Governor J. Lindsay Almond, Jr., today defended the State Corporation Commission’s decision to grant a charter to George Rockwell, of Arlington, Va. , to promote nazism in Virginia. In a letter to Joseph F. Baar, national executive director of the Jewish War Veterans, the Governor supported Corporation Commissioner Ralph T.Catterall for according “rights” to nazism, as a political movement.
Mr. Catterall had equated the American Nazi party with B’nai B’rith in Justifying his decision to grant a charter to Rockwell. Replying to a protest by the JWV leader, Gov. Almond cited the Virginia state constitution, and added: “What you are demanding is that officials who have sworn to obey the constitution should disobey it. Mr. Catterall’s reference to B’nai B’rith was not to equate that organization with the Nazis, but to point out that all applicants, whether they are the best, like B’nai B’rith, or the worst, like the Nazis, are entitled to charters no matter what he as an individual may think of them. “
It was pointed out in Richmond, however, that the state had denied legal recognition to groups seeking equality for Negro citizens and to extreme leftist organizations.
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