Schmaltz - For Race And Nation: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party

FOR RACE AND NATION:

GEORGE LINCOLN ROCKWELL & THE AMERICAN NAZI PARTY

Copyright 2013 by William H. Schmaltz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any form or by any means without permission from the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schmaltz, William H.

For Race And Nation: George Lincoln Rockwell & The American Nazi Party /

William H. Schmaltz --- 1st Ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-935607-13-7

1. Rockwell, George Lincoln, 1918-1967. 2. American Nazi Party --Biography.

3. Right-wing extremists---United States--Biography. 4. American Nazi Party--History--20th century.

5. Subversive activities--United States--History--20th century.

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In memory of my aunt, Helen Klein

(1925-1995)

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All of the photos in this work are copyrighted by the author. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited. If you post any of these images on a website or republish in any way, the author will pursue legal remedy. All photos are available for licensing-- along with hundreds more that did not get included in this work.

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As an undergraduate in history at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, I "discovered" Rockwell by accident, on a reel-to-reel tape recording in the school archives; a speech and debate delivered on campus in the Spring of 1967, a few months before his assassination. Rockwell's delivery was polished; his schtick was working and the audience was roaring with laughter and occasional approval. I wasn't sure if the event was a gag or if there was actually some latent seriousness. He played loose with the facts, hyped-up his anti-Vietnam rhetoric, and debated the merits of slavery conducted by the Founding Fathers. I wanted to learn more.

Had there been a text on Rockwell and his American Nazi Party I would have read it and moved on. But there was no text, and that spurred my interest. I submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation a Freedom of Information Act request for all the Rockwell files. The FBI took the next ten years to provide twelve thousand pages of unreleased documents. Meanwhile I attempted to locate and interview Rockwell's "stormtroopers" along with his family, friends, and his children. His family refused all requests for interviews and as of 2011, have never made contact with me. Rockwell's second ex-wife Thora, returned to Iceland and remarried a banker. They had a son together and he became Iceland's first billionaire.

My gratitude goes out to numerous people for their help on this project: Barbara Blender for the use of her father's photographs; Stanley Tupper for sharing his childhood memories of Rockwell's Boothbay Harbor years. Many thanks go to Rockwell's former associates for their help in piecing together the American Nazi Party (ANP) history: Roger Foss (D), Karl Allen, Bernie Davids, Matt Koehl, Ed Fields, Emory Burke (D), Schuyler Ferris, T. Eddy, Jerald Walraven, Mike Brown, William Pierce (D), Frank Smith, Chris Bailey, George Ware, Speros Lagoulis, DeWest Hooker (D), Colin Jordan (D), Alan Welch (D), and Barbara von Goetz.

My compliments to the many institutions that supplied documents for this project, especially the Stillwater and Washington County libraries, the Wilcox Collection at the University of Kansas, the Schomburg Center for Research in New York, the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan, the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, the Virginia Room at the Arlington County Library, the Boothbay Region Historical Society and Museum, the Brown University Archives, and the University of Iowa.

Thanks are due also to my children, Henry, Molly, and Karl for their patience while I was working on this project.

Feedback & Correspondence welcome at

Note to Hollywood agents -- Screenrights are available !

--William Schmaltz - 2013

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On June 22, 1960, George Lincoln Rockwell, the leader of the American Nazi Party, flew into New York City to defend his application to speak in Union Square. Waiting for him at the airport was stormtrooper Roger Foss, who had hopped a bus from Washington, D.C., to New York City. They rode the subway to the New York State Supreme Court; there they walked cautiously through dozens of protesters standing outside the building. Nobody recognized Rockwell in a business suit-he looked more like a congressman than a Nazi.

The courtroom was in chaos. Six lawyers stood before the bench to oppose Rockwell's petition to speak; the gallery was filled with angry-looking members of the Jewish community. One by one citizens, attorneys, and pressure group representatives of New York City denounced Rockwell before the bench, claiming that his appearance would jeopardize the health and safety of the community.

Then it was Rockwell's turn to speak. The courtroom fell silent as he approached Justice Vincent Lupiano. Rockwell paused a few moments for dramatic effect before launching into a masterful soliloquy that utilized both legal citations and humor to disarm his opponents. Around the courtroom the lawyers and public officials stood open-mouthed; no one had expected such an effective performance.

Suddenly a bearded rabbi stood up in the back of the courtroom screaming of "Nazi atrocities." A heavyset Irish policeman yelled at him to "sit down and shut up," but the rabbi's hysterics intensified; he changed from broken English to Yiddish, waved his arms in wild gestures, and finally collapsed to the floor in convulsions. Bystanders and police carried the man off, but not before he had stolen the moment from Rockwell, the moment during which the entire courtroom had been hanging on his every word. The timing was perfect.1

Judge Lupiano called a recess. Rockwell and Foss made their way out to the rotunda, where several television cameras were set up. The Nazis stood back to back, surrounded by an angry mob of 150 people. Rockwell told television reporters that the ANP was "growing every minute" but that his goals had been misrepresented by newspapers. "Contrary to newspaper reports we are not trying to exterminate anybody, but we are trying to eliminate communism. We want to shock the American people into the awareness of the extreme danger of what is going on."2

A reporter asked if he intended to gas Jews; Rockwell replied that he intended to gas traitors, Jews or not.

The reporter asked how many Jews that might be; Rockwell said, "Eighty percent."

Immediately, shouts and curses rang through the rotunda. A spectator yelled, "If he'd go outside I'd break his neck for it! You dirty bum you! You call eighty percent of the Jews traitors!" The man lunged at Rockwell, but Foss grabbed his wrists and pushed him back.

A television reporter asked, "Mr. Rockwell, how do you react to this kind of treatment?"

"I'm used to it," shouted Rockwell. "They never make such a fuss over communists speaking; it's only when someone is an anti-communist."

A bystander half Rockwell's height wriggled through the mob to stand toe to toe with Rockwell.

"Only dogs that spew disease all over the place, dogs like you that have the gall to come in here and do what you do."

Rockwell kept his arms crossed, high on his chest so they would not be trapped at his sides if he had to start swinging his fists.

Another spectator yelled, "How much do you get from the communists for fomenting this disorder, you animal?" 3

The mob surged forward, surrounding Rockwell and Foss, pushing and pulling to get at them. Television cameras tipped over and crashed on the marble floor; reporters were knocked down and trampled under foot; the mob pressed in on Rockwell, shouting "Kill him! Kill him!" Security guards hustled Rockwell and Foss into an adjoining room to await the riot police. When order was restored the two returned to the courtroom, and the hearing commenced. At its conclusion, they were whisked off to La Guardia Airport under police escort and placed aboard an American Airlines plane bound for Washington.

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