The Life And Legacy Of Willis A. Carto

For those of you who respect what President Donald Trump is attempting to do to restore traditional values to America, it’s most likely that many of you may have never heard of the man who blazed the way for Trump to sweep into the Oval office: Willis Allison Carto. In fact, his list of accomplishments is so significant, it would fill many volumes, but without a doubt, Carto was the most important Nationalist, populist figure in America prior to Trump. Carto was born in 1926 and passed away peacefully..with his wife of nearly 60 years by his side..on October 26, 2015. His wife, Elisabeth was also by his side throughout his entire life, contributing greatly to his success. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Carto was drafted into the u.s.army in 1944, earning a Purple Heart when he received a memento from a Japanese infantryman on Cebu island in the Philippines on May 5, 1945. Carto carried the scars of that wound to his last day.

Now everything Carto created…from 1953 to 2015..and passed on to his wife, is in danger of being lost. It was in 2001 that Carto began publication of American Free Press (AFP) a weekly newspaper in the populist motif of an earlier newspaper he created, The Spotlight. AFP is published to this day but is in danger of imminent collapse due to the machinations of three men. Circulation, which began at around 60,000 subscribers, is now well below 10,000 and falling fast. This is due to the fact that the paper has strayed from its original mission of covering stories ignored by the corporate media, so-called “controversial” issues. It is also due to the fact that there have been no attempts to increase subscribership..for new subscribers or contact those who let their subscriptions expire..which may seem counterintuitive but is being done for reasons which will be explained later. In March of 2014 the Carto’s accountant declared that the companies’ total assets were $2.4 million, an indication of how successful the empire was that the Cartos built over six decades. In 2015, in poor health, Carto made provisions to have his lifetime of work continued, and two of these men, Christopher J. Petherick and Paul T. Angel..who Carto employed for many years..had given their solemn word of honor that they would continue in the tradition that he had laid down for AFP and its sister publication,

The Barnes Review (TBR). TBR was founded by Carto..as publisher and editor..in 1994 as a bimonthly magazine covering America first causes and revisionist history. He could never have known that these individuals that he trusted, would assault his legacy before he was even buried in Arlington National cemetery in February of 2016, although it was revealed after his death that Petherick and Angel had connived at least three times to take control of Carto’s life’s work. Neither attended his funeral services nor did they send anything to mark his passing. This in light of the fact that both..as Independent contractors..were paid handsomely by Carto, to the tune of over $100,000 each, annually. Carto had set up a board of directors for AFP and TBR, with five individuals overseeing all company business. He was the chairman of the board but before he died, Petherick and Angel “packed” the board, acting as if they were now the owners of these two entities, as well as a third: The Foundation to Defend the First Amendment (FDFA) a non-profit dedicated to..as the title states…the defense of the U.S. Constitution’s First amendment. Willis was dead for less than a year, and his name was removed as founder from AFP. Then Petherick and Angel claimed they lacked sufficient funds to continue operating both AFP and TBR and needed to cut expenses. Willis…who worked for over 60 years for Nationalist causes without ever getting paid…had set up a retirement stipend for himself and his wife during the last few months of his life.

 Less than six months after his death, they ousted Elisabeth in April of 2016. When AFP and TBR subscribers would call the office to ask about Elisabeth…she was a permanent fixture there for all those decades…the people answering the phone were directed to lie and to tell the callers she had retired voluntarily. In January of 2017, Petherick and Angel reneged on the stipend that Elisabeth was entitled to…according to the contract they signed…leaving her in a tenuous financial position, as she had depended upon Willis to provide for her daily needs for almost her entire life. Petherick and Angel had ordered their highly paid lackey, AFP’s webmaster, Canadian Jason Snow..to do the dirty work and leave Mrs. Carto to fend for herself, such a short time after her husband’s death. Revealingly, Petherick..who for years maintained the title of executive editor, now referred to himself as editor-in-chief…emailed Elisabeth with the following on January 9, 2017:  “See below and the attached letter from Jason Snow to you. He will be your point of contact for this from here on.”

Effectively, Willis Carto’s widow, while still grieving, was told with only a few days notice that she would no longer receive anything from the companies she and her husband had created. After all she’s been through, Elisabeth continues working diligently on Willis’ papers and has created two websites to share his life’s work. She does not intend to stop soon. This…while Petherick and Angel continue to pay themselves exorbitantly, each taking home $100,000 annually. Snow, meanwhile, the part-time webmaster is “earning” nearly $50,000 a year for doing almost nothing. Even more alarming is the fact that the AFP had gone from a weekly paper…since its inception..to biweekly, but Petherick, Angel and Snow suffered no reduction in pay, although there was half the amount of work that needed to be done.

 Incredibly, these three have taken steps to declare themselves owners of the companies the Cartos created. This was revealed in the pages of AFP, which is required to annually print United States Postal Service Form 3526,which is a statement of ownership that lists the number of the newspapers subscribers (8,216). Petherick, Angel and Snow are now listed as the owners. In effect, they are squatters, milking these companies for all they can get from them.

This is part 1 of how Willis and Elisabeth Carto’s America first mission is being betrayed and in danger of becoming irrelevant. Stay tuned for more information on how this organization…which held out so much hope for the common man…is now nothing more than a tool used by three men to enrich themselves at the expense of all that was painstakingly created by the Cartos.

PUBLIUS, an Author of the Federalist Papers, Reporting from Washington, D.C.