Between 1950 and 1963, John Kasper sent 400 letters to Pound and received an unknown number of replies.
19 Facts About John Kasper
1.
2.
In 1953, John Kasper opened the Make It New bookshop in Greenwich Village, displaying Pound's letters in the shop window.
3.
John Kasper campaigned against racial integration in the Southern United States, calling it a Jewish plot.
4.
In those activities and others, John Kasper believed he was disseminating the poet's ideas.
5.
Pound's association with John Kasper caused chagrin among those who were attempting to have Pound released from St Elizabeths Hospital, where he was incarcerated on charges of treason.
6.
Imbibing Pound's right-wing ideas, Kasper formed the Seaboard Citizens Council immediately after the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Brown v Board of Education case, with the aim of preventing desegregation in Washington.
7.
John Kasper's daughter, named Ruthanne Rose, was born in December 1978.
8.
John Kasper was known to be in Florida and North Carolina for a time.
9.
John Kasper married a woman in 1992 and had another child in 1995 before his death in 1998.
10.
John Kasper came to public attention during the integration of Clinton High School in Clinton, Tennessee.
11.
John Kasper sought to mobilize opponents of the desegregation order, and was arrested during the resulting unrest.
12.
In 1956, John Kasper was under a court order to desist from obstructing desegregation, which he ignored, prompting his arrest and those of 15 other segregationists.
13.
In 1957, John Kasper was found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to one year in jail.
14.
John Kasper was sentenced to six months in a workhouse and fined $500.
15.
In January 1960, John Kasper reported to the Davidson County Jail to serve his sentence on his state conviction.
16.
John Kasper attracted negligible support: just 6,434 votes in just two states, Kentucky and Arkansas.
17.
John Kasper returned to his northern roots in 1967 and effectively left politics, settling down to family life and a series of clerical jobs, the last being as an auditor for TTX.
18.
John Kasper died on April 7,1998 at the age of 68 when his boat capsized.
19.
John Kasper was survived by his wife Tram Houng and three children.