Behold a Pale Horse (book)
| Milton William Cooper | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
May 6, 1943 Long Beach, California, U.S. |
| Died | November 6, 2001 (aged 58) Eagar, Arizona, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Gunshot |
| Resting place | Springerville Cemetery Springerville, Arizona |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Bill Cooper |
| Occupation | Conspiracy theorist, radio broadcaster, author |
Milton William "Bill" Cooper (May 6, 1943 – November 6, 2001) was an American conspiracy theorist, radio broadcaster, and author best known for his 1991 book Behold a Pale Horse, in which he warned of multiple global conspiracies, some involving extraterrestrial aliens. Cooper also described HIV/AIDS as a man-made disease used to target blacks, Hispanics, and homosexuals, and that a cure was made before it was implemented. He has been described as a "militia theoretician".
Little is known about Cooper's background and education, beyond the information supplied in his own accounts. Public records indicate a period of service in the United States Navy, including a tour of duty in Vietnam with two service medals. He claimed to have also served in the United States Air Force, as well as Naval Intelligence, until his discharge in 1975. He then attended a junior college in California, and worked for several technical and vocational schools before making his conspiracy theories known, beginning in 1988. Cooper expanded the speculations of earlier conspiracists by incorporating government involvement with extraterrestrials as a central theme.
Cooper produced and published Behold a Pale Horse in 1991. The book has been influential among "UFO and militia circles". Just prior to the trial of Terry Nichols in 1997, The Guardian described it as "the manifesto of the militia movement".
According to sociologist Paul Gilroy, Cooper claimed "an elaborate conspiracy theory that encompasses the Kennedy assassination, the doings of the secret world government, the coming ice age, and a variety of other covert activities associated with the Illuminati's declaration of war upon the people of America". Political scientist Michael Barkun characterized it as "among the most complex superconspiracy theories", and also among the most influential due to its popularity in militia circles as well as mainstream bookstores. Historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke described the book as a "chaotic of conspiracy myths interspersed with reprints of executive laws, official papers, reports and other extraneous materials designed to show the looming prospect of a world government imposed on the American people against their wishes and in flagrant contempt of the Constitution."
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