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F. B. I. Interrogates Two “backers” of Anti-jewish Activity in U.S.

October 20, 1958
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FBI agents here have questioned a wealthy Baltimore man and his associate, a former Navy Commander now residing here, in connection with the bombing of The Temple in Atlanta.

The two were Harold Noel Arrowsmith, Jr., member of a prominent Baltimore family, and George L. Rockwell, who served as a naval aviation officer. The were interrogated in the search for the “fat cat” mentioned in a letter seized by Atlanta police. The letter told of a rich benefactor who contributed money to finance “the big blast.”

Arrowsmith and Rockwell admitted complicity in anti-Jewish activity. But both denied knowledge of the Atlanta bombing. It was found in the investigation here that Arrowsmith provided Rockwell with printing equipment used to print literature of the anti-Jewish “National Committee to Free America from Jewish Domination.” Rockwell also printed a leaflet entitled “Integration is Jewish” which was distributed in Virginia by the segregationist “Defenders of State Sovereignty.”

The two men were not arrested but merely questioned by agents. Arrowsmith said he first met Rockwell in Newport News, Va., in the office of the “Virginian,” a segregationist anti-Jewish periodical widely distributed in Norfolk are elsewhere. Roc well said “we derive our idea from Adolf Hitler. We admire him for his genius, his ideas;”. but added, “we are not German Nazis and we do not believe we should exterminate Jews.”

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