William Gayley Simpson

William Gayley Simpson (July 23, 1892 – December 31, 1990) was an American white supremacist author, Presbyterian clergyman and lecture-circuit speaker. From the late 1910s to the 1920s, Simpson was a Christian left-wing labor activist and the associate director for the National Civil Liberties Bureau, the precursor to the American Civil Liberties Union.

He went on to live an ascetic Christian life, which gained him some amount of notoriety with American Christians, before traveling to India and Japan. In the late 1920s, Simpson became disillusioned with Christianity and his former politics and began lecturing criticizing Christianity and promoting Nietzschean ideas. He authored a book on these ideas, Toward The Rising Sun, in 1935.

Simpson later became a White supremacist and a member of the neo-Nazi group the National Alliance, led by William Luther Pierce. Simpson is most well-known for his 1978 book Which Way Western Man?, which claims there is a Jewish plot against White people, calls for violence against Jews, and says that Adolf Hitler was right. Simpson's ideology and works, particularly Which Way Western Man? has had an influence on several White supremacist and neo-Nazi figures.

Early life and education Simpson was born on July 23, 1892, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He was the son of Maxwell Gayley Simpson, a physician. Simpson was raised and completed his early education in Elizabeth, where he attended Battin High School. There he graduated at the age of 15 with honors. He later moved to North Dakota, and afterwards became a student assistant there. He was formally installed in June of that year. He was given a choice between service in a poor and run-down district in Perth Amboy or a wealthy one, and chose the former. He advocated a pacifist stance during World War I, which caused conflict with his congregation and led to his resignation. for a time working at the private faculty of Brookwood Labor College.

He became known as a mystic, and for living a life in "startling contrast" to then-modern conventions.

Abandonment and denunciation of Christianity

In the late 1920s,

Following two and a half years of public silence, where he lived on his farm, he returned to public speaking in 1935. as well as in Vermont in another conference, he criticized it by stating that it was detrimental to man, alongside democracy. The book opens with a biographical introduction by Jerome Davis of the Yale Divinity School, which describes Simpson's background and life. The book outlines Simpson's philosophy and religious beliefs, influenced by Nietzsche.

White supremacy

For the next few decades Simpson was largely a reclusive figure, and he later became an influential White supremacist. In June 1965, he was engaged to Harriet Storrs Nichols Whitcher. They married June 30, 1965. Simpson also became a member of William Luther Pierce's neo-Nazi organization the National Alliance.

The book, which recounts Simpson's ideological history, The book states that Adolf Hitler was right and advocates violence against Jewish people (whom he considered "Enemy No. 1"), including denial of their citizenship and forcible expulsion.

In the book, Simpson criticized Christianity by stating that it was fundamentally at odds with "Western man", leading to the destruction and the spiritual ruin of civilization. In place of Christianity, he promoted an evolutionary approach to spirituality. The book also criticizes democracy and promotes eugenics. Simpson described himself with pride as a racist in the book, writing that: "Race consciousness, and discrimination on the basis of race, are absolutely essential to any race's survival, and to any nation's survival. [...] Unless we recover our race consciousness, and maintain it, and heighten it, and live by it, we shall die." His ideology and works influenced several White supremacist and neo-Nazi thinkers. Which Way Western Man? was a substantial influence on Robert Jay Mathews, the founder of the neo-Nazi terrorist group The Order. The book also influenced Ben Klassen, the founder of the Church of the Creator, In 2025, the official Twitter account for the United States Department of Homeland Security posted an image as part of a campaign to recruit people to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The image was captioned "Which Way, American Man?", an apparent reference to Simpson's book. In 2026, in the context of American pursuits of annexing Greenland, the White House posted a meme on Twitter with the question: "Which way, Greenland man?", which Heidi Beirich of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism described as a reference to the book.