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Rockwell's Slayer Former AideARLINGTON, Va (AP) - Police held the former Nazi firebrand accused of slaying party chief George Lincoln Rockwell under heavy guard today while Rockwell’s heir apparent vowed “we will carry on.”Rockwell, 49, founder of the American Nazi party, was killed in his car Friday by two cleanly placed shots as he was leaving the parking lot of a small shopping center.Five hours later, police charged 29-year-old John C. Pat-ler, former No. 4 man in the small party’s hierarchy, with murder. Bond was set at $50,000.Matthias Koehl, second in command to Rockwell, toldnewsmen: “1 don’t know of any one who can fill his shoes .. but we'll all do everything we can to carry on.”Party Expelled KillerKoehl said Patler was expelled from the party last April because of his “Bolshevik leanings.” He had been a member of the group which directs its hate toward Negroes and Jews almost since its founding in 1958.Rockwell once described Patler as the party’s propaganda minister and Patler editedthe organization’s magazine “Stormtrooper” until early th;s year.Arlington County police strengthened the guard at thecounty jail. When Patler was driven from an interrogation room across a courtyard to the jail Friday a policeman armed with a shotgun stood on the roof.Rockwell was shot after leaving a coin-operated laundry in the shopping center, one block from party headquarters. The shots, fired from a low roof over a barber shop, struck him in the head and chest. He fell out of the right side of the 10-year-old. rusted car, soap powder mixing with his blood.On the seat were his trademarks, a corn cob pipe and sunglasses.Patler, also of Arlington, was to appear in court Monday to determine the date of hispreliminary hearing. Mrs. Helen Lane, an Arlington lawyer, was with Patler during his interrogation by police.Patler was arrested 45 minutes later, a half-mile from the scene. Police would not say if a weapon had been found or whether he had made a statement.“I haven’t done anything, this is a nightmare,” he said to reporters as he was led, manacled, into police headquarters.String of ArrestsPatler often was in the forefront of Nazi party harrassing activities and it brought him a long string of arrests.On June 8. 1964. he leaped to the platform at a Washingtonmeeting where Mississippi Negroes told of shootings, beatings. bombings they had suffered.‘‘You’re a bunch of filthy swine.” he cried “You're trying to force white Americans to your will.”He changed his name from John Patsalos in 1960, married a 19-year-old girl, and was discharged honorably from the Marines in the wake of a party rally at which he was arrested.Patler wrote later. “Enormous pressure was exerted by the Jew war veterans and I once again found myself in ;he middle of a battle on account of my political beliefs.-'When Patler was five, his father shot and killed his wife and 1 was sent to Sing Sing prison. On J his release, the father battled in !court with his grandmother for I castody of John and his younger brother. George.Patler once wrote. “I learned early that the only way you stop terrorism and force is with superior terrorism and superior force ”That might sum up Rockwell’s philosophy too.Rockwell, in lectures at college campuses, said often, “I am a racist.”The Sept. 1 issue of a party publication. “White Power. shows a drawing of Rockwell hat has him saying “Let me show vou how we can smashnigger power ... we need a national w'hite gang.”Rockwell, who idolized Adolf Hitler and claimed he could recite every word of Hitler’s book “Mein Kampf” (My Battle, advocated “transporting all Negroes to Africa, stripping Jews of property and sterilizing them.”Navy VeteranHe was in the Navy in World War II and during the Korean War and attained the rank of commander before he was released from active duty in 1954 The Navy discharged him from the reserves in 1960 because of his conduct.Rockwell refused to say how many members were in the party, but knowledgeable people said it has fewer than 100 members The headquarters, in .Arlington, is on 23 acres and less than 10 miles from the nation's capital.Ironically, the last Rockwell publication, “Rockwell Report,” headlines “Assassin Misses Commander.”“Over the past eight years, I have been attacked regularly in various ways, from gasoline bombs to gunfire,” he wrote. “But most of the attacks have been very poorly planned and hastily executed, causing little damage Rockwell was a commanding figure and a persuasive speaker He sought publicity, good or bad.Part of his plan for taking over, he told an interviewer for Playboy magazine, was “just raising hell to keep people aware that there’s such a thing as the American Nazi party, not caring what they call us, as long as they call us something.”Eyed White House He told people he would be elected president in 1972 on a Nazi party ticket.His campaign platform, he said, would be: “I’m going to completely separate the black and white races and preserve white Christian domination in I this country, and I’m going to have the Jew Communists and any other traitors gassed for treason.”At a recent college appearance he said: “Five minutes ! after I'm elected President there won’t be any more problem with Red China — because I’m going to push the button (to launch hydrogen bombs )” Rockwell was the son of George (Doc) Rockwell, an old-time vaudevillian who played on Fred Allen’s radio show.“I’m not surprised at all,” the father said at his home in Southport, Maine, when told of his son’s death. “I’ve expected it for some time.”Rockwell was married twice and had seven children. He was separated from his second wife and shared the ramshackle party headquarters with several of his stormtroopers.
Newspaper Details
Daily Telegram
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Aug 26, 1967
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Alex K.
NA, 28 Mar 2025
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