Rockwell, George Lincoln

Rockwell, George Lincoln (1918–67) political extremist; born in Bloomington, Ill. The son of vaudeville comedians, he was a Navy pilot during World War II, and was a gifted illustrator. He managed an advertising agency in Portland, Maine, served in the Korean War, and, influenced by anti-Semite Gerald L. K. Smith, founded the American Nazi Party (1958). Although its numbers were tiny, under his direction the party staged numerous provocative, if unsuccessful demonstrations. A white supremacist who blamed Jews for the worldwide Communist movement, he called for their extermination along with the deportation of all blacks. He was discharged from the navy reserves for his actions (1960) and ran for governor of Virginia (1965). He was shot to death (1967) by John Patler, a dark-skinned former member of the American Nazi Party who had been expelled from the party for denouncing his more Aryan-appearing colleagues.