Francis E. Dec

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Francis E. Dec (1926–1996) was an American from Hempstead, New York known for his social-political tracts. He is classified by some as a kook.

According to several sources, he produced and self-published a series of fliers containing paranoid rants, with a number of common themes: the "Communist Gangster Computer God", its "Frankenstein Earphone Radio" and "Eyesight TV", political chicanery on the part of Presidents and Vice Presidents throughout history (For example Dec alleges that Lyndon Johnson lured John F. Kennedy to Dallas in order to have him killed, and that Teddy Roosevelt did the same to William McKinley by luring him to New York) as well as incorporating into his rants the District Attorney (Frank Gulotta) who prosecuted him and the Judge (William Sullivan) who presided over the court case which resulted in his conviction. Other themes include anti-communism, anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, and various other conspiracy theories, racial and otherwise.

Dec's publications have been republished in a number of places such as Robert Crumb's Weirdo magazine, and his work has found its way into the "Theology" of the "Church of the Sub-Genius" by way of the church's digest the "Stark Fist" which can be accessed here. [1] Additionally he is "recognized" as a "Saint" by the Discordians which lists him in the hierarchy here. [2] There is also an interesting mathematical analysis which uses some of Dec's writing in an entropic evaluation of the Voynich Manuscript which can be read here. [3] He was still alive and residing in a VA hospital in 1995, at which time he was visited by several people who had come across some of his rants and wanted to ask him about their origin and meaning. The visit produced no answers from Dec but it was fortuitous because Francis died only a few weeks later, on January 21, 1996.

His writings provide an interesting insight into advanced paranoia. It is believed by many that he suffered from schizophrenia, though without medical records it is only supposition. In 1985, after receiving a stack of Dec's flyers, Boyd "Doc" Britton (also known as "Doc on the Roq"), a disc jockey for the Los Angeles radio station KROQ-FM recorded himself reading five of Dec's rants over various background music selected and mixed at random. The tapes circulated underground, building further interest in Dec. The voice track from Boyd "Doc" Britton's recording was used by Psychic TV's track "Sir Francis E. Dec", though this uses different backcground music. MP3's of his original recordings are archived at WFMU's weblog here.

Dec's biographical details are sparse. He was born in the state of New York in 1926, son of Jan (later John F.), a butcher, and Rose Dec. Both of his parents were born in Poland and immigrated to the United States, his mother in 1911 and his father in 1912. Dec appears to have lived in the Long Island community of Hempstead, New York for most of his life. He enslited as a private in the Army Air Corps Reserve in April 1944. Dec also had an older brother, Joseph I. Dec, whom he mentions in several of his rants as "his only brother" which would imply that he only had one sibling.

Dec was at one time a lawyer. He was admitted to the New York State Bar Association on March 31, 1954 but was disbarred on January 19, 1959. He apparently was also a notary public. Dec was disbarred because he was convicted of two counts of Forgery in the Second Degree, Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, and Fraud or Deceit by a Notary Public. Dec tried, unsuccessfully, for years, to have the case overturned on appeal. All appeals were denied and the case, when it was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, was denied certiorari. Nevertheless, he continued to refer to himself as Francis E. Dec, Esq., in his correspondence.

More information has been obtained concerning Francis E. Dec's legal battles from the National Archives. A copy of the U.S. Supreme Court appeal has been obtained, and is available to view here [4]. This appeal is referred to as the "Maximum Conviction Appeal Brief" by Francis Dec in one of his rants. In viewing it some have observed what might be a conspiracy against him by forces within Nassau County, New York, though one must remember that this is only the view presented by Mr. Dec. Efforts are underway to unearth more information on Mr. Dec that may shed more light on this individual, especially the original court case, and biographical information on the man.

It seems likely that Dec's mental condition deteriorated after his conviction in the case cited above as his appeal brief, viewable here [5] though rambling, disjointed at times, and paranoia laden, still manages to be coherent and to present a fair representation of his perception of the errors in the conviction. While his "rants", produced later, lack coherence and are heavily laden with paranoia, as well as a highly developed conspiracy mindset. Though some of what has been produced by Dec in his "rants" can be seen in germinal form in his appeal brief, they are not fully developed as they later came to be.

One of the most interesting facts about Mr. Dec is that there are only a small number of his rants that are extant, even though he claims to have "mailed world-wide" countless fliers and letters in an effort to expose the conspiracies that he writes of. He mentions in his rants a "detailed 8 page letter", which purports to expose the "Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God", that he supposedly mailed to various political figures over the years. Three additional rants that he is known to have written, but which are currently unavailable for study are titled; "Astrocism-The True Religion of the Slovene People" and "The Pasteurized Milk Conspiracy", as well as the "History of the Computer God".

It seems that Dec's "rants" have a certain quality which some find to be viral and compelling, even in their apparent disjointedness and obvious derangement. This compelling, viral nature, in addition to the voice recordings are probably the two prime reasons that Dec is so well known.

It should be noted that most of the material collected on Francis E. Dec is thanks to Donna Kossy (see link below) and her immortalization of Dec in her book "Kooks", as well as Boyd "Doc on the ROQ" Britton for his recordings of several of Dec's rants. However the most extensive collection of Francis E. Dec material has been collated and unearthed by various members of and friends of the "Official Francis E. Dec Fanclub" (see link below for the most comprehensive information on Francis E. Dec and his life and times).