Assassination
On June 28, 1967, the first attempt was made on Rockwell’s life. Returning from shopping, he drove into the party barracks’ driveway on Wilson Boulevard and found it blocked by a felled tree and brush. Rockwell assumed that it was another prank by local teens. As a young boy cleared the obstruction, two shots were fired at Rockwell from behind one of the swastika-embossed brick driveway pillars. One of the shots ricocheted off the car, right next to his head. Leaping from the car, Rockwell pursued the would-be assassin. On June 30, Rockwell petitioned the Arlington County Circuit Court for a gun permit. No action was ever taken on his request.
On August 25, 1967, Rockwell was killed by gunshots while leaving the Econowash laundromat at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center in the 6000 block of Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, Virginia. Two bullets, from what would later be found to be a model 1896 "Broomhandle" Mauser pistol, passed through his 1958 Chevrolet's windshield, and it slowly rolled backwards to a stop. Rockwell staggered out of the front passenger side door of the car, pointed towards the shopping center roof, and then collapsed face up on the pavement.
The gunman ran along the shopping center roof and jumped to the ground in the rear. A shop owner and a customer briefly gave chase, but were unable to get a clear look at the fleeing figure. Other customers called the Arlington County police and checked Rockwell for a pulse. He had none; the one bullet that struck him had ripped through several major arteries just above his heart. The internal bleeding was so heavy that Rockwell died in two minutes.
A half hour later, at a bus stop about a half-mile (800 m) away, John Patler, a former member of Rockwell's group, was arrested as the suspected murderer by a passing patrolman familiar with the Arlington Nazis. Later that day, after hearing of his son’s death, Rockwell's 78-year-old father was curt: "I am not surprised at all. I've expected it for quite some time."
Matt Koehl, the number two man in the NSWPP, moved to establish legal control over Rockwell’s body and all NSWPP assets. At the time of his death, the NSWPP had approximately 300 active members nationwide, and perhaps 3,000 financial supporters. Although Rockwell’s parents wanted a private burial in Maine, they did not feel up to a public fight with the Nazis for his body. On August 27, an NSWPP spokesman reported that Federal officials had given verbal approval to a planned military burial of Rockwell at Culpeper National Cemetery, as an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.
On August 29, several dozen NSWPP troopers and about 100 party supporters formed a procession and drove the 65 miles (105 km) from Arlington to Culpeper. At the cemetery gates they were met by General Carl C. Turner and 60 MPs who had been rushed in from Vint Hill to enforce the U.S. Army’s burial protocol. They were backed by dozens of police from various jurisdictions. No mourners bearing Nazi insignia would be allowed into the cemetery. The NSWPP troopers refused to remove their uniforms, which led to a day-long standoff. They unsuccessfully tried to force their way into the cemetery three separate times. Several arrests resulted. With daylight fading, General Turner declared that Rockwell could not be buried until the NSWPP made a new request to the Pentagon and agreed to follow protocol.
The Nazis returned to Arlington with Rockwell’s body. Plans were made to bury Rockwell in Spotsylvania County, but they fell apart when local Jewish organizations protested. Fearing that Arlington County officials might seize the body, the ANP had Rockwell cremated the next morning, and a memorial service was held that afternoon at party headquarters. On February 8, 1968, the NSWPP filed suit to obtain a Nazi burial for Rockwell’s remains at any National Cemetery. On March 15, 1969, a Federal district judge upheld the Army Secretary’s ruling that Rockwell was ineligible for a burial with full military honors in a national cemetery. Today Rockwell's ashes reside next to those of Savitri Devi in the memorial room of New Order headquarters in New Berlin, Wisconsin.
Following psychiatric evaluation, John Patler was judged competent to stand trial. He pleaded not guilty at his preliminary hearing to the charge of first degree homicide. His trial began on November 27 amid tight security at the Arlington County Courthouse. On December 15, Patler was found guilty and released on bond to await sentencing. On February 23, 1968, Patler was sentenced to 20 years in prison, at that time the least amount possible for a first degree murder conviction. The Virginia Circuit Court postponed imprisonment pending his appeal.
On November 30, 1970, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld Patler’s conviction and 20-year sentence for slaying Rockwell, and ordered him to begin serving his sentence. On May 16, 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rejected Patler’s appeal based on claims of witness contamination. In August 1975, Patler was paroled from the Pulaski correctional unit after serving less than four years of his sentence. Judge Charles S. Russell, who had presided over Patler’s murder trial, wrote a lengthy letter to the parole board supporting Patler’s release, the only time he did so in his career. The following year Patler violated the terms of his parole and was returned to prison for an additional six years. On December 30, 1977, Patler petitioned the Henry County Circuit Court to change his surname back to its original form, Patsalos. After serving out the remainder of his sentence, John Patsalos returned to the New York City area.
The exact reason for Rockwell's murder is still a matter of debate. Patler's nasty feud with Rockwell and a family history of violence weighed against him at the trial. Despite being convicted of the crime, Patler has always maintained his innocence. The case against him was largely circumstantial and key evidence against him (e.g., whether he possessed the murder weapon at the time of the killing) was disputed by defense witnesses.
The small strip mall where Rockwell was killed is still called the Dominion Hills Shopping Center, although it has since been refurbished and the laundromat replaced by a dry cleaners. After his death, admirers of Rockwell painted a white swastika on the blacktop surface of the parking lot, marking the exact spot where he died. Several attempts by the property owners were made to obliterate the emblem with a square patch of black paint, but the white swastika would always surreptitiously reappear, usually on or near the anniversary of Rockwell's death. It remained visible, off and on, well into the 1980s, until the NSWPP renamed itself the New Order and moved their headquarters to Wisconsin. Since then the parking lot has been resurfaced and a handicapped parking space symbol painted on the same spot. The site can be located today by using a crime scene photograph that appears on page 323 of William H. Schmaltz's biography of Rockwell. On August 27, 2007, the 40th anniversary of the assassination, a group of unidentified, non-uniformed Rockwell admirers appeared at the Dominion Hills Shopping Center to conduct a brief ceremony and lay a wreath. They carried a plain white banner with black and red lettering that bore the symbolic slogan: "Lincoln Rockwell Lives!"
Read more about this topic: George Lincoln Rockwell