The most severe sentence yet imposed on a member of the American Nazi Party in the District of Columbia was imposed today on “stormtrooper” Robert E. Bruce, 20, who was sentenced to 180 days in jail for disrupting a session of the U. S. House of Representatives last Sept. 24. Bruce was also ordered held for grand jury action for assaulting a police officer during the disturbance.
General Sessions Court Judge George B, Neilson sentenced Bruce on two disorderly conduct counts for throwing a Nazi swastika flag and racist pamphlets from the visitor’s gallery at the Capitol building to the House floor and shouting slogans supporting George Rockwell. Judge Harold H. Greene ordered Bruce held on $10, 000 bond on the charge of assaulting a police officer who was attempting to arrest him.
The severe sentence followed expressions by Members of Congress who were angered when Nazis previously disrupted Congressional proceedings but were freed upon forfeiture of merely $10 or $20 in collateral. District authorities had apparently embarked on stricter policy of prosecution for offenses involving meetings of Congress when the Bruce incident took place.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
