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Rockwell Meeting in Virginia Town Draws No Audience; Ends in Failure

May 17, 1961
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A foray by George Rockwell’s American Nazi Party to this city, gateway to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, ended in dismal failure when local police ordered the Nazis to wear neither their “Stormtroop” uniforms nor swastikas and refused permission for the use of a public address system.

The Rockwell meeting was ignored, except by a few hecklers, and drowned out by a much larger simultaneous rally sponsored by the Junior Chamber of Commerce nearby. Both meetings were held near the court house. The meeting was an attempt by Rockwell to broaden the base of his movement in the State of Virginia which recently granted him a charter, thus “legalizing” his emulation of Hitler’s organizational tactics.

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