You’ve likely stumbled upon the name in a dusty corner of a political forum or a footnote in a Southern history book. The Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC) isn’t exactly a household name for Gen Z, but for anyone tracking the shift of American far-right politics over the last forty years, it’s a massive, uncomfortable piece of the puzzle. It didn't just appear out of thin air.
The group is basically the direct descendant of the old White Citizens' Councils of the 1950s and 60s. Those were the "button-down" segregationists—men in suits who fought the Civil Rights Movement with lawsuits and economic pressure rather than hoods and torches. By 1985, the movement needed a makeover. That’s when Robert "Gordon" Baum and a few others founded the CofCC in St. Louis, Missouri. They weren't trying to be the KKK. They were trying to be "respectable."
The Shadow of the Citizens' Councils
To understand the Council of Conservative Citizens, you have to look at the "Citizens' Councils of America." In the mid-20th century, these groups were everywhere in the South. They were often called the "White Collar Klan." They didn't want the chaos of the KKK; they wanted the law to stay exactly as it was: segregated. When the old council infrastructure started to crumble after the successes of the Civil Rights Movement, the remaining members didn't just go home. They rebranded.
The CofCC inherited the mailing lists. That’s a huge detail people miss. They started with a ready-made audience of tens of thousands of people who were already sympathetic to "traditional" Southern views. For a long time, this wasn't some fringe underground bunker group. In the 1990s, they were surprisingly well-connected. We’re talking about state legislators, local judges, and school board members attending their meetings. It was a bridge between mainstream conservatism and what we now call white nationalism.
When the Mainstream Stopped Calling Back
Things changed in the late 90s. The group’s newsletter, the Citizens Informer, wasn't exactly hiding its views on race mixing or immigration. It was blunt. It was harsh.
In 1998, a scandal broke that basically nuked the group's mainstream credibility. It turned out that high-ranking politicians, including then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and Congressman Bob Barr, had ties to the group or had spoken at their events. Lott later tried to distance himself, saying he didn't know their specific views, but the damage was done. The Republican National Committee eventually told its members to stay away.
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The CofCC website once famously described black people as a "retrograde species of humanity." You can't really spin that. It’s not just "conservative." It’s a very specific, racialized worldview that centers on the idea that Western civilization is inseparable from European heritage. They called it "heritage," critics called it white supremacy. The line between those two definitions is exactly where the CofCC lived for decades.
The Charleston Connection and the Digital Shift
For a while, the group faded. They were seen as a bunch of aging men in cheap suits meeting in hotel conference rooms. Then 2015 happened. Dylann Roof, the gunman who murdered nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, wrote a manifesto. In it, he specifically credited the Council of Conservative Citizens website as his primary source of "information" on black-on-white crime.
He wasn't a member. He didn't attend meetings. But the group's propaganda—specifically their framing of crime statistics—was the catalyst for his radicalization. This was a massive wake-up call for researchers at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It showed that even if a group’s physical membership is shrinking, its digital footprint can be lethal. The CofCC’s focus on "black-on-white crime" became a template for the modern Alt-Right.
The group’s leadership at the time, including then-president Earl Holt, tried to distance the organization from the shooting, stating they didn't advocate for violence. But the optics were terminal. PayPal cut them off. Their web presence was throttled. They became a pariah even among many other right-wing circles who saw them as "too radioactive."
What the Council of Conservative Citizens Actually Believes
If you read their "Statement of Principles," it sounds almost mundane at first. They talk about "limited government," "states' rights," and "traditional family values." But then you hit the sections on "Non-European Migration."
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- The Core Tenet: They believe the United States is a European-derived nation and should stay that way.
- Opposition to Globalism: They hate free trade agreements like NAFTA and anything that diminishes national sovereignty.
- Confederate Iconography: They are huge defenders of Confederate monuments and the battle flag, seeing them as symbols of ethnic identity rather than just history.
The CofCC isn't a monolith, though. It’s always been a loose federation of local chapters. A chapter in South Carolina might be obsessed with the flag, while a chapter in the Midwest might be focused entirely on immigration. This decentralized nature made them hard to kill off entirely, even after the scandals of the 90s and 2015.
The Leadership Vacuum
After Gordon Baum died in 2015, the group struggled. Baum was the glue. He was a lawyer, a savvy operator who knew how to navigate the legalities of political organizing. Without him, and under the crushing weight of the Charleston association, the group splintered.
Newer, flashier groups started to steal their thunder. Groups like Identity Evropa (now defunct) or the Patriot Front took the "white identity" baton but updated the aesthetic for a younger, more tech-savvy generation. The CofCC started to look like a relic. Their website, once a hub for far-right news, began to look like a 2004 blog. Honestly, they just couldn't keep up with the speed of the internet.
The Lasting Influence on Modern Politics
You might think they’re gone, but their DNA is everywhere. The way the CofCC framed the "great replacement" (though they used different terms) and their hyper-focus on specific crime data has become standard fare in certain corners of social media. They pioneered the "we’re not racist, we’re just pro-white" rhetoric that defines a lot of modern identitarian movements.
Heck, if you look at the rhetoric around "Western Values" today, you can hear echoes of the speeches given at CofCC conferences in the 80s. They were the bridge. They took the raw, unfiltered racism of the Jim Crow era and processed it into something that could—for a time—sit at the table with United States Senators.
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Navigating the Reality of the CofCC
It is vital to distinguish between "conservatism" as a general political philosophy and the specific racialist platform of the Council of Conservative Citizens. Most mainstream conservatives reject the group entirely. However, ignoring their history is a mistake. They represent the persistent strain of "blood and soil" nationalism that has always existed as a subcurrent in American life.
Today, the group is a shadow of its former self. Their active membership is likely in the low hundreds, if that. But their archives and the narratives they pushed for thirty years continue to circulate in the "manosphere" and on fringe message boards. They aren't the powerhouse they were in 1994, but as a case study in how fringe ideas move into the mainstream, they are incredibly relevant.
Actionable Insights: How to Track and Understand Fringe Groups
If you are researching the Council of Conservative Citizens or similar organizations for academic or journalistic reasons, you need a strategy. You can't just rely on their own self-descriptions, nor can you rely solely on their detractors.
- Use Archive Tools: Many of the most incriminating CofCC articles have been taken down. Use the Wayback Machine to look at their site from 1999 to 2005. That’s where the real "meat" of their ideology is exposed.
- Monitor the Secondary Influence: Don't just look for the name "Council of Conservative Citizens." Look for their talking points. When you see specific, unsourced "crime stats" or "demographic shift" maps, they often trace back to CofCC publications from decades ago.
- Cross-Reference with SPLC and ADL: These organizations have tracked the CofCC for decades. Their reports provide a necessary counter-narrative to the group's "heritage" claims, documenting the specific white nationalist ties of the board members.
- Evaluate the "Button-Down" Strategy: Study the CofCC to understand how extremist groups attempt to gain "respectability." Notice the clothing, the formal language, and the use of pseudo-legal arguments. This is a recurring tactic in American politics.
Understanding the CofCC isn't about giving them a platform; it's about recognizing the patterns of radicalization that still affect the country today. Their story is a reminder that political movements don't die—they just change their clothes.