16. One American traitor used the pseudonym Paul Revere in his broadcasts
On July 26, 1943, eight American broadcasters were indicted for treason, all of whom were charged with committing treason against the United States by supporting Nazi Germany. Among them was Douglas Chandler, a former US Naval officer who moved to Europe during the Depression. Chandler wrote approvingly of the Nazis in National Geographic and other publications, and when the war began he remained in Germany, broadcasting propaganda using the name Paul Revere and using Yankee Doodle as his theme song. His work was based on his personal thesis that the United States Government was controlled by Jewish business interests, and he was invariably pro-Nazi and anti-American in his broadcasts. In 1945 he was arrested in Bavaria and returned to the United States for trial in late 1946.
Chandler tried to use an insanity defense at trial, claiming that he had been suffering from severe paranoia, which influenced his thinking and his actions. It was a vain effort. Chandler was convicted on all ten counts of treason, and though the prosecutors argued strongly for the death penalty, stating that he had given his heart and soul to Hitler, “because he wanted Germany to win the war”, he was sentenced to life in prison in 1947. Sixteen years later President Kennedy commuted his sentence with the provision that he leave the United States and never be allowed to return. In August, 1963 Chandler was deported to West Germany.