John Herbert Rees is a British right-wing journalist and government informant resident in the United States. He was active in the Western Goals Foundation and the John Birch Society. Rees moved to the United States in 1963 for a reporting job that fell through.

Rees became the lover of Peyton Place author Grace Metalious. Metalious, who had cirrhosis from heavy drinking, changed her will hours before her death at age 39 in 1964, and left her whole estate to Rees. There was a public furor, and Rees dropped claims to the estate, which was insolvent. Ross Gelbspan wrote that the FBI began to work with Rees around 1980.

In 1976, an investigation by the New York State Assembly concluded that police had used reports published by Rees in Information Digest to assemble dossiers on many activists who had committed no crimes.

Rees published Information Digest, a newsletter that touted reporting on "the operations and real capabilities of social movements and political groups". Annual subscriptions were $500. According to The Village Voice, copies circulated among intelligence officials and conservative politicians including Ronald Reagan. Rees was noted for criticizing Lyndon LaRouche and the LaRouche movement, which he wrote had "taken on the characteristics more of a political cult than a political party" and a cult-like "blind obedience."

Rees launched and managed another newsletter, International Reports: Early Warning. Rees was also an editor for Conservative Digest magazine.

References

  • John Rees at IMDb
  • Liberty Lobby, Inc. v. John Rees (1988) at Google Scholar
  • Liberty Lobby, Inc. v. John Rees, Sheila Louise Rees and the Information Digest (1986) at Justia
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation files (Part 1, Part 2) on John Rees and National Goals, Inc. (obtained via FOIA) at Internet Archive