John Stormer, 90, activist and conservative author

NEW YORK — John A. Stormer, a religious leader and rightwing activist whose selfpublished Cold War tract “None Dare Call It Treason” became a grassroots sensation in 1964 and a rallying point for the emerging conservative movement, has died at 90.

Mr. Stormer died on July 10 after an unspecified yearlong illness, according to an obituary posted on the website of the McCoyBlossom Funeral Home in Troy, Mo.

A native of Pennsylvania who moved to Missouri in his 20s, he was chairman of the state’s Federation of Young Republicans when through his own Liberty Bell Press he released “None Dare Call It Treason.” He warned that the U.S. was losing to the Soviet Union and was menaced by a “communistsocialist conspira cy to enslave America.”

Initially ignored by the mainstream press, “None Dare Call It Treason” was among a handful of bestsellers that coincided with conservative Republican Barry Goldwater’s campaign for the 1964 presidential election, for which Mr. Stormer served as a party convention delegate. The success of Mr. Stormer’s and other books signaled a thriving political network that became increasingly powerful over the following decades.

In 1965, Mr. Stormer had a religious reawakening. He eventually became a pastor and president of the Missouri Association of Christian Schools. He also wrote occasional updates to “None Dare Call It Treason” and completed other works that alleged the country was threatened by its own institutions, including “None Dare Call It Education” and “Betrayed By the Bench,” about the judicial system.