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While it’s probably not what the man is most remembered for, Charles Humprey Keating Jr. was a seminal figure in the early days of the War on Porn in the United States. A staunch proponent of censorship, Keating was one of the founders of Citizens for Decent Literature (“CDL”), a group established in 1958 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Over the years, CDL rebranded several times, including as “Citizens for Decency through Law,” but the mission remained the same: To advocate for reading ‘the classics,’ as opposed to “smut” – and to vigorously enforce the nation’s obscenity laws, of course.
CDL would grow into an organization with over 300 chapters across the country, claiming membership of over 100,000 people. Over the years, the group would go on to mail tens of millions of letters advancing its agenda and submit amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) briefs in numerous cases that went before the Supreme Court. The group also counseled municipalities on prosecuting retailers who sold pornographic material and lobbied legislatures around the country on how to amend and strengthen their obscenity laws.
Keating believed pornography was the root of many societal ills, including a variety of criminal behaviors. In testimony he gave before the House Judiciary Committee on mail-order porn in 1958, Keating asserted that pornography was “capable of poisoning any mind at any age and of perverting our entire younger generation.” Seeking to tie porn to another animating fear prevalent in the late 50s, Keating also quoted a Senate Committee report which claimed that “part of the Communist conspiracy was to print” pornographic material.
In 1969, Keating was appointed to the President’s Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which had launched under Nixon’s predecessor in the Oval Office, Lyndon Johnson. (The Commission also included members of Operation Yorkville, subject of another Origins of the War on Porn article.)
When the Commission eventually published a report holding that porn isn’t degrading the morals of adults or causing crime – and recommending that existing obscenity laws that prohibited adults from obtaining and possessing obscene materials be repealed – Keating was incensed. He went so far as to obtain a temporary restraining order on publication of the report until he could prepare a rebuttal. Keating was granted the TRO and two weeks to craft his response.
“At a time when the spread of pornography has reached epidemic proportions in our country and when the moral fiber of our nation seems to be rapidly unravelling, the desperate need is for enlightenment and intelligent control of the poisons which threaten us – not the declaration of moral bankruptcy inherent in the repeal of the laws which have been the defense of decent people against the pornographer for profit,” Keating wrote. “One can consult all the experts he chooses, can write reports, make studies, etc., but the fact that obscenity corrupts lies within the common sense, the reason, and the logic of every man.”
Keating’s participation in the Commission boosted his standing and gave him a platform for continuing to push for censorship and prosecution of obscenity crimes. He and CDL would go on to lead efforts to block the screening of Russ Meyer films, prevent the performance of theatrical releases like Oh! Calcutta! and push for the censorship of publications like Playboy and other softcore adult magazines.
Keating’s name would come to resonate in the public consciousness quite differently as the decades wore on. While he maintained his fight against “indecency,” what he became better known for, arguably at least, was his role in the country’s nationwide “savings and loan crisis,” in which Keating’s company, the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, played a central role.
The facts surrounding Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal and the eventual prosecution related to it are complicated and well beyond the scope of this article. But to make a long story somewhat shorter, the savings and loan crises eventually metastasized into fiasco with an impact of over $500 billion and even a summarized version of the tale presents a winding road.
In September 1989, Regulators filed a $1.1 billion action against Keating and his associates for fraud and racketeering. Keating was later indicted on 42 counts in California, accusing Lincoln of fooling customers of ‘junk bonds’ pertaining to the American Continental Corporation, which had gone bankrupt in April,1989. Keating was sentenced to 10 years in prison by Judge Lance Ito, the same jurist who presided over the infamous O.J. Simpson double-homicide case.
In January 1993, a federal conviction followed his state crime conviction and Keating was found guilty on 73 counts of fraud, conspiracy and racketeering. He was given a 12.5-year sentence and ordered to pay restitution of $122 million.
Keating’s convictions were later overturned on appeal, but he also entered into a plea agreement in a federal case in which he admitted to four counts of wire fraud and bankruptcy fraud. Prosecutors dropped the other charges against Keating and his son, and Keating was sentenced to time served.
Charles Keating died in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2014 at the age of 90. Until the end, he maintained his innocence in the savings and loan fiasco (a claim that didn’t square particularly well with his admission of guilt in the plea bargain) – and continued to rail against sexually explicit expression.
In the end, it appears Keating’s definition of “decency” didn’t include a need to stick to fair dealing in business, or to take accountability when his reckless actions harmed tens of thousands of his customers.
