| George Lincoln Rockwell | |
|---|---|
| Lieutenant Commander Rockwell in 1951. | |
| Commander of the American Nazi Party | |
| In office March, 1958 – August 25, 1967 (9 years) |
|
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Matt Koehl |
| Leader of the World Union of National Socialists | |
| In office 1962 – August 25, 1967 (5 years) |
|
| Preceded by | Position Established |
| Succeeded by | Matt Koehl |
| Personal details | |
| Born | George Lincoln Rockwell March 9, 1918 Bloomington, Illinois, United States |
| Died | August 25, 1967 (aged 49) Arlington County, Virginia, United States |
| Political party | American Nazi Party |
| Spouse(s) | Judy Aultman (1943-1953) Thóra Hallgrímsdóttir (1953- 1961) |
| Occupation | Military Lieutenant, Politician , activist |
| Religion | Agnostic |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1941–1960 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Commander |
| Battles/wars | World War II Korean War |
| Awards | *American Defense Service Medal
|
George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was the founder of the American Nazi Party. Rockwell was a major figure in the neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs and writings have continued to be influential among white nationalists and neo-Nazis.
Contents |
Rockwell was born in Bloomington, Illinois, the first of three children of George Lovejoy "Doc" Rockwell and Claire (Schade) Rockwell.[1] His father was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and was of English and Scottish ancestry. His mother was the daughter of Augustus Schade, a German immigrant, and Corrine Boudreau, who was of Acadian French ancestry. Both parents were vaudeville comedians and actors, and his father's acquaintances included Fred Allen, Benny Goodman, Walter Winchell, Jack Benny, and Groucho Marx.[1][2] His parents divorced when Rockwell was six years old, and he divided his youth with his mother in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and with his father in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[1]
Rockwell attended Atlantic City High School in Atlantic City, and applied to Harvard University when he was 17 years old. However, he was denied admission. One year later, his father enrolled him at Hebron Academy in Hebron, Maine.[3] He became an avid reader of Western philosophy and socially significant novels, leading him to re-examine the topic of religion. He had initially perceived himself as a devout Protestant, but after reading the Bible numerous times, he perceived religion as a necessary pillar to civilization. He contemplated the possibility of a "total intelligence" existing in the universe, and identified himself as an agnostic. Despite this, he promoted the Christian Identity sect in the 1960s.
In August 1938, Rockwell enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island as a philosophy major.[1] In his sociology courses, he rejected equality and the idea that man was made by his environment and all human beings had the same potential in life. He debated with fellow students over topics such as social themes in popular novels.
In his sophomore year, Rockwell dropped out of Brown University and accepted a commission in the United States Navy.[1] He appreciated the order and discipline of the Navy, and attended flight schools in Massachusetts and Florida in 1940.
On April 24, 1943, Rockwell married Judy Aultman, whom he had met while attending Brown University. Aultman was a student at Pembroke College, which was the female section of the university. At the time, Rockwell was studying at the Navy's aerial photography school in South Florida. When he completed his training, he served in the Pacific Theatre of World War II.
Rockwell was recalled to duty as a Lieutenant Commander at the beginning of the Korean War. He relocated to San Diego, California with his wife and two children, where he trained Navy and United States Marine Corps pilots.[1]
In 1952, Rockwell was ordered to report to Norfolk, Virginia, where he was notified by a superior officer that he would be transferred to Iceland.[1] Since families were not permitted to be with American service personnel stationed there, his wife and children stayed with her mother in Barrington, Rhode Island. Due to the separation, his wife filed for divorce the following year. Several months after his return to Iceland, Rockwell attended a diplomatic party in the capital city of Reykjavík. He met Þóra Hallgrímsdóttir there, and they were married on October 3, 1953 in the Icelandic National Cathedral by Þóra's uncle, the Bishop of Iceland. They spent their honeymoon in Berchtesgaden, Germany, where Hitler once owned the Berghof mountain retreat in the Bavarian Alps.
Rockwell told Þóra about his political beliefs, and she replied he would either be a "bum or a great man".[4] She finally divorced him on October 15, 1961.[5]
When the Korean War ended, Rockwell decided to become a graphic designer. He was accepted in to the art program at the prestigious Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[1] He and his wife moved to New York City so he could study at Pratt. Rockwell was introduced to the post modern art concept, something he considered to be a corporate form of trendy Communist chic mixed with Madison Avenue marketing. He viewed Jewish New Yorkers as the main promoters of this simplified yet marketable movement, and felt even more contempt towards Jews.
In 1948, Rockwell won the $1,000 first prize for an advertisement he did for the American Cancer Society.[1][6] The contest was sponsored by the National Society of Illustrators in New York. He left Pratt before finishing his final year, and founded his own advertising agency in Maine.
Rockwell saw a business opportunity in publishing a magazine for United States servicemen's wives. In September 1955, he launched the U.S. Lady. After presenting the idea to the generals and admirals who headed public relations departments of the military services, Rockwell began publishing in Washington, D.C. The new enterprise also incorporated Rockwell's political causes: his opposition to both racial integration and communism. He financed the operation through stock sales and subscriptions. With a staff of thirty workers, Rockwell could only promise to pay his employees before the launch of the first issue. The publication continued to have financial problems, and he sold his interest in the magazine. However, he still aspired to pursue a career in publishing.
During his time in San Diego, Rockwell began moving towards the political far right. He was influenced by Senator Joseph McCarthy's stance against communism. Rockwell supported General Douglas MacArthur's candidacy for President of the United States. He adopted the corncob pipe, following MacArthur's example. Rockwell attended a Gerald L.K. Smith rally in Los Angeles, and read Conde McGinley's Common Sense, a political newspaper that introduced him to anti-Semitism. He then read the National Socialist manifesto Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler and the fraudulent Russian propaganda pamphlet Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Privately, he adopted their beliefs. He published an Animal Farm-type parody, The Fable of the Ducks and the Hens.[7] This was Rockwell's interpretation of Jewish power in the United States in the 20th century. In 1952, Rockwell began working with anti-Semitic and anti-communist groups. That year, he attended the American Nationalist Conference, which was organized by Conde McGinley’s Christian Educational Association.
In July 1958, Rockwell demonstrated in front of the White House in an anti-war protest against President Dwight D. Eisenhower's decision to send peace-keeping troops to the Middle East. One day he received a large package from a supporters; it contained an 18-foot-long Swastika flag. He placed the flag on the wall of his home and made a shrine with Hitler's photo in the center, three lighted candles in front. In his autobiography, Rockwell claimed to have had a religious experience and swore allegiance to his leader, saluting "Heil Hitler!" Rockwell and a few supporters had uniforms. They armed themselves with rifles and revolvers, and paraded about his home in Arlington, Virginia. The window to his home was left open, so that others could see the huge Swastika flag. Drew Pearson wrote a news column about Rockwell, giving him his first publicity. In the presidential election of 1964, Rockwell ran as a write-in candidate, receiving 212 votes.[8] He ran unsuccessfully for governor of Virginia in 1965 as an independent, this time polling 5,730 votes, or 1.02 percent of the total, to finishing last among the four candidates.[9]
In March 1959, Rockwell founded the World Union of Free Enterprise National Socialists (WUFENS), a name selected to denote opposition to state ownership of property. In December, the name was changed to the American Nazi Party, and the headquarters relocated to 928 North Randolph Street in Arlington, Virginia.
In order to attract media attention, Rockwell held a rally April 3, 1960, on the National Mall of Washington, D.C., where Rockwell addressed the crowd with a two-hour long speech. The second rally was held at Union Square in New York City. Mayor Robert Wagner refused to grant him a permit to speak, and he appealed that decision to the New York Supreme Court. Jewish war veterans and Holocaust survivors gathered to oppose his appeal and, during a court recess, when Rockwell emerged into the court Rotunda he was surrounded by a crowd of television reporters. One of the reporters asked Rockwell how he would treat Jews if he came to power in the United States. Rockwell replied he would treat Jews just as he treated any other American citizens. If they were loyal Americans, everything would be fine, if they were traitors, they would be executed. When the reporter asked what percentage of Jews Rockwell perceived were traitors, Rockwell replied, "Eighty percent." The Jewish war veterans and Holocaust survivors rioted and began beating Rockwell and the reporter with their umbrellas, and Rockwell was escorted out of the Courthouse Rotunda in the midst of a police convoy. Rockwell, with the aid of the ACLU, eventually won his permit, but it was long after the date of the planned event.[10]
The third rally was set for July 4, 1960, again held on the Mall. Rockwell and his men were confronted by a mob and a riot ensued. The police arrested Rockwell and eight party members. Rockwell demanded a trial, however was instead committed to a psychiatric hospital for thirty days. In less than two weeks, he was released and found capable of standing trial. He published a pamphlet on this experience titled How to Get Out or Stay Out of the Insane Asylum.
In summer 1966, Rockwell led a counter-demonstration to Martin Luther King's attempt to bring an end to de-facto segregation in the white Chicago suburb of Cicero, Illinois. He believed King was a tool for Jewish Communists to integrate America.[11]
Rockwell led the American Nazi Party in assisting the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups during the Civil Rights Movement, in attempts to counter the Freedom Riders and the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. But he soon came to believe the Klan was stuck in the past and ineffective for helping him wage a modern race struggle. After hearing the slogan "Black Power" during a debate in 1966 with Black Panther Stokely Carmichael, Rockwell altered the phrase and started a call for "White Power". White Power later became the name of the party's newspaper and the title of a book authored by Rockwell.
Rockwell's principal message was racial separation. He attempted to form friendly associations with the Nation of Islam. He praised Elijah Muhammad as the "Black people's Hitler," and for doing the best job in promoting integrity and pride among his people. Rockwell also admired Malcolm X, seeing him as the next true leader for Black America. In 1965 Malcolm X sent Rockwell a telegram while Rockwell was on his "Hate Bus" tour of the South, threatening Rockwell with "maximum physical retaliation from those of us who are not hand-cuffed by the disarming philosophy of nonviolence" should Martin Luther King, Jr. or "any other black Americans who are only attempting to enjoy their rights as free human beings" be harmed.[12]
Rockwell was a Holocaust denier.[1] In an April 1966 interview with Playboy journalist Alex Haley, Rockwell stated, "I don't believe for one minute that any 6,000,000 Jews were exterminated by Hitler. It never happened."[1]
Haley would later author the 1976 novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The interview was dramatized in the TV miniseries Roots: The Next Generations, with Marlon Brando portraying Rockwell in an Emmy Award-winning performance and James Earl Jones portraying Haley.
The two-story farm house Rockwell established as his "Stormtrooper Barracks" was located at 6150 Wilson Boulevard, in the Dominion Hills district of Arlington. It was there that the interview with Alex Haley occurred. Situated on the tallest hill in Arlington County, the house has long since been razed and the property incorporated into the Upton Hill Regional Park. A small picnic table pavilion marks the house's former location. The site of the party headquarters, 928 North Randolph Street in the Ballston area of Arlington is now a massive hotel and office building complex. Rockwell's successor, Matt Koehl, relocated the headquarters after Rockwell's death to 2507 North Franklin Road in the Clarendon area.[13] It would become the last physical address of the party before Koehl moved it to New Berlin, Wisconsin in the mid-1980s. The small red brick building, often misidentified today as Rockwell's former headquarters, is now a coffee shop called "The Java Shack."[14][15]
In August 1962 Rockwell travelled secretly to England through Ireland. In the Cotswolds, he co-founded the World Union of National Socialists with Colin Jordan's British organization the National Socialist Movement, before being deported back to the States. In 1966, the international group published National Socialist World, edited by former physics professor William Luther Pierce.
On January 1, 1967, Rockwell announced the party's next stage of development. He officially changed the name of the American Nazi Party to the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP). Its new slogan would be “White Power” replacing the inflammatory “Sieg Heil.” The new strategy would be to capitalize on growing support in the wake of the Chicago rallies and to focus the organization’s commitment to a universal white nationalism. An internal party newsletter, the “National Socialist Bulletin”, was started to help direct these new efforts.
On June 9 to the 11th, the party held its national conference in Arlington, aimed at reorganizing its leadership and “charting a new course of professionalism.” In July 1963, the party's publication The Stormtrooper magazine was replaced with the newspaper White Power bearing the swastika in the center of the paper. Some within the NSWPP opposed this new ideological direction.
In the 1960s, Rockwell attempted to draw attention to his cause by starting a small record label, named Hatenanny Records (the name was based on the word "hootenanny", a term given to folk music performances). The label released several 45 RPM singles, including recordings by a group credited as Odis Cochran and the Three Bigots [1][2], and were sold mostly through mail order. A truncated version of one of the band's recordings, "Ship Those Niggers Back" appears in the documentary The California Reich. When the Freedom Riders drove their campaign to desegregate bus stations in the deep South, Rockwell secured a Volkswagen van and decorated it with swastikas and white supremacist slogans, dubbing it the "Hate Bus" and personally driving it to speaking engagements and party rallies.[2][16][17] According to an FBI report on the American Nazi Party, the van was repossessed after a loan default.[18]
On June 28, 1967, the first attempt was made on Rockwell’s life. Returning from shopping, he drove into the party barracks’ driveway on Wilson Boulevard and found it blocked by a felled tree and brush. Rockwell assumed that it was another prank by local teens. As a young boy cleared the obstruction, two shots were fired at Rockwell from behind one of the swastika-embossed brick driveway pillars. One of the shots ricocheted off the car, right next to his head. Leaping from the car, Rockwell pursued the would-be assassin. On June 30, Rockwell petitioned the Arlington County Circuit Court for a gun permit. No action was ever taken on his request.
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was killed by gunshots while leaving the Econowash laundromat at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center in the 6000 block of Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia.[19] Two bullets, from what would later be found to be a model 1896 "Broomhandle" Mauser pistol,[20] crashed through his 1958 Chevrolet’s windshield, and it slowly rolled backwards to a stop. Rockwell staggered out of the front passenger side door of the car, pointed towards the shopping center roof, and then collapsed face up on the pavement.
The gunman ran along the shopping center roof and jumped to the ground in the rear. A shop owner and a customer briefly gave chase, but were unable to get a clear look at the fleeing figure. Other customers called the Arlington County police and checked Rockwell for a pulse. He had none; the one bullet that struck him had ripped through several major arteries just above his heart. The internal bleeding was so heavy that Rockwell died in two minutes.[21]
A half hour later, at a bus stop about a half-mile away,[22] John Patler, a former member of Rockwell’s group, was arrested as the suspected murderer by a passing patrolman familiar with the Arlington Nazis.[21] Later that day, after hearing of his son’s death, Rockwell’s 78-year-old father commented laconically, “I am not surprised at all. I’ve expected it for quite some time.”[3]
Matt Koehl, the number two man in the NSWPP, moved to establish legal control over Rockwell’s body and all NSWPP assets. At the time of his death, the NSWPP had approximately 300 active members nationwide, and perhaps 3,000 financial supporters. Although Rockwell’s parents wanted a private burial in Maine, they did not feel up to a public fight with the Nazis for his body. On August 27, an NSWPP spokesman reported that Federal officials had given verbal approval to a planned military burial of Rockwell at Culpeper National Cemetery, as an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.[23]
On August 29, several dozen NSWPP troopers and about 100 party supporters formed a procession and drove the 65 miles from Arlington to Culpeper. At the cemetery gates they were met by General Carl C. Turner and 60 MPs who had been rushed in from Vint Hill to enforce the U.S. Army’s burial protocol. They were backed by dozens of police from various jurisdictions. No mourners bearing Nazi insignia would be allowed into the cemetery. The NSWPP troopers refused to remove their uniforms, which led to a day-long standoff. They unsuccessfully tried to force their way into the cemetery three separate times. Several arrests resulted. With daylight fading, General Turner declared that Rockwell could not be buried until the NSWPP made a new request to the Pentagon and agreed to follow protocol.
The Nazis returned to Arlington with Rockwell’s body. Plans were made to bury Rockwell in Spotsylvania County, but they fell apart when local Jewish organizations protested. Fearing that Arlington County officials might seize the body, the ANP had Rockwell cremated the next morning, and a memorial service was held that afternoon at party headquarters. On February 8, 1968, the NSWPP filed suit to obtain a Nazi burial for Rockwell’s remains at any National Cemetery. On March 15, 1969, a Federal district judge upheld the Army Secretary’s ruling that Rockwell was ineligible for a burial with full military honors in a national cemetery. Today Rockwell's ashes reside next to those of Savitri Devi in the memorial room of New Order headquarters in New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Following psychiatric evaluation, John Patler was judged competent to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty at his preliminary hearing to the charge of first degree homicide. His trial began on November 27 amid tight security at the Arlington County Courthouse. On December 15, Patler was found guilty and released on bond to await sentencing. On February 23, 1968, Patler was sentenced to 20 years in prison, at that time the least amount possible for a first degree murder conviction. The Virginia Circuit Court postponed imprisonment pending his appeal.
On November 30, 1970, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld Patler’s conviction and 20-year sentence for slaying Rockwell, and ordered him to begin serving his sentence. On May 16, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected Patler’s appeal based on claims of witness contamination. In August 1975, Patler was paroled from the Pulaski correctional unit after serving less than four years of his sentence. Judge Charles S. Russell, who had presided over Patler’s murder trial, wrote a lengthy letter to the parole board supporting Patler’s release, the only time he did so in his career. The following year Patler violated the terms of his parole and was returned to prison for an additional six years. On December 30, 1977 Patler petitioned the Henry County Circuit Court to change his surname back to its original form, Patsalos. After serving out the remainder of his sentence, John Patsalos returned to the New York City area.
The exact reason for Rockwell's murder is still a matter of debate. Patler's nasty feud with Rockwell and a family history of violence weighed against him at the trial. Despite being convicted of the crime, Patler has always maintained his innocence. The case against him was largely circumstantial and key evidence against him (e.g., whether he possessed the murder weapon at the time of the killing) was disputed by defense witnesses.
The small strip mall where Rockwell was killed is still called the Dominion Hills Shopping Center, although it has since been refurbished and the laundromat replaced by a dry cleaners. After his death, admirers of Rockwell painted a white swastika on the blacktop surface of the parking lot, marking the exact spot where he died. Several attempts by the property owners were made to obliterate the emblem with a square patch of black paint, but the white swastika would always surreptitiously reappear, usually on or near the anniversary of Rockwell's death. It remained visible, off and on, well into the 1980s, until the NSWPP renamed itself New Order and moved their headquarters to Wisconsin. Since then the parking lot has been resurfaced and the swastika never replaced, however the spot where his body lay can be approximated today by using a crime scene photograph that appears on page 323 of William H. Schmaltz's biography of Rockwell. On August 27, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the assassination, a group of unidentified, non-uniformed Rockwell admirers appeared at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center to conduct a brief ceremony and lay a wreath. They carried a plain white banner with black and red lettering that bore the symbolic slogan "Lincoln Rockwell Lives!".
Rockwell was a source of inspiration for White Nationalist politician David Duke. As a student in high school, when Duke learned of Rockwell's assassination, he reportedly said "The greatest American who ever lived has been shot down and killed".[24] In the mid-1960s, Rockwell had a strategy to develop his Nazi political philosophy within the Christian Identity religious movement. Previously, Christian Identity had antisemitic and racist views, but not a Third Reich orientation. The Christian Identity group Aryan Nations started to use various Nazi flags in its services, and its security personnel started wearing uniforms similar to those worn by Rockwell's stormtroopers. Two of Rockwell's associates, Matt Koehl and William Luther Pierce, formed their own organizations. Koehl, who was Rockwell's successor, renamed the NSWPP to New Order in 1983 and relocated it to Wisconsin shortly thereafter. Pierce founded the National Alliance.
George Lincoln Rockwell was also mentioned in the lyrics to the Bob Dylan song "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues". In the lyrics to the song, the narrator accuses Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson of being Communists, and claims that the only "true American" is George Lincoln Rockwell. Quoting the lyrics, "I know for a fact that he hates Commies, 'cause he picketed the movie Exodus." [25]
In an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "He's Alive", Dennis Hopper portrays the leader of a small Neo-Nazi group; a character apparently inspired by Rockwell.
Rockwell had a successful Naval career, both on active duty and in the Naval Reserve. A veteran of World War II, he was a naval aviator and served a follow-on tour during the Korean War. He would transfer to the naval reserve. In his nineteen years of service, he had reached to the rank of Commander and had commanded officer of several aviation reserve units. In 1960, as a result of his political and racist activities, the United States Navy discharged Rockwell one year short of retirement, since he was regarded as "not deployable" in due to his political views. The proceedings to dismiss him were an extremely public affair, and Rockwell widely advertised the results, staying he "had basically been thrown out of the Navy"[26]
Service dates
Dates of rank
Awards
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