Rediscovering

After Sept. 11, 2001, Americans across the country saw enemies and wanted security. In Arizona, the terrorist attacks ushered in a new era focused on the border with Mexico.

From self-appointed border patrols to a newfound focus for “America’s toughest sheriff,” Joe Arpaio, nativism took hold in Arizona. Initially, it drew support from people with serious personal problems and morphed into a broad, national political movement that helped propel Donald Trump to the White House.

The often-angry politics that characterized the ascendent right took a darker turn when Trump lost Arizona in the 2020 presidential election. Arizonans helped play a central role in the effort to sidestep the results, culminating in their involvement with the riot at the U.S. Capitol and a months-long indulgence in partisan conspiracy theories. It kept the state in an unflattering spotlight.

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Even before Arizona was a state, it was a hotbed for extremism. Images of gunfights and brothels were thrust upon it by writers back East, but it wasn’t far from the Wild West mentality adopted in the territory.

Settlers, some looking for an escape from government control, found haven in the hot deserts of early Arizona, clashing with the Native Americans already living here.

Arizona teemed with residents sympathetic to the Confederate cause, and when the Civil War ended, an outsized share of Southerners settled in the territory.

Another group made its way to the sparsely populated land. Brigham Young urged Mormon families from Utah to Arizona to broaden the church’s reach at a time of sometimes violent resistance to polygamy sweeping the nation.

With these groups came divergent ideas about race, religion and politics. Arizona was positioned to be an unsettled hellscape from its very beginning.

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Face-painted, shirtless and wearing bullhorns, Arizona resident Jacob Chansley became the face of the January 6 insurrection. Meanwhile President Donald Trump used Arizona as ground zero to try and over turn the results of the 2020 election. Arizona lawmakers leaned in.

While this was happening, one question came to mind:

What is going on in Arizona?

Chansley is an outlier, but he's not alone. Extremism is nothing new in Arizona and it’s been happening for generations.

From Confederate soldiers to the John Birch Society, militias patrolling the Mexican border to Arizona Proud Boys joining the Capitol insurrection, Arizona has a long history of indulging extremists, people whose views often reflect anger and intolerance.

This history isn't random acts of criminal behavior but a threaded story of disillusionment, distrust of government and sometimes outright rebellion which have mixed into Arizona’s culture and politics.

In season 4 of Rediscovering, an investigative podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts of The Gaggle Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl break down over a century of state history to give context to the state's brushes with extremism.

Rediscovering: The Roots of Radicalism, coming this summer.

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After World War II ended, Arizona boomed as modern comforts made life in the desert more palatable. The state’s growth brought political upheaval and largely reinforced a social obliviousness to civil rights.

As the state grew, it shed its loyalty to Democrats in favor of a conservatism marked with anti-Communist zealotry. Sen. Joseph McCarthy, R-Wisconsin, held the nation in a grip of fear over alleged communist infiltration at the highest levels in the U.S. government and military. He found a reliable ally in Arizona’s Barry Goldwater.

He came to define a new brand of politics and governance that culminated in Goldwater’s 1964 presidential run. His supporters included fringe groups such as the John Birch Society and a willingness to ignore the call for civil rights at a time when it was a rising national movement. Arizona offered a mixed record on civil rights that left Goldwater unmoved.

His presidential run ended in defeat, but it also helped plant ideological seeds for Ronald Reagan’s 1980 triumph. Back home in Arizona, voters sent Goldwater back to Washington for another three terms.

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After discovering that the Funk family may have wiretapped his phones, Don Bolles was put in a unique position. He wasn’t so much a reporter as he was trying to solve a crime.

Helping him in this endeavor was his reporting partner, Dom Frasca. Frasca was a Pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter who had experience looking into the mafia.

When the duo started asking questions, major concerns were raised about the credibility of their main source. Despite those concerns, the paper wanted to go public about the allegations.

It was a decision that would cost them.

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