John Sharpe (publisher)

For other people named John Sharpe, see John Sharpe (disambiguation).

John Forrest Sharpe, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a former submarine officer and media spokesman for the Atlantic Fleet, is the author and publisher of numerous articles and books on the economic theory of distributism. He is chairman of the publishing house IHS Press in Virginia; the vice-chairman is Derek Holland. IHS Press and the Legion of St. Louis (LSL), another publishing entity run by Sharpe that sells books such as Henry Ford's The International Jew and Michael A. Hoffman II's Strange Gods of Judaism, are on the list of hate groups for the nonprofit civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center.

Controversies over alleged racist views

On March 7, 2007, John Sharpe was temporarily relieved of duty pending a Navy inquiry into allegations that he was involved in supremacist activities.

In 2008, the Catholic University of America canceled a lecture series in which Sharpe was to speak after the Southern Poverty Law Center claimed Sharpe is anti-Semitic, though no review of his written opinion had occurred.

Sharpe later filed suit against Landmark Communications, claiming defamation in a news story. The suit sought $5 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages. In April 2009, Norfolk Circuit Court judge Norman A. Thomas issued his opinion. In it, Thomas grants a summary judgment to the defendants on the major issues of the case, concluding that Sharpe’s writings "do espouse anti-Semitic and racist views...No reasonable person can read Sharpe’s individual writings and conclude that he espouses anything other than a deep, abiding and pervasive suspicion of and hostility toward Jews, whether considered as a collective people, religion, nation or ethnic group."

Speaking engagements

In 2005, Sharpe visited Australia to speak on Catholic social teachings. In conjunction with the Australian Thomas More Centre, he gave a talk entitled The Third Way: Distributism and the New Politics to a breakfast scheduled between the Annual National Civic Council Conference and the Thomas More Summer School. The event was recorded in the journal AD2000.

External links

• IHS Press
• Neo-Conned Anti-Iraq War Books
• Legion of St. Louis Non-working link
• Distributism Defended