George Lincoln Rockwell
George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American fascist activist and founder of the American Nazi Party. He later became a major figure in the Neo-Nazi movement in the United States, and his beliefs, strategies, and writings have continued to influence many white supremacists and Neo-Nazis.
George Lincoln Rockwell
Position established
Position established
March 9, 1918
Bloomington, Illinois, U.S.
August 25, 1967 (aged 49)
Arlington County, Virginia, U.S.
-
Judy Aultman(m. 1943; div. 1953)
7
United States
1941–1960
- American Defense Service Medal (with "A" device)
- American Campaign Medal (w/1 service star)
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (w/4 service stars)
- European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (w/2 service stars)
- World War II Victory Medal
- National Defense Service Medal
- Naval Reserve Medal
- Philippine Liberation Medal (w/2 service stars)
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.
In politics, he regularly praised Adolf Hitler, referring to him as the "White Savior of the twentieth century".[1]: 10 He denied the Holocaust and believed that Martin Luther King Jr. was a tool for Jewish communists desiring to rule the white community. He blamed the civil rights movement on Jews, and viewed most of them as traitors.[1] He viewed black people as a primitive, lethargic race who desired only simple pleasures and a life of irresponsibility, and supported the resettlement of all African Americans in a new African state to be funded by the U.S. government.[1] As a supporter of racial segregation and white separatism, he agreed with and quoted many leaders of the Black separatism movement such as Elijah Muhammad and early Malcolm X.[2][3] In his later years, Rockwell became increasingly aligned with other Neo-Nazi groups, leading the World Union of National Socialists.
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".[4]
Biography[edit]
Early life[edit]
Rockwell was born in Bloomington, Illinois, the first of three children of George Lovejoy Rockwell and Claire (Schade) Rockwell. 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. His parents divorced when Rockwell was six years old, and he divided his youth between his mother in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and his father in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.[5]
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.[6]
In August 1938, Rockwell enrolled at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, as a philosophy major.[5] In his sophomore year, Rockwell dropped out of Brown University and accepted a commission in the United States Navy.[5]
Military service[edit]
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.[7] Though he never actually flew in combat, he was considered a good pilot and an efficient officer.[7]
On April 24, 1943, Rockwell married Judith Aultman, whom he had met while attending Brown University.[7] 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.[7]
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.[7] In 1946, he entered the commercial art program at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.[5] 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.[5][8] However, he left Pratt before finishing his final year, and moved to Maine to found his own advertising agency.[7]
In 1950, Rockwell was recalled to duty as a lieutenant commander at the beginning of the Korean War. He moved to San Diego with his wife and three children, where he trained pilots in the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps.[5]
Privately, during his time in San Diego, Rockwell became an advocate of Adolf Hitler and a supporter of Nazism.[1] He was influenced by Senator Joseph McCarthy's stance against communism, carmaker Henry Ford's hatred of Jews, and aviator Charles Lindbergh's stance on race.[9] Rockwell supported General Douglas MacArthur's candidacy for president of the United States. He adopted the corncob pipe, following MacArthur's example.[10] In 1951, he read the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Hitler's manifesto Mein Kampf.[1]
In November 1952, Rockwell was transferred to Iceland, where he became a Grumman F8F Bearcat pilot and attained the rank of commander.[1][5] 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;[1] 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.[1] 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."[8] She subsequently divorced Rockwell and remarried in 1963.[8]
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: 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.
Death[edit]
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was shot and killed while leaving a laundromat in Arlington, Virginia, only a few yards from where he lived.[41][42][43] John Patler, who had been expelled by Rockwell from his party in March 1967 for repeated attempts to inject Marxist ideas into party publications,[43][44] 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."[6][41][45][46]
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 500 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.[47] 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.[10]
Legacy[edit]
Rockwell was a source of inspiration for David Duke when he was young and openly espousing neo-Nazi sentiments. As a student in high school, when Duke learned of Rockwell's murder, he reportedly said "The greatest American who ever lived has been shot down and killed."[48] Richard B. Spencer is another admirer of Rockwell.[49]
Matthew Heimbach said on Rockwell that he 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".[50]
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 relocated it to Wisconsin shortly thereafter. Pierce founded the National Alliance and wrote the racist dystopian novel The Turner Diaries. Several other neo-Nazi groups were formed over the years since Rockwell's death, some by his followers and other by newer generations of white supremacists. Some are now defunct.
In popular culture[edit]
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 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."[51]
For their 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.[52]
Marlon Brando portrayed Rockwell in the television miniseries Roots: The Next Generations and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his performance.[53]: 2
In the third season of post-World War II alternate history television show The Man in the High Castle, David Furr portrayed Rockwell as the Reichsmarschall of North America. Nazi-ruled New York City's main airport was named Lincoln Rockwell Airport.[54]
In the 2021 British drama series Ridley Road, Rockwell is portrayed by actor Stephen Hogan.[55]