Bill Cooper in Waco

Wolfman Jack, David Koresh, and an American prophet

Today marks the 32nd anniversary of the Waco tragedy, a pivotal moment that transformed William Cooper from a UFO researcher into America's most influential (and infamous) conspiracy thinker. This week. A Paranoid's History of the United States explores how the 51-day standoff and fiery conclusion at the Branch Davidian compound provided Cooper with tangible evidence of what he'd been warning about all along — that the New World Order is out to get you. And how it will stop at nothing for its Luciferian agenda.

In my conversation with Mark Jacobson, I trace Cooper's journey from disillusioned Vietnam veteran to shortwave radio broadcaster whose theories gained validation when federal agents stormed the Branch Davidian compound, resulting in 76 deaths —including 25 children. We examine how this event crystallized Cooper's worldview, fueling his rivalry with emerging broadcaster Alex Jones before Cooper's own fatal 2001 confrontation with law enforcement.

Jacobson's book Pale Horse Rider offers a comprehensive biography of this complex figure whose evolving conspiracy theories reflected America's deepening distrust of institutions and influenced generations of anti-establishment movements that continue to shape our political landscape today.

Give it a listen:

TRANSCRIPT

Lenny Flatley: From Amphibian Media, this is A PARANOID’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. Each week, we explore America’s obsession with conspiracy theories, bringing untold stories to light and challenging what we think we know about our nation’s history. I’m Joseph L. Flatley.

ARCHIVAL: 1993 coverage over Waco Siege

Anchor: “The flames may be out but a firestorm of controversy rages on. After the assault on the Branch Davidian compound officials are starting to look for answers after doomsday in Waco. This morning investigators began sifting through the embers of the Waco compound searching for the bodies of more than 80 cult members believed killed in the fire.”

Lenny Flatley: Today we're examining how the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas became a pivotal moment for William Cooper, one of the most influential conspiracy broadcasters of the 1990s. By this time, Cooper had already been “drummed out” of the UFO research community, which changed his focus to secret societies and government conspiracies. But the 51-day standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians, which ended in the deaths of 76 people including 25 children, served as devastating confirmation of Cooper's warnings about government tyranny. His broadcasts during and after the siege would help shape the modern American militia movement and inspire a new wave of anti-government extremism, as Cooper used Waco to validate his existing theories about the true nature of federal power.

Our guide through this story is Mark Jacobson, author of PALE HORSE RIDER: WILLIAM COOPER, THE RISE OF CONSPIRACY, AND THE FALL OF TRUST IN AMERICA. Mark is a veteran journalist who has written for NEW YORK MAGAZINE and THE VILLAGE VOICE, among others.

Mark Jacobson: You know, I happen to know a lot about this topic, and I'm more than happy to tell you all about it. You've got a microphone there, and most people really don't care. [laughs.] I mean, if you know something, you want to tell people.

Lenny Flatley: In a recent conversation, Mark and I discussed how Waco transformed the American conspiracy landscape — particularly through the lens of William Cooper, a former UFO researcher who would become one of the most influential voices in the militia movement.

WACO

Lenny Flatley: On February 28th, 1993, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, home to a religious group known as the Branch Davidians. The Davidians allegedly possessed M16 carbine “kits” that could convert AR-15s into fully automatic weapons, which was against the law. The search warrant indicated that many of the weapons were unregistered, making them illegal.

The siege ended tragically on April 19th, when the FBI's tear gas assault culminated in a fire that killed seventy-six Branch Davidians, including twenty-five children. The cause of the fire remains disputed — the government claims the Branch Davidians set it themselves, while survivors blame the FBI.

Among those watching these events unfold was William Cooper, a former Naval Intelligence officer who had become a prominent voice in the far-right patriot movement. For Cooper, Waco wasn't just a tragedy — it was validation of everything he had been warning about on his radio show THE HOUR OF THE TIME. Like others in the patriot movement, Cooper saw Waco as a call to action.

Cooper was a controversial figure, known for his erratic style and his insistence that listeners think for themselves and verify everything — even his own claims. His story — from military man to conspiracy theorist to his eventual death at the hands of law enforcement — offers a window into the rise of anti-government sentiment in America and the birth of the modern radical right that continues to shape our politics and culture today.

COOPER’S EARLY LIFE

ARCHIVAL: Bill Cooper’s Missing interview

William Cooper: “I did not believe that the government would use me in that way. I had devoted my whole life to government service. I had been in the Air Force. I was in the Navy — I was a river patrol captain in Vietnam. I had improved myself. I had combat ribbons [...] there was no doubt of my loyalty to my country. And maybe that's why it was so easy to use me. Because I wouldn't doubt that what I saw was real. But over the years I've done a lot of research. What I've discovered is there's no proof existing anywhere that extraterrestrials are real, or that have ever visited this planet, or that they exist anywhere in the universe. There is not one shred of evidence anywhere.”

Lenny Flatley: Cooper’s early life was steeped in military tradition. Born into a military family, he followed what seemed to be a predetermined path into service. His father was a decorated combat veteran of World War II, and young William grew up with a deep sense of patriotic duty. He enlisted in the Navy with genuine conviction, believing he was fighting for his country’s freedom and ideals. He even specifically requested an assignment to fight in Vietnam.

As a commander of a patrol boat near the Demilitarized Zone, Cooper experienced the brutal realities of warfare firsthand. The river, as he would later describe it, was an endless, mysterious, and evil monster to be confronted each night. The death of his friend Bob Barron particularly affected him, triggering what Cooper described as a “personal war” against the enemy. The constant danger, the difficulty of distinguishing allies from enemies, and the moral ambiguity of the conflict began to erode his faith in the military mission.

Mark Jacobson: Bill Cooper ... he’s a classic American, discontented person.

I mean, he's, you know, he joins the Navy, but he gets seasick. I mean, he's a fucking pussy in a lot of ways, you know? I mean, he is. I mean, he's fucking up, every single thing. He's a fuck up, you know.

Lenny Flatley: After the war, Cooper settles in California.

Mark Jacobson: So he's eking out an existence, teaching diving in these kind of like, made up Trump University places in Southern California. And then he realized he's got this radio jones. [...] The greatest single person in his life is Wolfman Jack. He wants to be like Wolfman Jack. I mean, you know, I'm just giving you the rap as far as how it comes down to me as somebody who looked really, very deeply into this guy's life and was insane enough to write a whole book about him. This is what, this is the stuff that I remember.

Lenny Flatley: The 1980s proved challenging for Cooper. He struggled with Post-Traumatic Delayed Stress Syndrome, requiring two separate stays at the Long Beach Veterans Administration Medical Center. The nightmares haunted him, and the financial pressures mounted. He felt like a failure, a “walking stigma” in a society that seemed fundamentally different from the one he had left.

Cooper’s military experience transformed him from a loyal soldier into a fierce critic of the establishment. His exposure to what he perceived as systematic government deception in Vietnam led him to reject all forms of institutional authority. He became what he described as a “hell-raiser” and an anti-authoritarian individualist. The military man who had once followed in his father’s patriotic footsteps now saw himself as a warrior against what he perceived to be a corrupt system.

This transformation was not immediate — but rather, a gradual process of disillusionment. Each revelation of government deception, each contradiction between official statements, added another layer to his growing skepticism. The young man who had eagerly volunteered for combat duty felt he had been reduced to “cannon fodder in a huge game of RISK played by powerful puppeteers.”

He went into the military thinking he was fighting for freedom. He left with the realization that he actually fought for big business and the coming one-world government.

BILL AND THE UFOs

ARCHIVAL: The Hour of the Time

Bill Cooper: Years ago, many, many years ago, back in 1972, I was sitting at my desk at about 4:30 in the morning at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief of the United States Pacific Fleet, arranging the information that had come in over the last 24 hours into a logical order, so that we could prepare a briefing for the Admiral and his staff, which would take place later that morning. Among the papers I found on my desk was a document entitled Operation Majority. And it was not the entire paperwork involving this operation. It was merely a synopsis of the operation and projects contained under it, One of these projects was called Project Red Light. The purpose, according to this document, was to back-engineer captured extraterrestrial technology for adaptation into the United States Space Program.

Lenny Flatley: That was from Bill Cooper’s radio show, THE HOUR OF THE TIME.

As a disillusioned veteran questioning everything he once believed in, he found purpose in the UFO movement of the 1980s. He leveraged his time in Naval Intelligence, to bolster his credibility when making extraordinary claims. He insisted he had seen classified documents about extraterrestrials while working in intelligence — evidence, he claimed, of a massive government cover-up of alien contact. His military credentials and confident delivery made these fantastic stories seem more plausible to his growing audience.

Cooper quickly established himself within the UFO research community, partnering with John Lear, son of the Lear Jet inventor. Together, they became prominent voices in promoting the MJ-12 conspiracy — a theory about a secret government group allegedly managing extraterrestrial affairs.

We covered MJ-12 in episode 2 of this series — the origin of this myth was misinformation first leaked by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Mark Jacobson: You can make a case by saying that the UFO thing is the biggest single cover up in the history of the 20th century, right? If they really exist, and the government is covering them up, which is like kind of, I don't know, you know?

There are some things that it's like, the opposite of faith.

What Cooper gets, and a lot of people like him, is the faith that something is fucked up. Nothing is nothing is what it seems like to be. So you know, what's really the moving parts below this, how they’re trying to trick me. What is like this? Like the it's like your history of paranoia, which is basically about how, how, what is the thing that that they're trying to cover up here. What is the thing that they're not telling us, you know?

Lenny Flatley: The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) eventually barred him from speaking at their conferences, frustrated by his tendency to push to the front of the line and his disregard for established protocols. Where others in the UFO community sought physical evidence and documented sightings, Cooper was more focused on exposing what he saw as a massive government conspiracy to hide the truth about extraterrestrial contact.

Cooper’s personality during this period was as complex as his theories. Associates described him as having a “voracious appetite for information,” combined with an uncanny ability to hold an audience’s attention through sheer force of personality. He could be eloquent and articulate one moment, belligerent and aggressive the next. His presentations were often unpredictable, mixing detailed technical information with broad philosophical observations about power and control.

As his UFO theories began to unravel under scrutiny, Cooper did something unusual in the world of conspiracy research: he publicly reversed his position. He announced that he had been wrong about extraterrestrials, suggesting instead that the UFO phenomenon was part of a more earthbound deception orchestrated by human agencies.

ARCHIVAL: MJ12

Bill Cooper: The plan for the destruction of the United States of America and the formation of a socialist, totalitarian One World Government under the United Nations is contained ladies and gentlemen within a set of top secret documents with the title Majesty 12.

The plan, ladies and gentlemen, for the creation of a socialist world government is protection by an invented extraterrestrial threat from space. The entire UFO phenomenon and the so-called UFO-ology — which I call the ‘u-foology movement’ has been created to further the protection and activation of this plan [...] which justifies the plan by presenting an extraterrestrial threat as the reason for the necessity for World Government.

Lenny Flatley: This pivot proved crucial in Cooper’s evolution as a conspiracy theorist. Rather than doubling down on increasingly implausible alien theories, he shifted his focus to encompass secret societies, global banking conspiracies, and what he saw as a broader plan to establish a “New World Order.”

He never stopped claiming that he had seen a UFO and read documents concerning aliens in the Navy. But now, he claimed that he was duped — the UFO hoax had been crafted by the Illuminati to help usher in a New World Order.

By 1991, Cooper had synthesized many of his theories into his book BEHOLD A PALE HORSE. It was an underground sensation, particularly in prison libraries where inmates found an explanation for their own experiences in Cooper’s theories. The book’s success marked his transition from UFO researcher to a broader conspiracy theorist, addressing everything from the Kennedy assassination to the AIDS epidemic.

This reflected a deeper pattern in his thinking. Each phase built upon the previous one, creating an increasingly complex worldview that attempted to make sense of what he saw as systematic deception and control. His military experience had convinced him of government deception; his UFO research had suggested the scale of the cover-up; and his subsequent investigations into secret societies and global conspiracies provided him with a comprehensive framework for understanding power and control in modern society.

But it would take another event — the siege at Waco — to provide Cooper with what he saw as definitive proof of everything he had been warning about, marking the beginning of the final and most influential phase of his career.

WACO: THE TURNING POINT

ARCHIVAL: Waco Standoff

Announcer: Channel 13 KTRK-TV Houston. We care about Texas. Now Eyewitness News with Dave Ward.

Dave Ward: Right now, we just don't know. Despite his pledge to surrender over seven hours ago, still no break reported tonight outside of Waco. Cult leader David Koresh apparently remains holed up in his heavily armed fortress and we assume that negotiations with law officers continue.

Lenny Flatley: The events at Waco marked a crucial transformation in William Cooper’s career as a conspiracy theorist and anti-government activist. After years of constructing elaborate theories about UFOs and secret societies, Cooper found in the Waco siege something far more tangible — concrete evidence of government tyranny playing out on live television.

Mark Jacobson: You gotta put him in his context of what he was doing at the time, because now we’re talking about something that happened 32 years ago. So it’s almost exactly 32 years ago. I mean, it’ll be April 19, right? So a key date in the history of ‘patriot land.’ So, what they responded to at that point, and what it looks like now, is something that really deserves to be looked at. I mean [...] Waco [...] that’s the pivotal moment, you know. The pivotal moment of, like, they burn these people alive — for what reason, you know? [...] I mean, there’s almost like every single thing that people on the right were saying came to fruition, in that standoff and then the inevitable attack on April 19. And that was one of the kind of things that [...] opened up a line of thinking for people that would never, ever be thinking like that.

Lenny Flatley: Where Cooper had previously dealt in abstractions about secret cabals and hidden agendas, Waco provided him with immediate, visible evidence of what he viewed as federal overreach. The military-style raid, the use of psychological warfare tactics, the presence of tanks on American soil — all of these elements aligned perfectly with the warnings Cooper had been issuing for years about government power run amok.

Cooper positioned himself as a voice for the oppressed, framing the Branch Davidians not as a dangerous cult but as American citizens exercising their constitutional rights. He emphatically rejected the government’s justifications for the raid, arguing that the Branch Davidians had broken no laws. The ATF’s claims — about illegal guns, drug labs, and child abuse only reinforced Cooper’s conviction that federal authorities were willing to lie to justify their actions.

For Cooper, Waco represented a crystallization of everything he believed about the nature of power and authority. The siege became a lens through which he viewed all subsequent government actions. Almost everything he said after Waco was buttressed by the events there. He saw in the government’s handling of the situation not just incompetence or overreach, but deliberate malice — a “shock test” to see how much stress the American population could endure.

In the aftermath of the standoff, Cooper’s radio broadcasts took on a new urgency. He began warning his listeners that Waco was just the beginning — a preview of what would happen if Americans didn’t wake up to the reality of government overreach. He urged his audience to “never forget” what happened at Mount Carmel, framing the siege not just as a tragedy but as a wake-up call for citizens to resist what he saw as encroaching federal tyranny.

ALEX JONES

ARCHIVAL: Alex Jones Interview with Bill Cooper

Alex Jones: What's going on, Mr. Cooper?

Bill Cooper: Hello.

Alex Jones: One of my friends just called in, he's got an Apache over his house with camera pods and infrared, taking film. We're going to play that on our TV show. This is just wonderful. We get followed around by unmarked police cars, openly taking 35mm photographs of us. That's just wonderful, isn't it?

Bill Cooper: Well, it's just one other manifestation of the Nazi Gestapo police state which is taking over this country.

Alex Jones: I mean, I get on this program six days a week and I know how you feel, when I talk to you this week, and I'm 24 years old. I'm ready to just say screw it [...] I mean, doesn't it ever anger you?

Bill Cooper: Well, of course it does. What angers me most is the stupidity of the vast herd of American sheeple out there that think they know something and they don't even know what planet they're on, to tell you the truth.

Lenny Flatley: In 1998, Alex Jones was not as well-known as he would later become, but he was already carving out his place in the conspiracy media landscape. He idolized Cooper, having grown up listening to his late-night broadcasts in Austin, Texas. Jones initially viewed Cooper as a mentor figure, incorporating many of his ideas about government overreach and the New World Order into his own shows. But as Jones's profile grew in the late 1990s, Cooper became one of his fiercest critics, seeing in Jones's rise a corruption of the movement he had helped create.

Mark Jacobson: I used to listen to Cousin Brucie on the radio, because rock and roll was my religion, right? And my parents would go: ‘shut that crap off,’ you know, ‘go to bed. You got school tomorrow.’ But Alex Jones was like, say that he would be listening to Bill Cooper later night, you know, wherever Austin or Dallas, wherever he's from, and and his parents would be screaming at him, you know, shut that stuff off [...] you know, he's not the best kind of personality to have as a mentor.

Lenny Flatley: The rise of Alex Jones marked a broader shift in conspiracy culture. Jones was a showman and an ideologue in a way that Cooper never was — their approaches couldn't have been more different. Cooper emphasized research and critical thinking, insisting his listeners verify everything, even his own claims. Jones developed a more theatrical style that prioritized maintaining constant crisis to keep his audience engaged.

The feud between the two came to a head, when Alex Jones went full-on WAR OF THE WORLDS with a broadcast so outlandish that Cooper played it on his own show, pausing from time to time to offer criticism.

ARCHIVAL: William Cooper's Expose' On Alex Jones Y2K

Bill Cooper: Listen very carefully. This is just snippets taken from the first 45 minutes of the Alex Jones Show on December the 31st, New Year's Eve. This is news. What I'm reporting here to you is hard news. This could have resulted in the shutdown of the whole country, the declaration of martial law, mass hysteria, panicked millions of people, and this is the guy who was whipping it all up.

Alex Jones: It is pandemic, ladies and gentlemen. On Y2K, the newest developments: a Pennsylvania nuclear plant has been shut down. One of the main systems transferring the power from it to failed, but they say it's not a Y2K problem and the things I'm experiencing here in Austin, Texas. The shelves are empty of water and some gas stations are running out of fuel, uh, here in Central Texas, uh.

Lenny Flatley: Cooper saw Jones as corrupting the movement he had helped create. He accused Jones of "fear-mongering" and putting on a show with "no research," suggesting Jones cared more about maintaining audience engagement than pursuing truth.

The transition from Bill Cooper to Alex Jones marked a broader shift in conspiracy culture from a focus on individual investigation and personal truth-seeking to a more commercialized, entertainment-oriented approach. This evolution would have profound implications for the future of alternative media and conspiracy theory culture in America, setting the stage for the modern era of social media-driven conspiracy theories and alternative facts.

We’ll be right back.

CONCLUSION

Mark Jacobson: I mean, one of the greatest things he ever did, actually, in retrospect, you know — he said one night, they're going to come up here at midnight and they're going to shoot me dead on my front step. And one night, people that were in authority — not the federal government, but the Apache County Sheriffs came up there, you know, for something Cooper did. You know that was an actual offense. [...] They came up there and they shot him dead, after he shot one of their guys, and his head did hit his doorstep at midnight, because the time of death on the death certificate is 12:05.

Lenny Flatley: William Cooper’s death came in the manner he had predicted on his radio show. In the early hours of November 6, 2001, Apache County Sheriff’s deputies attempted to serve Cooper with an arrest warrant on charges of assault and weapons violations. A gun battle ensued, during which Cooper shot one officer in the head before being fatally shot himself. The time of death was recorded as 12:05 AM, mere minutes after midnight, as he had foretold.

The officer Cooper shot, Deputy Marinez, was seriously wounded and left paralyzed. The incident led to a lawsuit by the Martinez family against the Sheriff’s office in 2003, claiming deputies had been sent into a dangerous situation without adequate training or equipment.

Cooper’s death received little mainstream media attention, coming as it did in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. But among his followers, the timing and manner of his death only served to reinforce his credibility. His final broadcast had included his immediate analysis of the 9/11 attacks, where he laid out what would become the foundational arguments of the 9/11 Truth movement. His death two months later was seen by many as evidence that he had come too close to revealing dangerous truths.

In the vacuum left by Cooper’s death, Alex Jones’s influence grew significantly. Jones covered the death on his show, positioning himself as the heir to his legacy even though Cooper had explicitly rejected him. As conspiracy theories moved from shortwave radio to the internet, Jones built a media empire that would have been unimaginable in Cooper’s day. Yet the transition from Cooper to Jones marked more than just a technological evolution - it represented a fundamental shift in how conspiracy theories were packaged and presented to the public.

Cooper’s legacy is complex and contradictory, much like the man himself. His book BEHOLD A PALE HORSE continues to be read, particularly in prison libraries where readers find an explanation for their own experiences with authority. His radio broadcasts have found new life online, where a younger generation discovers his work through digital archives and YouTube channels. He is often referred to as the “Founding Father” of the Truth Movement, his influence evident in everything from THE X-FILES to contemporary conspiracy culture.

Cooper was, in many ways, a quintessentially American figure — a disillusioned patriot whose search for truth led him down increasingly dark paths. His journey from Naval Intelligence to shortwave radio prophet mirrors broader American themes of disillusionment with authority and the search for hidden truths. His transformation from UFO researcher to political conspiracy theorist traced the evolution of American paranoid thought in the late 20th century.

Though largely forgotten by mainstream America, the seeds Bill Cooper planted at Waco continue to bear fruit today. His warnings about government overreach resonate with Americans who feel increasingly alienated from systems they once trusted. His legacy reminds us that conspiracy theories aren’t just fringe beliefs, but attempts to make sense of a world where truth seems increasingly elusive.

END TRANSCRIPT