Once dubbed ‘America’s Hitler’, a man who found himself at the front of the American Nazi Party had a pathetic end to his life – shot by one of his supporters outside of a laundrette.
In 1959, George Lincoln Rockwell founded the anti-Semitic, racist and homophobic group, The American Nazi Party, which later morphed into what’s now known as the National Socialist White People’s Party.
He often dressed up in a Nazi uniform and intimidated those he didn’t like – at one point, standing outside of a theater in his SS officer uniform while a movie about the founding of Israel was being screened.
His life of spouting hateful views came to a sudden end when one of his previous supporters, John Patler, shot him dead in Arlington, Virginia, in August 1967.
Rockwell’s life and legacy should have ended there. A death notice from Time Magazine even alluded to his lack of legacy: ‘he was a failure at just about everything he tried’.
But decades on from Rockwell’s assassination, the hate he spouted is still being shared today, at a worrying rate.
Though Rockwell had only a few hundred followers when he was killed, the rhetoric he purported in speeches and political platforms guide many of America’s hate groups today.
Dr Heidi Beirich, co-founder and chief strategy officer for the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, and told Metro.co.uk that Rockwell laid the groundwork for visible demonstrations of racism across America today.
She said: ‘It’s not like white supremacy and all this anti-semitism just died down after Rockwell was assassinated in 1967. We probably have more people that believe those ideas than we’ve ever had.
‘We still have loads of these groups and hundreds of thousands of people who share Rockwell’s ideas. We’ve seen anti Semitism and white supremacy go into the mainstream in ways that didn’t used to be the case.
‘There’s this anti-immigrant idea that white countries are being swamped by immigrants and people of color and refugees.’
Perhaps the most worrying part about Rockwell’s legacy is that he’s still celebrated and idolised by far-right leaders and neo nazis.
Richard Spencer, who was a leader in the Charlottesville riots in 2017, said he was influenced by him.
Dr Beirich added: ‘There are a lot of things that Rockwell did that are part of the White supremacist scene today and probably wouldn’t have been had he not done what he did.
‘And we can’t bypass Trump either. He ultimately praised the Charlottesville rioters and has injected racism and bigotry into America in a way that was unacceptable prior to 2015.’
Referencing the 2017 riots, she added: ‘That was probably the largest white supremacist rally in decades. I’ve been tracking white supremacist groups since the late 90s, but that was really taking to the streets.
‘It was a direct statement of white supremacy and it was huge and it was violent. I think Rockwell is sort of the spirit that guides this kind of activity.’
The pinnacle of white supremacist activity came on January 6, 2021, Dr Beirich said. A convergence of ‘holocaust deniers, neo Nazis, white supremacists, conspiracists and more’ descended on Washington DC.
Dr Beirich added: ‘That shows the injection of these ideas that were so long considered so far outside the pale, merging with a conservative movement.
‘There doesn’t seem to be a line on the right between fringe unacceptable ideas, usually racism and anti Semitism and the larger conservative movement. If anything, the anti immigrant sentiments coming from white supremacists have kind of merged with social conservatives and others to also be anti LGBTQ.’
It’s not just America that’s seeing far-right riots. There were widespread riots across the UK at the end of July and early August.
But one common thread runs through, Dr Beirich suggests – an ‘American export’ of hatred and extremism.
She added: ‘I think at this point, the anti immigrant white supremacist and anti immigrant narratives in particular have spread far and wide and are being picked up by people on the far right, in a lot of places.
‘It is an American export, but it’s also something that has just infiltrated in so many places. It’s just incredibly tragic that these ideas that are connected to so much violence are surging again.
‘Rockwell’s legacy should be a footnote in history and it’s not. That’s quite tragic.’
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