ustxtxb_obs_1962_10_05_50_00006-00000_000.pdf

MAN WITH A MISSION The Adventures of George Lincoln Rockwell The writer, former editor of The Texas Ranger, is now managing editor of Escapade Magazine.Ed. NEW YORK The minor but frequent and spectacular adventures of George Lincoln Rockwell and his American Nazi Party seem to have left the American press in a state of silent uncertainty, as if no one knows just what to say about him. He makes the news columns regularly with his arrests, court fights, picketing, near riots, “Hate Bus,” speaking engagements, and so on, but each altercation is dutifully reported in about the same depth and spirit as an automobile accident. He has been condemned and dismissed in a few editorial columns, but except for The New York Times, which published a short biography in connection with its news story on his deportation from England, no major publication has inquired into Rockwell or his curious organization. ONCE DISCOVERED by journalists, the John Birch Society zoomed into first place on the editorial hit parade and stayed there until nothing more could be found to say or predict about it. The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature lists more than 60 articles involving the John Birch Society since March, 1961. Only one item \(a brief disavowal for Rockwell since he organized his American Nazi Party in Arlington, Va., late in 1958. Rockwell’s lengthy book, This Time The World, published last January at $10 a copy, is practically unknown even to book stores in New York. In retrospect, the Birch Society was overplayed, probably because it was the most convenient and conspicuous example of t h e Radical Right movement which has preoccupied the press for more than a year now. But neither militant rightists nor alarmed liberals, both of whom might be expected to exaggerate the scope of the Radical Right movement, consider Rockwell’s Nazis or the several other neofascist groups even remotely related to it. The distinction is justified. Rockwell is on the fringe of the lunatic fringe, and all noise. Still, he is active, colorful, and sensational enough to have been exploited long before nowin part of the press, at least, and in most of the mass magazineswere he not being editorially quarantined. There is a widespread reluctance to touch Rockwell for fear of making him respectable. No one \(including Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and least of all Rockwell’s electric Nazis to the status of a threat or give them THE TEXAS OBSERVER Page 6 October 5, 1962 F Fi /F4 i f free publicity, and this reluctance is only increased by Rockwell’s show-biz attitude that ar y publicity is good publicity, no matter how vicious or, in his opinion, unfair. Consequently, even the editor who might feel inspired to publish a hatchet job finds his victim only too willing to cooperate, to the point of furnishing the hatchet, and he retreats warily from what he decides must be a trap. IN A WAY it is. Rockwell readily admits that his fanatical “hate tactics” are designed to gain him the publicity he needs to “reach the mass,” and he siezes upon every printed word, sparing himself no condemnation, and distributes reprints to magnify the power of his organization. He revels in persecution and berates those who ignore him, presenting the unusual picture of an eager martyr relentlessly hounding after his reluctant oppressors. Knowing that the more publicly fanatical he is, the more publicity he can wrest from news columns, Rockwell obliges with a brand of scurrility that would have made Hitler turn green with envy, and he supplements it with a peculiar sense of humor that both embarrasses and confuses his critics. How does one take seriously a person who casually discusses which US Jews will have to be gassed when he takes over, and then adds they will have their choice of flavored gassesraspberry, tutti-frutti, or heliotrope? Rockwell is too preposterous to be dignified with criticism, but too foul to be scoffed at, and too small a target to be legally attackedleaving him free to pursue his psychopathic program. Rockwell’s publications reflect the caliber of his organization. They are semi-literate, containing the camaraderie of the Boy Scout Manual, the lofty fanaticism of a hell-fire religious tract, and the humor of the sickest commedian. The Rockwell Report is a biweekly newsletter of activities, editorial comments, and reproductions of newspaper stories. The Stormtrooper is a monthly 32-page magazine carrying news stories of Nazi activities under such headlines as: “Nazis Bloody Up Phil. Jews”; “It’s An Honor To Go To Jail For The White Man”; “Legal Terrorism In Chicago”; “London Nazis Attack”; “The German Giant Stirs.” Also editorial columns, a column of “humorous” anecdotes and definitions entitled “Nazi Hatelets” by Capt. Seth D. Ryan, A.N.P., and other features, including a two-page “Jew Communist Traitor’ Surrender Pass” which entitles the holder to such benefits as being “gassed toward the very last,” and meanwhile being lodged at “the fabulous new Miami Beach hotel, The Auschwitz Arms with its “Buchenwald Bar.” The last three pages list Nazi literature, arm bands, banne \(r s, bumper stickers, movies, calendars, and such novelty items as “Ann Frank Soap Wrappers . . . Look absolutely genuine and guarantee soap is 100 per cent kosher. Put on regular cakes and delight your friends. 25 cents each.” THE OFFICIAL Stormtrooper’s Manual is a 14-page catechism of American Nazi Party policies and doctrine which new “troop ers” are expected to learn in order to be able to discuss their beliefs and deflect criticism. A preface, signed by Rockwell, claims that “The AMERICAN NAZI PARTY is actually the SHOCK TROOP of Americanism .. . the vanguard of the ‘right wing revival’. . . . In spite of unbelievable persecutions from both the Jews and our own people, the Right Wing, the AMERICAN NAZI PARTY is relentlessly driving to POWER. Nothing can now stop us, and the Jews are already talking about ‘smelling the gas.’ “Our motto is ‘The Jews Are Through in ’72!’ “, which is the year Rockwell plans to be elected President. He ends the preface with “Hail Hitler!” The following is Nazi doctrine in shortened form with spelling corrected, but using the same terminology: OWe are against democracy because it is mob rule, which means rule by the mediocre. OWe do not favor dictatorship because one man alone cannot direct a complex modern state, but one man must assume responsibility f o r government. This would be an Authoritarian Republic as this country’s founders intended it. OWe are against liberalism because it is a doctrine of weakness and effeminacy, and is sympathetic to communism. OThe Nazi Party has no aggressive intentions, but is organized along military lines because the vicious nature of the enemy requires strong defensive rn2asures. OWe are against only those Jews who have committed treason to this country or the white race. but we must assume all are hostile until the power of the hostile group is broken, at which time those tried and found not guilty will be protected by all resources of the American Nazi Party from the wrath of an aroused public. OWe advocate gas chambers for traitors because the extent of the traitorous conspiracy requires a large scale method of execution. OThe Party holds no animosity toward the Negro, but shares many of the views of the honorable Elijah Muhammed’s Muslim Movement in advocating strict separation and Negroes’ having a land of their own. The Party hopes to work with and through the Muslim Movement to send all US Negroes to Africa, assisting them with foreign aid. Those who wish to remain may do so, but will be placed on reservations as subjects rather than citizens. \(For this policy, Rockwell is called “nothing but a SOFT, nigger-loving liberal” by John Patler, who formed his own American National Party in New York last November. Patler’s “White Shirts” are mainly pam phleteers, and bitterly opposed to Rockwell’s carnival antics. They are “soft on Jews” the way Rockwell is “soft on niggers.” Neither OThe hatred felt toward us is not a handicap. Apathy is harder to overcome than hatred. When a man hates you he has interest; when he has no feeling it is difficult to arouse interest. Two thousand years ago the most hated doctrine was Christianity. Future generations will look upon Adolf Hitler as the White Savior of the 20th Century, and the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin as the Alamo of the White Race. OThe most important quality in the Nazi is neither intelligence nor strength, but loyalty to his superiors and subordinates. OThe mass is decidedly ferninine. They admire strength and force, have little interest in logic or reason, which is why the Right Wing leaves the mass unmoved. One must instead appeal to them on an emotional level. OThe most deadly weapon in the arsenal of international Jewry is their control of the media of communications and information. OOur tactics must be radical so that we cannot be ignored by the Jew-controlled media and thus be prevented from reaching the mass. One of the great jokes of modern times is the way we Nazis utilize the institutions of liberals to destroy said institutions, such as the American Civil Liberties Union. In giving legal aid to Nazis, whom they hate, they also lose considerable support and contributions from the Jews who do not relish paying to help Nazis. OThe four phases of our power struggle are: first, to make ourselves known to the masses; second, to disseminate our program and propaganda; third, to organize our converts; fourth, to attain power lawfully through the votes of the newly won masses. ROCKWELL, as public speaker and writer, is a ranting fellow. but those who have interviewed him report he is a ,quiet-spokcn, articulate, and shrewd person who seems to regard himself as a prophet-adman enthusiastically plugging an ideological product which needs only to ha ,,re it market awakened. H is corn posed, compulsively candid, and neither openly offended nor intimidated by any kind of critic. ism. So far the only publication besides the Observer to print an interview with Rockwell is The Realist, a small, liberal monthly magazine published in New York and devoted to sociopolitical criticism and satire, and irreverance in general. The inierview, by editor Paul Krassner magazine’s series of “impolite interviews” with notable or controversial personalities, and ran to six full pages with Rockwell, frank and voluble on every topic raised. Krassner: “Shiner recently stated that there are more one-time Nazis in West Germany’s foreign offices today than there ever were in the thirteen years of Hitler’s government.” Rockwell: “He did! Did he say that? Well, God bless his little Jewish ass, that’s great. I think he’s right! I think there are more Nazisyou have no ideaunless you were sitting in my seat you could not imagine how many people are Nazis. I have businessmen by the hundreds every day, they come sneaking up to me and say, “Why do you use that awful sign, boy, I’m all for ya, you’re right, but you mustn’t let the Jews know.” Krassner: “What do you think of Barry Goldwater?” Rockwell: “I think he is the Judas goat. I think that it’s very peculiar that, out of all the millions of people in America that are so-called conservative, the only one that’s available to lead the conservative movement happens to be a Jew . . . .” The interview ended with: Krassner: “Okaythis’ll be in the June issue.” Rockwell: “The Jew issue!” Krassner: “June. June.” After the interview was published, Rockwell dispatched Seth Ryan, one of his “Field Commanders,” to pay a visit to Krassner and extend to him “The Commander’s” appreciation for printing the interview fairly and accurately. While Ryan was in the office a Jewish person came in and engaged him in what turned cut to be a pointless argument, and which he tried to end by telling Ryan, “Look, I was only joking, I’m not really a Jew.” To this Ryan said, “Well, you look like a Jew,” and was told, “Well, you look like a Jew, too!” Ryan then turned to Krassner and said: “See? If they can’t whip you, they call you names!” KRASSNER himself believed that publishing the interview, even though Rockwell revealed himself as a profane buffoon, would help more than it would hurt him, but he says he felt compelled to do so out of principle. Some of his subscribers, mostly liberals, protested. Rockwell’s in-person behavior destroys any claim he might make to being a dashing strongman-ofthe-future, and his headquarters and followers further ruin the image. Nazi Headquarters is a rather shabby, two-story white frame house in a lower-middleclass residential neighborhood in Arlington. A flag pole stands in the grassless front yard, and an