Assassination of George Lincoln Rockwell

On August 25, 1967, George Lincoln Rockwell, an American neo-Nazi political activist and the leader of the National Socialist White People's Party (NSWPP), formerly the American Nazi Party (ANP), was assassinated by John Patler, an expelled member of the NSWPP. Patler fired two shots at Rockwell from the roof of a nearby building, while Rockwell was visiting a local laundromat close to the party's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The second shot struck Rockwell in the chest; Rockwell died there at 12:02 p.m. Patler was arrested 45 minutes later, about a mile and a half away.

Rockwell was the founder of the ANP; he was one of the earliest Holocaust deniers, called for forcibly sending all Black people to Africa, and for the murder of Jews. Despite attention and widespread notoriety, neither Rockwell nor his party achieved political power and his following was largely insignificant. Rockwell had a complicated relationship with Patler, who left and rejoined the party several times. Patler was ultimately expelled in March 1967 for a variety of reasons, among them abandoning his post and causing dissension within the group's ranks. In June 1967, Rockwell was subject to an assassination attempt at his home. The perpetrator of this incident was not caught; prosecutors later alleged it to be Patler.

At trial, Patler was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison, of which he served 8. He was paroled, but was returned to prison after violating his parole. The evidence against Patler was circumstantial, and Patler has never admitted guilt, though several legal appeals were all unsuccessful. The funeral itself was highly publicized, with a standoff between Rockwell's followers and authorities. During the resulting chaos, Rockwell's successor Matt Koehl had Rockwell's body smuggled out of the funeral home and cremated.

Rockwell's death had a significant impact on the neo-Nazi movement, and Rockwell was seen as a martyr by them. Though Rockwell was succeeded as group leader by Koehl, Koehl's leadership was poor and resulted in numerous schisms and people being driven from the party. Rockwell's death shocked the neo-Nazi movement, which as a whole decentralized after his death, and experienced large shifts in tactics and ideology. Many conspiracy theories emerged among Rockwell's followers, ranging from baseless allegations of a Jewish conspiracy to a coup by other high-ranking members of the NSWPP. Rockwell continues to be greatly influential on neo-Nazis.