George Lincoln Rockwell (March 9, 1918 – August 25, 1967) was an American neo-Nazi activist and politician who founded the American Nazi Party (ANP) and became one of the most notorious white supremacists in the United States until his assassination in 1967. While Rockwell remains obscure to the American public and never achieved political power, he remains an influence on far-right extremism.
Born in Bloomington, Illinois, to two vaudeville performers, 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 in the European and Pacific theaters, as well as 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. He founded the American Nazi Party in 1959 in Arlington, Virginia, using high-profile media stunts to increase its notoriety as a step to power. This did not work, and despite their notoriety Rockwell remained politically fringe. Rockwell coined the expression White Power, which was also the title of his posthumously published political manifesto.
In early 1967, Rockwell renamed the ANP the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP) as part of an effort to broaden the party's white supremacist vision. On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was assassinated in Arlington by John Patler, a former member of the ANP whom Rockwell had expelled. Rockwell was succeeded as leader by his second-in-command Matt Koehl, whose leadership was controversial; following Rockwell's death, the group effectively dissolved, splintering into numerous different neo-Nazi organizations; Koehl eventually renamed the organization the New Order and turned it into an esoteric neo-Nazi religious group, while another NSWPP member, William Luther Pierce, left Koehl's movement and founded the National Alliance.
In politics, Rockwell regularly praised Adolf Hitler, 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. He viewed black people as a primitive race and supported the resettlement of all African Americans in a new African state to be funded by the U.S. government.
Rockwell was born in Bloomington, Illinois, on March 9, 1918, the oldest of three children born to vaudeville performers George Lovejoy "Doc" Rockwell and Claire Schade. Rockwell was of English and Scottish ancestry on his paternal side and of French and German ancestry on his maternal side. At the time of Rockwell's birth, his father Doc Rockwell was rising in fame, and by 1921, he was a star and one of the highest-paid vaudeville actors in the nation. His mother largely retired from performance after Rockwell was born. He was usually called Lincoln, and went by the nickname Link. His parents divorced when Rockwell was six years old, and for the rest of his youth he divided his time between his mother in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and his father in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
His father was emotionally distant and constantly belittled him. A biographer described Rockwell's father as "an egomaniac"; a relative said that he could not recall a single instance of Rockwell's father expressing affection for him. Rockwell greatly desired his father's approval, and made an effort to emulate him. While his father continued to be financially well off, he often did not pay child support, and his ex-wife and children struggled to financially get by. After the divorce, Claire moved in with her sister, Arline; Arline was a domineering woman who despised Rockwell's father. Arline regularly beat Rockwell from the ages of 6 to 15, and psychologically abused Rockwell until he left for college. Unlike his two siblings, he refused to submit to her authority, which only led to more abuse.
His family was often casually antisemitic, but not to a greater extent than most middle-class families of the time. Doc Rockwell's business friends, many of whom were Jewish, frequently visited their family home, including Benny Goodman, Groucho Marx, and Walter Winchell. Rockwell's mother may have had antisemitic views. His father was inconsistent; he had used antisemitic epithets at home, but the outward display of it horrified him and later he tried repeatedly to dissuade his son from his views. Rockwell was an extroverted and rebellious teenager, resulting in disciplinary action taken against him at school and middling grades. Despite this, he was well liked in his community; many expected him to go into show business like his father. He was a self taught reed and flageolet player and organized a big band called the "Phantoms of Swing" as a teenager, which played locally. He worked as a waiter at a local hotel as a teenager.
Rockwell attended Atlantic City High School, but after a conflict with a teacher in his senior year he went "on strike" and engaged in dramatic protests over his teaching. The school informed Rockwell that he would not graduate unless he stopped; Rockwell refused, and was not allowed to graduate, though the school did force the teacher in question to change his teaching methods. That summer, Rockwell was sent to live with his paternal grandmother and repeated his senior year of high school at Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island.
His father encouraged him to apply to Harvard University, wanting him to get into an Ivy League school. While his grades at his second high school were much better, they were still inconsistent, and so to help his chances Rockwell spent another semester at Hope High School. He received a second high school diploma from Hope but was still rejected from Harvard after some of his school records were mistakenly not forwarded. Having not applied to any other college out of confidence that he would be admitted, his father instead enrolled him in Hebron Academy in Hebron, Maine, for the year. A classmate at Hebron, John Hahn, recalled him as "a tall, skinny teenager who – even then – smoked a pipe, had a lot of odd ideas, trained mice, and loved classical music."
In 1938, Rockwell enrolled and began studying at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island as a philosophy major. While his grades were mediocre and below the standards of Brown, he was accepted due to his high score on the aptitude test. At Brown, he was art editor and a cartoonist for Sir Brown!, the campus magazine, which he used to attack those at the school he ideologically opposed. He became increasingly pessimistic about society and humanity, and conflicted especially with his sociology professor over his disagreement with egalitarianism. After writing a paper about crime and delinquency for his sociology class, he was nearly expelled due to its contents. In his sophomore year, Rockwell dropped out of Brown and accepted a commission in the United States Navy.
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. His assignment to surveillance missions instead of combat roles irritated him, and he attempted to be transferred to a combat role; he was eventually assigned to a position on Support Air Command to direct pilots from the ground by radio. Rockwell never flew in combat, but was considered a good pilot and an efficient officer.
In April 1943, Rockwell married Judith Aultman, whom he had met while attending Brown University. Aultman was a student at Pembroke College, which was the coordinate women's college of the university. The couple had three daughters: Bonnie (born 1946), Nancy (born 1949), 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 by violent arguments, and on at least one occasion, he struck his wife.