Robert Rice Reynolds, often known to his supporters as "Our Bob," was an American politician, publisher, and writer who served as a Democratic U.S. Senator representing North Carolina from 1932 to 1945. Born in 1884, Reynolds built a political career that became increasingly defined by his staunch isolationist stance in the lead-up to and during World War II. Over his tenure, his political positions shifted toward the extreme right, earning him notoriety for his defense of Nazi aggression in Europe and his alignment with fascist elements in the United States.
Beyond his legislative duties, Reynolds was active in political publishing and propaganda. He was a part-owner of The Defender, an antisemitic newspaper, which he co-published in collaboration with the prominent American fascist Gerald L. K. Smith. Reynolds also publicly supported Smith's publication, The Cross and the Flag, which actively opposed the Allied war effort. Throughout his later career in the Senate, Reynolds utilized his official office and congressional franking privileges to distribute isolationist and subversive literature postage-free, cementing his legacy as a highly controversial figure of the World War II era. He died in 1963.
