
Pierce spent his final years in relative seclusion in West Virginia, where he hosted a weekly radio show, American Dissident Voices, and oversaw his publishing and record companies devoted to the promotion of his white nationalist political ideology and Cosmotheist spirituality.