George Lincoln Rockwell
George Lincoln Rockwell, (1918-1967) was the founder of the American Nazi Party. The party was headquartered up until the late-60s in Arlington most recently here ALLH #17 American Nazi Party Headquarters
Rockwell was in school at Brown University as a sophomore and left early to enlist in the US Navy thinking that a war with Nazi Germany was unavoidable. He served as a Naval Aviator – had earned his wings- and studied aerial photography. He assisted in the flight control of the retaking of Guam.
He left the military after the war and worked as an award-winning graphics artist prior to being called back for the Korean War. During the war he married his second wife and honeymooned in Berchtesgaden- Hitler’s mountain retreat. What a romantic??!!
During the war, Rockwell started listening to extreme views- starting with anti-communist Senator McCarthy and then anti-Semitic speakers. By 1958, he was actively involved in marched against US involvement in the mid-east in support of Israel. He had a swastika flag and an altar to Adolf Hitler in his house. Wearing uniforms and openly wearing guns, they attracted notoriety in their Arlington home.
In December of 1959, he started the American Nazi Party and moved it to Ballston. He was a comfortable public speaker (attributed to his vaudevillian parents) and gave hours long speeches on the downtown Mall and in Union Square in NYC. His explosive anti-Semitic and racist comments drew angry responses and frequently violence broke out- playing into Rockwell’s hands as a publicity hound. Counter-marching against civil rights leaders, he promoted the term “White Power”. Rockwell established his Nazi barracks in a farmhouse on Wilson Boulevard on land that is now Upton Hills Regional Park. Alex Haley interviewed Rockwell for Playboy Magazine. You can find the interview on-line.
Assassination
At noon on Friday, August 25th 1967, Rockwell drove from his headquarters to the laundromat in the Dominion Hills shopping center across the street (now a shoe repair store). After loading one of the machines, he returned to his car to come back to the headquarters building. While pulling out of his spot, two bullets were fired both striking Rockwell. His car rolled back towards Lee Highway, and he got out of the passenger side of the car. Witnesses say he pointed towards the roof and fell. They heard running and some even gave chase. Rockwell died within minutes as the bullet tore arteries near his heart.
The assassin, a former high level member of the party (and lest I mislead anyone, the party only numbered maybe 20 people) who had been banished. Police later arrested John Patler a half mile away (one block west of the cache One of These Days: GCRZN7). He had cut through Bon Air park throwing his rifle in the creek quite possibly using this bridge. Patler maintained his innocence though was found guilty.
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.” How heartbreaking for a parent to say.
While researching this, I was amazed at the level of details (phone numbers given out, graphic pictures published) in the Post. It is markedly different from today’s papers that say “alleged” for obvious perpetrators and never publish anything too graphic. Coverage for this news story had a dime novel pulp journalism feel to it- far different than the sanitized crime reporting we have today