George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American Neo-Nazi activist. Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party in 1959 and became the self-styled leader of Neo-Nazism in the United States.[1]
His beliefs, strategies, and writings have continued to influence many white supremacists and Neo-Nazis. Born in Bloomington, Illinois, Rockwell briefly studied philosophy at Brown University before dropping out to join the Navy. He trained as a pilot and served in World War II and the Korean War in non-combat roles, achieving the rank of Commander. Rockwell's politics grew more radical and vocal in the 1950s, and he was honorably discharged due to his views in 1960.
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was shot and killed in Arlington by John Patler, a former party member expelled by Rockwell for alleged "Bolshevik leanings".[5]
In August 1938, the twenty year old Rockwell enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, as a philosophy major.[6] In his sophomore year, Rockwell dropped out of Brown and accepted a commission in the United States Navy.[6]
Military service
Rockwell appreciated the order and discipline of the Navy, and attended flight schools in Massachusetts and Florida in 1940. When he completed his training, he served in the Battle of the Atlantic and the Pacific War in World War II. He served aboard the USS Omaha, USS Pastores, USS Wasp and USS Mobile, primarily in support, photo reconnaissance, transport and training functions.[8] Though he never actually flew in combat, he was considered a good pilot and an efficient officer.[8]
On April 24, 1943, Rockwell married Judith Aultman, whom he had met while attending Brown University.[8] Aultman was a student at Pembroke College, which was the coordinate women's college of the university. The couple had three daughters: Bonnie, Nancy, and Phoebe Jean. Rockwell did not get along with his in-laws; he blamed them for not raising Judith to be "docile and compliant", his image of the perfect wife. His marriage was marred with violent arguments and on at least one occasion, he struck his wife.[8]
After the war ended, Rockwell worked as a sign painter out of a small shop on land owned by his father in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[8] In 1946, he entered the commercial art program at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[6] He and his wife Judith moved to New York City so he could study at Pratt. He did well at Pratt, winning the $1,000 first prize for an advertisement he did for the American Cancer Society.[6][9] However, he left Pratt before finishing his final year, and moved to Maine to found his own advertising agency.[8]
In November 1952, Rockwell was transferred to Iceland, where he became a Grumman F8F Bearcat pilot and attained the rank of commander.[2][6] Because families were not permitted to be with American service personnel stationed there, his wife and children stayed with her mother in Barrington, Rhode Island. His wife filed for divorce the following year. Rockwell attended a diplomatic party in Reykjavík where he met Margrét Þóra Hallgrímsson, the niece of Iceland's ambassador to the United States;[2] they were married on October 3, 1953, 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. They made a "pilgrimage" to Hitler's Adlerhorst.[2] Together they had three children: Hallgrímur, Margrét, and Evelyn Bentína. In 1957, Hallgrímsson's father went to the U.S. to take his daughter back to Iceland because he had learned that Rockwell was "one of the most active racists in the United States."[9] She subsequently divorced Rockwell and remarried in 1963.[9]
In September 1955 in Washington, D.C., he launched U.S. Lady, a magazine for United States servicemen's wives. The magazine incorporated Rockwell's political causes[dubious – discuss]: his opposition to both racial integration and communism. The publication had financial problems and he sold the magazine. However, he still aspired to pursue a career in publishing.
When I was in the advertising game, we used to use nude women. Now I use the swastika and storm troopers. You use what brings them in.
After his move to Washington, D.C., in 1955, he gradually became radicalised until, in the words of his biographer, he was "on the farthest fringe of the right wing."[2] In 1957–1958, Rockwell had a series of dreams that ended with him meeting Hitler.[2]
In 1958, Rockwell met Harold Noel Arrowsmith Jr., a wealthy heir and antisemite who provided Rockwell with a house and printing equipment. They formed the National Committee to Free America from Jewish Domination.[12]
Rockwell gained notoriety after Drew Pearson wrote an article describing how Rockwell and his followers dressed in uniforms, armed themselves with guns, and paraded at his home in Arlington County, Virginia.[15]
American Nazi Party
Rockwell (foreground, with swastika armband) at a rally in 1967
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 1959, the organization was renamed the American Nazi Party (later the National Socialist White People's Party, NSWPP), and its headquarters was relocated to 928 North Randolph Street in Arlington, which also became Rockwell's home.[8]
In 1959, he published an Animal Farm-type parody, the long-form poem and children's book The Fable of the Ducks and the Hens.[16]
In 1960, as a result of his political activities, the Navy discharged Rockwell one year short of retirement because he was regarded as "not deployable" due to his political views. The proceedings to dismiss him were an extremely public affair. Even though he received an honorable discharge, Rockwell claimed he "had basically been thrown out of the Navy", for which he blamed the Jews.[17] In order to attract media attention, Rockwell held a rally on April 3, 1960, on the National Mall, where he addressed the crowd with a two-hour speech. A second rally was planned for Union Square in New York City. Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. refused to grant him a permit to speak, and he appealed that decision to the New York Supreme Court. When Rockwell emerged in the courthouse rotunda, he was surrounded by a crowd of television reporters. One of the reporters, Reese Schonfeld, interviewed Rockwell, and after Rockwell made antisemitic comments, a melee broke out, requiring a police convoy to escort Rockwell from the courthouse. Rockwell, with the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union, eventually won a permit, but it was long after the date of the planned event.[18] Another rally was set for July 4, 1960, again on the National 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, and instead, was committed to a psychiatric hospital for thirty days. In less than two weeks, he was released and found mentally competent to stand trial. He published a pamphlet inspired by this experience titled How to Get Out or Stay Out of the Insane Asylum.[19]
In the 1964 United States presidential election, Rockwell ran as a write-in candidate, receiving 212 votes.[21] He ran as an independent in the 1965 Virginia gubernatorial election, receiving 5,730 votes, or 1.02% of the total, finishing last among the four candidates.[22] In the summer of 1966, Rockwell led a counter-demonstration against King's attempt to bring an end to de facto segregation in the white Chicago suburb of Cicero, Illinois. He believed that King was a tool for Jewish Communists who wanted to integrate America.[23] Rockwell believed that integration was a Jewish plot to rule the white community.[6] Rockwell led the American Nazi Party in assisting the Ku Klux Klan and similar organizations 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 that the Klan was stuck in the past and ineffective in helping him wage a modern racial struggle.[citation needed]
In 1966, after hearing the slogan "Black Power" during a debate with Black Panther Party leader Stokely Carmichael, Rockwell altered the phrase and started a call for "White Power".[24] In the spring of 1966, the party began publication of several pamphlets and books, including National Socialist World edited by William Luther Pierce,[2] writings by Rockwell, the periodical Stormtrooper Magazine (originally National Socialist Bulletin), and a propaganda comic book, Here Comes Whiteman!, where the title superhero character battles enemies modeled after racist stereotypes.[citation needed] In November 1966, the American Civil Liberties Union once again represented Rockwell, defending his right to stage marches or parades in Jewish neighborhoods during Jewish holidays.[25]
Offices
Rockwell established his "Stormtrooper Barracks" in a two-story farmhouse at 6150 Wilson Boulevard in the Dominion Hills Historic District. It was there that Alex Haley interviewed Rockwell for Playboy. The house has since been razed, and the property has been incorporated into Upton Hill Regional Park. A small pavilion with picnic tables marks the house's former location.
The site of the party headquarters, 928 North Randolph Street in Ballston, Virginia, is now a hotel and office building. After Rockwell's death, his successor Matthias Koehl relocated the headquarters to 2507 North Franklin Road in Clarendon, Arlington, Virginia.[26] The small building, often misidentified today as Rockwell's former headquarters, is now the Sweet Science Coffee shop,[27] formerly The Java Shack.[28][29][30] Koehl moved the headquarters to New Berlin, Wisconsin, in the mid-1980s.
Record label
In the 1960s, Rockwell attempted to draw attention to his cause by starting a record label, named Hatenanny Records. The name was based on the word "hootenanny", a term given to folk music performances. The label released several singles promoting racist and white supremacist beliefs by such bands as Odis Cochran and the Three Bigots and the Coon Hunters. These songs were sold mostly through mail order and at party rallies.[31]
Hate bus
When the Freedom Riders drove their campaign for the desegregation of bus stations in the Deep South, Rockwell secured a Volkswagen van and decorated it with slogans supporting white supremacy, dubbing it the "Hate Bus" and driving it to speaking engagements and party rallies.[32][33][34][35] On May 24, 1961, Rockwell and nine others were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace in New Orleans after trying to picket the movie Exodus. They went on a hunger strike in jail. Rockwell was only able to raise enough bond money for himself so he could be released five days later.[36] In June 1961, all ten men were found guilty, receiving sentences ranging from 30 to 60 days and fines ranging from $50 to $100.[37] Once more, Rockwell paid his bond, but left his followers in jail. In 1962, the convictions were overturned on appeal.[38] Several years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana's statute on "breach of the peace" was unconstitutional. Ironically, the ruling mainly benefited black civil rights activists.
has gathered millions of the dirty, immoral, drunken, filthy-mouthed, lazy and repulsive people sneeringly called 'niggers' and inspired them to the point where they are clean, sober, honest, hard working, dignified, dedicated and admirable human beings in spite of their color ... Muhammad knows that mixing is a Jewish fraud and leads only to aggravation of the problems that it is supposed to solve ... I have talked to the Muslim leaders and am certain that a workable plan for separation of the races could be effected to the satisfaction of all concerned—except the Communist-Jew agitators.
He also said of Elijah Muhammad "I am fully in concert with their program, and I have the highest respect for Elijah Muhammad." He referred to Muhammad as "The Black People's Hitler" and donated $20 (worth about $212 in 2024) to the Nation of Islam at their "Freedom Rally" event on June 25, 1961, at Uline Arena in Washington where he and ten ANP members attended a speech by Malcolm X.[40] Rockwell gave a speech to a crowd of 12,000 at a Black Muslim event in the International Amphitheater in Chicago, with Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X, on February 25, 1962.[2][40]
Inspired by Black Muslims' use of religion to mobilize people, Rockwell sought to collaborate with Christian Identity groups. On June 10, 1964, he met and formed an alliance with Identity minister Wesley A. Swift. Rockwell used religious imagery, depicting himself as a Christ-like martyr who was fighting against the Jews. Nazis found a welcome home in Swift's church and church members found a political outlet in the American Nazi Party.[8]
Holocaust denial
Rockwell was a Holocaust denier. In an April 1966 interview for Playboy conducted by 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."[6] When asked in a 1965 interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation if the Holocaust were true, Rockwell replied by claiming he had "incontrovertible documentary proof that that's not true."[41]
Assassination and trial
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was shot and killed while leaving a laundromat in Arlington, Virginia, only a few yards from where he lived.[42][43][44]John Patler, who had been expelled by Rockwell from his party in March 1967 for repeated attempts to inject Marxist ideas into party publications,[44][45] was convicted of the murder in December 1967, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He spent eight years in prison, and later another six years following a parole violation. Hearing of his son's death, Rockwell's 78-year-old father said: "I am not surprised at all. I've expected it for quite some time."[7][42][46][47]
Matthias Koehl, the second in command at NSWPP, moved to establish control over Rockwell's body and the assets of the NSWPP, which at the time had some 300 active members and 3,000 financial supporters. Rockwell's parents wanted a private burial in Maine, but declined to fight with the Nazis. On August 27, an NSWPP spokesman reported that federal officials had approved a military burial at Culpeper National Cemetery, Rockwell being an honorably discharged veteran.[48] The cemetery specified that no Nazi insignia could be displayed, and when the 50 mourners violated these conditions, the entrance to the cemetery was blocked in a five-hour standoff, during which the hearse, which had been stopped on railroad tracks near the cemetery, was nearly struck by an approaching train. The next day, Rockwell's body was secretly cremated.[11][citation needed]
Legacy
Rockwell was a source of inspiration for David Duke, who openly espoused neo-Nazi sentiments when he was young. As a student in high school, when he learned that Rockwell was murdered, Duke reportedly said "The greatest American who ever lived has been shot down and killed."[49]Richard B. Spencer is another admirer of Rockwell.[50]
Matthew Heimbach said that Rockwell was "one of the most gifted orators of the 20th century", and Rockwell's writings and speeches were "the things that worked to bring me to National Socialism".[51]
Two of Rockwell's associates, Matthias Koehl and William Luther Pierce, formed their own organizations. Koehl, who was Rockwell's successor, renamed the National Socialist White Peoples Party (NSWPP) the New Order in 1983 and shortly thereafter, he relocated its national headquarters to Wisconsin. Pierce founded the National Alliance and he also wrote the racist dystopian novel The Turner Diaries, which inspired numerous acts of far-right terrorism in the United States and elsewhere, like the assassination of Alan Berg, the Oklahoma bombing or the 1999 London nail bombings.[52] Several other neo-Nazi groups were formed in the years since Rockwell's death, some of them were formed by his followers and other groups were formed by newer generations of white supremacists. Some of them are currently defunct.
In popular culture
In the lyrics to the Bob Dylan song "Talkin' John Birch Paranoid Blues", the narrator parodies Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson as being Communists, and he also 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."[53]
For its 1972 album Not Insane or Anything You Want To, The Firesign Theatre created a fictional presidential candidate, George Papoon, running on the equally fictional ticket, the Natural Surrealist Light Peoples Party, the name taken as an apparent parody of Rockwell's own group, the National Socialist White Peoples Party.[54]
^Berlet, Chip. "Rockwell, George Lincoln (1918–1967)." Culture Wars in America: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices, edited by Roger Chapman, and James Ciment, Routledge, 2nd edition, 2013. Credo Reference, http://ezproxy.lib.utexas.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/sharpecw/rockwell_george_lincoln_1918_1967/0?institutionId=4864. Accessed September 7, 2022.
^Levine, Hillel; Harmon, Lawrence (1992). The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions. New York: Free Press. pp. 260–266. ISBN978-0029138656.
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