C. Leon de Aryan

Constantine Leon de Aryan born Constantino Leon Leganopol(1886 - December 13, 1965) was a political candidate in San Diego, California and publisher of the anti-semitic and controversial paper, The Broom. He was indicted for sedition on July 21, 1942 and January 4, 1943, but never stood trial. De Aryan also had a weekly radio broadcast show on the local San Diego station KGB.

Early life

De Aryan was born in Romania to parents of Greek and Polish descent. As a child he attended school in Austria and stayed there until he was 19. He was trained as an engineer and worked on British projects in Egypt and India. He arrived in Boston in 1912. He joined the US Army and received a dishonorable discharge in 1914. He later moved to Mexico returning after the end of World War I.

In 1926 he was living in Los Angeles where he became an American citizen and changed his last name to de Aryan vowing to become a champion of the Aryan Race. In San Deigo he worked for the Public Works Department.

He started his paper The Broom in October 1930.

In 1939 he filed a lawsuit over what he believed was a one cent overcharge in taxes. The case was appealed to the US Supreme Court where they decided not to overrule the decision of a California lower court.

De Aryan professed to be a believer in the religion Zoroastrianism although his paper embraced Christianity.

He was a candidate for mayor of San Diego, California in 1932. In the early 1950s he opposed the fluoridation of the city's water supply.

He had a son, Fred de Aryan who once described his father as a "rugged individualist."

External link

• "The San Diego Crack Pot"

See also

• Great Sedition Trial of 1944