Career
After high-school, he served as a helicopter door-gunner in Vietnam. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Back in the United States. he became a Klansman, leading a maritime Louisiana KKK element against government help to Vietnamese immigrant fishermen.
He is considered to be the first important proponent of the strategy of leaderless resistance.
In recent years, Beam has maintained a significantly lower profile. According to ADL/LEARN, he has been fighting against a government he views as "tyrannical and controlled by Jewish conspirators" for more than thirty years.
He cites Thomas Jefferson in resistance to tyranny. Beam refused Aryan Nation"s head Richard Girnt Butler"s offer of leadership of the religious group in 1988 and chose to continue to work alone.
During the past twenty years, he has had limited influence except for rare postings on the internet.
His essay Leaderless Resistance has been translated into seven languages.