David Lane (white supremacist)

David Eden Lane (November 2, 1938 – May 28, 2007) was an American neo-Nazi and a co-founder of the white supremacist organization The Order. For his actions as part of The Order, Lane was convicted and sentenced to 190 years in prison for racketeering, conspiracy, and the violation of the civil rights of Alan Berg, a Jewish radio talk show host, who prosecutors claimed was murdered by a member of the group via a drive-by shooting with Lane acting as driver, though they were unsuccessful in getting murder convictions. He died while incarcerated at the FCI Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Indiana.

While in prison, Lane wrote many white supremacist materials and coined the "Fourteen Words", a well known white supremacist slogan in North America. He has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as "one of the most important ideologues of contemporary white supremacy".

Early life

David Lane was born November 2, 1938 in Woden, Iowa. At the time of his birth, the town was largely populated by Germanic immigrants. Lane was the third of four siblings, with a brother and two sisters. His father was an alcoholic itinerant worker who was physically abusive toward his wife and children; Lane described his father as "a truly despicable creature", and described his mother as an "uneducated [...] farm girl". In one instance, his father beat Lane's older brother Roger so severely that he was rendered permanently deaf.