15. Robert Best served the Nazi regime as a propagandist and broadcaster
Born in South Carolina and educated at Wofford College and Columbia’s School of Journalism, Robert Best was a veteran of World War I, during which he served in the Coastal Artillery. Between the wars he went to Europe and made Vienna his base of operations, writing for United Press International as well as The New York Times, Newsweek, Time, and several other publications. As the Nazi threat in Europe grew, especially following the Anschluss, Best became a supporter of Nazi policies and anti-Semitic views. By the early 1940s, his work output to American publications had dwindled to nothing, and UPI dismissed him. He was briefly interned by the Germans when the United States entered the war, but he convinced them that he would be more useful to their cause by remaining in Europe rather than being returned to the land of his birth.
Throughout the war, Best’s broadcasts were among the most virulent anti-American propaganda aired by the Germans. He was arrested by the British at the end of the war, transferred to the Americans, and returned to the United States for trial. He was convicted on twelve counts of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. His conviction was upheld on appeal and he entered the federal prison system, dying in custody in 1952. Besides his own broadcasts, which were invariably anti-Semitic in nature and scope, Richard Best was known to make frequent and valuable suggestions within the German propaganda machine which were intended to increase its effectiveness in controlling the values and beliefs of the German people. William L. Shirer wrote a novel entitled The Traitor in which the main character was based in part on Best.