George Lincoln Rockwell
George Lincoln Rockwell was an American political figure and the founder of the American Nazi Party, which he established in 1959. Born in 1918 to vaudeville performers, Rockwell's early life was marked by family strife and personal challenges, including experiences of abuse and a tumultuous relationship with his parents. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, where he was introduced to National Socialism after reading Adolf Hitler's *Mein Kampf*. Rockwell's political activism was characterized by inflammatory rhetoric against Jews and African Americans, whom he blamed for societal issues, proposing extreme solutions that included violence.
His efforts to gain public visibility involved organizing rallies and using provocative media strategies, which attracted significant media attention despite limited support. Rockwell's tenure as a neo-Nazi leader ended with his assassination in 1967, a violent act stemming from internal party conflicts. His death did not diminish the impact he had on the neo-Nazi movement in America, as it eventually led to the emergence of various splinter groups and new leaders who perpetuated his ideologies. Rockwell is also noted for his role in the early Holocaust denial movement.
George Lincoln Rockwell
- Born: March 9, 1918
- Birthplace: Bloomington, Illinois
- Died: August 25, 1967
- Place of death: Arlington, Virginia
Founder of the American Nazi Party
Cause of notoriety: Rockwell started the first Nazi political party in the United States after World War II.
Active: 1959-1967
Locale: United States
Early Life
George Lincoln Rockwell (ROK-wehl) was the oldest of the three children of George Lovejoy Rockwell and Claire Schade. His parents were vaudeville performers who divorced when he was six years old. Rockwell lived with his mother in Illinois but would visit his father in the summer at his Southport, Maine, home. His father was an egomaniac who never showed affection for his children. Rockwell was subject also to verbal abuse and beatings by his aunt. While growing up, Rockwell was gregarious and frequently the center of attention in his social circles, but beneath the surface he had developed a fragile self-image because of his father’s constant belittling and his aunt’s physical and psychological abuse.
In the fall of 1938, Rockwell entered Brown University, where he became a cartoonist for campus publications. Many of his cartoons and writings were censored because they were so far out of the mainstream. In 1941, Rockwell left Brown and enlisted in the aviation cadet program of the U.S. Navy. During World War II, he saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In April, 1943, he married Judith Aultman. They had three daughters before their marriage ended in divorce in 1953.
In 1950, Rockwell, who was operating his own advertising firm in Portland, Maine, was recalled to active duty when the Korean War began. He was stationed at the naval air base in Coronado, California. There Rockwell was introduced to National Socialism.
Political Career
In 1952, Rockwell became involved in a political campaign in support of General Douglas MacArthur for the Republican presidential nomination. He attended a speech by Gerald L. K. Smith, a Nazi sympathizer and director of the Christian Nationalist Crusade. At Smith’s urging, Rockwell read Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf (1925-1927; English translation, 1933). From this work Rockwell concluded that only National Socialism could save white people from degradation and racial degeneration.
Rockwell continued to study Nazi literature throughout his naval career. In October, 1953, he married his second wife, Thora Hallgrimsson, whom he had met while stationed in Iceland. They honeymooned in the Bavarian Alps, where Rockwell visited Hitler’s retreat at Berchtesgaden.
Following his discharge from the Navy in 1954, Rockwell met Harold N. Arrowsmith, an entrepreneur who shared Rockwell’s anti-Semitic views. In 1958 Rockwell entered into an anti-Jewish publishing partnership with Arrowsmith. They named their operation the National Committee to Free America from Jewish Domination and set up headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. Arrowsmith supplied the money, and Rockwell printed and distributed the literature. The partnership had ended by August, 1958, but Rockwell continued to produce anti-Semitic literature and move in neo-Nazi circles. His second wife left him and moved to Iceland with their four children. Eventually Rockwell decided that the only way he could gain public recognition of his commitment to National Socialism was to adopt the name “Nazi.” In October, 1959, George Lincoln Rockwell started the American Nazi Party with headquarters in Arlington.
Rockwell attracted media attention for his new party through a variety of techniques. He began by holding weekly rallies in Washington, D.C. His men would wear storm trooper uniforms, and Rockwell would make speeches in which he attacked Jews and blacks. In 1961, Rockwell sent a group of Nazis in a Volkswagen bus covered with hate signs on a route through the South that the desegregationist Freedom Riders had taken. Where Otto Preminger’s film Exodus (1960), about the founding of the state of Israel, was showing in theaters, storm troopers would picket. Such activities frequently resulted in violent confrontations, which led to increased media coverage for the party.
Rockwell capitalized on his notoriety by speaking on college campuses. The speaking fees he received were a major source of income for the party. The party also raised money through the sale of its magazine, The Storm Trooper, Nazi literature, books, records, tapes, photographs, and films. The targets of the literature and speeches were Jews and African Americans. Jews were the greatest threat, Rockwell believed, because of the control they exercised over key components of American society. He said that blacks were dangerous because they were prone to violence. Together, they were seen as promoting race-mixing. Rockwell’s “solution” was to exterminate Jews and to send Americans of African descent “back” to Africa.
Despite the publicity it received, the American Nazi Party did not attract many supporters. The party had a few hundred followers in Dallas, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay area, Chicago, Illinois, Boston, and Virginia. Generally, the members were in their twenties, many came from broken homes, and they were prone to violence.
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was shot in front of a Laundromat in Arlington, Virginia. His assassin was John Patler, a former editor of The Storm Trooper magazine. Patler had been expelled from the party for creating dissension between dark-haired and blond Nazis. Rockwell was denied burial at several cemeteries, including Arlington National Cemetery. Eventually his body was cremated. While Rockwell’s death marked the end of the American Nazi Party, it resulted in the splintering of the movement and the creation of new neo-Nazi movements in the United States and a new generation of leaders.
Impact
George Lincoln Rockwell was the seminal force behind the development of National Socialism in America in the post-World War II era. He is also seen as the originator of the Holocaust denial movement, which claims that Jews invented the myth of the Holocaust to justify the founding of the state of Israel.
Numerous neo-Nazi leaders and movements in the United States were originally associated with the American Nazi Party or its successor, the National Socialist White People’s Party. Of these, the best known are William Luther Pierce, founder of the National Alliance, and David Duke, Ku Klux Klan leader and founder of the National Association for the Advancement of White People and the European-American Unity and Rights Organization.
Bibliography
Rockwell, George Lincoln. This Time the World. New York: Pariament House, 1963. Rockwell’s statement of his views.
Schmaltz, William H. Hate:George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. Washington, D.C.: Brassey’s, 1999. A thorough history and analysis of Rockwell. The author’s research materials include the FBI files on Rockwell.
Simonelli, Frederick J. American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999. Draws from a variety of resources, collections, and interviews. Gives an excellent scholarly analysis of Rockwell.