Butterworth, Wally, 1901-1974

Radio broadcaster and conservative political activist, organizing the Defensive Legion of Registered Americans and its subgroup the Christian Voters & Buyers League.

From the description of Papers, 1930-1973. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 19273801

Born in 1901, the son of a well-known concert pianist, Hebert Wallace (Wally) Butterworth decided at an early age to be a singer. With money he earned from an after-school job, he bought a season ticket to the weekly Metropolitan Opera Philadelphia. He also took singing lessons and, after graduating from Swarthmore High School as president of his class, went on two successful singing tours in Canada and the eastern United States.

One day in the early 1930s while in New York, on the spur of the moment Butterworth decided to audition as an announcer for NBC radio. He was accepted and soon transferred to Chicago where a favorite assignment was covering the Chicago Civic Opera. He also announced the symphony, football games and livestock parades. He served a term in the Navy, and when ge got out he was asked to co-host "Vox Pop," "the oldest interview show on radio." On the show he interviewed people from 47 nations and all 48 states. He also worked as anchorman for both Democratic and Republican conventions on ABC and NBC radio in 1932 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran against Herbert Hoover.

In ensuing years Butterworth hosted numerous variety and quiz programs, some of which he designed. Beginning in the 1930s he contacted movie show proprietors offering to stage quiz shows in the movie houses on slow box office nights. His popularity continued until the early 1960s when Butterworth lost a lawsuit against General Electric over a contract for a television quiz show he felt was directly modeled after on of his radio programs.

He became quite disillusioned during these legal struggles. Soon after, he became politically active, privately producing records on political subjects under several labels. He also broadcasted a radio program in Atlanta on which he opposed the NAACP convention and attacked blacks, non-Christians, and Catholics. The show was cancelled after two weeks and the resulting lawsuit he filed against the radio station ended unsuccessfully.

Butterworth turned elsewhere in an attempt to find political satisfaction. With Mrs. W. H. Smith and James Venable, who owned the property in Stone Mountain where the Ku Klux Klan held annual meetings, Butterworth organized the Defensive Legion of Registered Americans in 1962. A subgroup of this organization was called the Christian Voters and Buyers League. One of the main purposes of this subgroup was to boycott all kosher food manufacturers and Jewish owned businesses.

Butterworth continued his private crusades, opposing gun control, sex education, parades, and the city of New York. He reviewed textbooks, incorporated the Constitution Party, and with the help of his sister, compiled various statistics such as the voting records of senators. Once nicknamed "the voice with the smile," an embittered Wally Butterworth died in Pennsylvania on February 24, 1974.

From the guide to the Wally Butterworth papers, 1930-1973, (Special Collections and University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries)