I shed no tears for Rockwell or his ‘party,’ but I appreciate this historical memento.
I grew up nearby, and I have a couple of memories. Nazism was more-or-less underground despite Rockwell’s agitation. His spot in Arlington was impossible to miss, though no one admitted to associating with them. In grade school, a kid on our segregated white school bus had handfuls of swastikas for sale a penny apiece.
Our high school library had a copy of his bio for ‘research purposes.’ A friend did some research, and also came up with an audio tape of one of his speeches. A few of us listened. My main recollection was the phrase “communistic atheistic race-mixing.”
When I went to college in Boston the first person I met from “back home” was a Rockwell adherent. His roommate was a blonde Jew. They got to be friends. There is hope.
