One man, one mission
Jim Tucker is a man on a mission. And we’re not talking the sort of mission you squeeze in before lunch, rather one that takes 30 years and counting.
Tucker is a veteran investigative journalist who’s been snooping around at Bilderberg meetings all over the world in an attempt to expose whatever information he can get his hands on.
Sporting a large cowboy style hat, glasses and braces, and normally clutching a beer, bourbon or cigarette, he’s certainly difficult to miss.
His fascination with Bilderberg began in 1975 during an interview with think tank Liberty Lobby, the first time he'd heard of the group after 20 years in the mainstream media.
“I was asked my opinion on Bilderberg and I thought they were talking about limburger cheese,” he says.
He claims he was stunned when he found out about the conference. But from that point onwards he’s never looked back, covering Bilderberg every year, first for The Spotlight, a newspaper published by Liberty Lobby and since 2001 for American Free Press, of which he’s the editor.
Jim Tucker describes his ideal world:
During Bilderberg meetings he has a set routine. Every day at 6pm, fellow journalists, activists and onlookers will gather at his hotel while he talks. A lot. And for a long time. But even so they’ll crowd round, transfixed, listening to every word.
And it’s not surprising, because with 35 years in the business he’s bound to have a few stories. Over the years he’s used a variety of innovative techniques to get precious information.
“One year the ground crew boys gave me a green jumpsuit and handed me a rake and I helped attend the grounds. And you’ve got to pick up the trash, but it doesn’t have to go in the trash can, it can go in your pocket.”
He even claims his exploits got him shot at on one occasion.
Gunshots in the hills:
But it’s not all crawling through sewers and hiding in the forest. Tucker has picked up inside contacts who he claims to get information from. In the past he says been able to write advanced stories on the removal of Margaret Thatcher, the exact date for the invasion of Iraq and the future price of oil.
As he continues to chain smoke, reaching for another bourbon on the rocks, he explains his primary concern. “Evil is performed under the cover of darkness, good deeds are performed in the sunshine,” he says of the group’s secrecy.
Even fellow Bilderberg researchers who simply disagree with Tucker’s interpretations still hold him in high regard. Writer and journalist Michael Streeter said: “Full marks to him for sticking to the subject and really going for it, he’s done a lot to publicise it and show it’s important. I don’t share his views on what it’s for and why it’s there, but that’s not to negate his contribution.”