1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. Hey there, Molly here, I wanted to 2 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: take a second to talk about a different Rockwell. We've 3 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: been talking in circles for weeks now about George Lincoln Rockwell, 4 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: the founder of the American Nazi Party, But there are 5 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: some other famous Rockwells. His own father, George Lovejoy Rockwell, 6 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: was a pretty famous vaudeville performer. But it isn't Doc 7 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: Rockwell I want to talk about. There is another Rockwell who, 8 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: like the Nazi we've been talking about, is most famously 9 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:46,600 Speaker 1: pictured with a pipe in his mouth. Another Rockwell who 10 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,200 Speaker 1: lived in a city called Arlington in his forties. Another 11 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:53,599 Speaker 1: Rockwell who came out swinging in the nineteen sixties with 12 00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 1: some strong public statements about the civil rights movement. But 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: George Lincoln Rockwell the Nazi and Norman Rockwell the illustrator 14 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: don't really have much else in common, so there's never 15 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: really a good reason to talk about both men in 16 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 1: the same breath, unless it's by accident. As I was 17 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: researching the story of Frank Smith and his involvement in 18 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: both the American Nazi Party and the New England Mafia, 19 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: I was reading through the file the FBI kept on 20 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: Raymond patriarcha a mob bosson Rhode Island. About four thousand 21 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,720 Speaker 1: pages into that eight thousand page file, there's a memo 22 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: addressed to J. Edgar Hoover. It's from the Special Agent 23 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: in charge of the Boston Field Office, and it's dated 24 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: January of nineteen sixty five. The memo was to notify 25 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 1: Hoover that a patriarchic crime family associate who'd just been 26 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,560 Speaker 1: released from prison was meeting with a man called George 27 00:01:55,280 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: Norman Rockwell. The typewritten memo has a handwritten correction, so 28 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: someone took a pen and circled Norman and then wrote 29 00:02:06,160 --> 00:02:12,360 Speaker 1: Lincoln in the margins. It's a funny little artifact, but 30 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: it reminded me of the time I heard someone make 31 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: that exact same mistake in a federal courtroom. Back in 32 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. I was covering a trial in the 33 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: civil lawsuit of Siins vs. Kessler, a suit filed against 34 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 1: the organizers of the Unite the Right rally by a 35 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: group of people who'd been injured at the Nazi rally. 36 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: Towards the end of that trial, when the plaintiff's attorney 37 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:39,520 Speaker 1: had Jeff's Scoop on the stand, the one time leader 38 00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:43,240 Speaker 1: of the National Socialist Movement, Scoop was asked about some 39 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: terminology that he used with his group. The National Socialist 40 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: Movement referred to their members who engage in street level 41 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: activism as stormtroopers, and that was a nod to their 42 00:02:56,040 --> 00:03:00,680 Speaker 1: shared history with the American Nazi Party. When the attorney 43 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,919 Speaker 1: rephrased that answer back to his witness, he accidentally said 44 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: George Norman Rockwell instead of George Lincoln Rockwell. And I 45 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:16,320 Speaker 1: remember this moment. I remember it because it was one 46 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,560 Speaker 1: of the only times I laughed that day, and I 47 00:03:19,600 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: remember it because I wrote it down, and I remember 48 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: joking about it in person with another of the plaintiff's 49 00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: atorneys a few days later. I remember it. But when 50 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: I went back to look at the transcript this week, 51 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: it isn't actually there. And this has honestly really shaken 52 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,960 Speaker 1: my faith in the sanctity of court reporting. I mean, 53 00:03:43,960 --> 00:03:47,800 Speaker 1: the transcript is supposed to be this perfect, indelible record 54 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: of the words that were spoken aloud in a court room, 55 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:54,279 Speaker 1: and normally I would default to believing what's in the transcript, 56 00:03:54,320 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: but I know the transcript is mistaken. Here. I typically 57 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: take all my courtroom notes by hand, but because of 58 00:04:04,240 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: the ongoing COVID pandemic back in twenty twenty one, the 59 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: judge made the decision to close the courtroom to the public, 60 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:13,960 Speaker 1: and so this trial was broadcast over a telephone line 61 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: that you could call into to listen. And since I 62 00:04:17,279 --> 00:04:19,919 Speaker 1: was able to listen in from home, I decided that 63 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:23,080 Speaker 1: instead of taking my notes privately and then writing about 64 00:04:23,080 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: them later, I would live tweet the trial, all four 65 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: weeks of it. It was a nightmarish undertaking, but one 66 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 1: I took very seriously, and when that trial finally ended, 67 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 1: I got perhaps the finest compliment I'll ever get about 68 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: my notes. Some of the attorneys for the plaintiffs told 69 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: me that when they had to leave the courtroom for 70 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,000 Speaker 1: a bathroom break or something during the day, they would 71 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,680 Speaker 1: pull up those tweets to see what they were missing. 72 00:04:54,040 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: So transcript be damned. That attorney made the same little 73 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: mistake in twenty twenty one that an FBI agent made 74 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:06,440 Speaker 1: in that memo in nineteen sixty five. They both accidentally 75 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:11,600 Speaker 1: dragged poor Norman Rockwell into Nazi business. So those were 76 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,159 Speaker 1: the two examples of this that I had in mind, 77 00:05:15,480 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 1: But I hadn't realized the extent to which this mistake 78 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,240 Speaker 1: was happening until I sat down to write about it. 79 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:24,760 Speaker 1: Apparently it was a frequent enough occurrence that it was 80 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: a source of great pain for Norman Rockwell, particularly in 81 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties when both men were active in their 82 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 1: respective careers, one as America's leading neo Nazi and the 83 00:05:36,560 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 1: other as a beloved illustrator of Americana. Despite their differences, 84 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,039 Speaker 1: this similarity in their names has been a source of 85 00:05:45,080 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 1: confusion for decades. A lot of people are making this mistake. 86 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: Most often it's that same mistake the FBI agent made. 87 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,119 Speaker 1: People are writing George Norman Rockwell when they mean George 88 00:06:02,200 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: Lincoln Rockwell. So they have the first and last name 89 00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:08,280 Speaker 1: of the Nazi correct, and they know it's a three 90 00:06:08,360 --> 00:06:11,719 Speaker 1: named deal, but some part of their brain is just 91 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:15,159 Speaker 1: inserting the name of the other famous Rockwell into the middle. 92 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: I found dozens of instances in old newspapers where stories 93 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: about the American Nazi Party refer to the group's leader 94 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: as George Norman Rockwell. I found papers containing apologies and 95 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: corrections for having made the mistake, and letters to the 96 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:36,239 Speaker 1: editor from readers who are outraged on the artist's behalf 97 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:39,880 Speaker 1: and I also found articles that used both the correct 98 00:06:40,400 --> 00:06:46,360 Speaker 1: and incorrect form interchangeably from paragraph to paragraph, and this 99 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 1: middle name mix up accounts for most of the examples 100 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:54,800 Speaker 1: I found, but there were a few notable instances where 101 00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: they just switched the names entirely. In nineteen sixty four 102 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: of the local Young Republicans Club led the effort to 103 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: invite George Lincoln Rockwell to speak at Western Washington State College, 104 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,760 Speaker 1: and when the day finally arrived, that student Terry Gallagher, 105 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: was so nervous that he accidentally introduced the Nazi to 106 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: the audience as Norman Rockwell. In nineteen sixty six, when 107 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: George Lincoln Rockwell was arrested in Chicago, a newspaper in 108 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: Alabama ran a photo of men in white powered T 109 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: shirts with Swastika banners under the headline Nazi chief Norman 110 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: Rockwell arrested. That same year, before the Senate killed what 111 00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: would have been the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty six, 112 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,480 Speaker 1: a Florida congressman introduced an amendment to the bill that 113 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: would quote deter professional agitators by making it a crime 114 00:07:51,600 --> 00:07:56,280 Speaker 1: to cross state lines to participate in civil disturbance. According 115 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: to a write up in the Atlanta Journal, Constitution Representative 116 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: William Kramer said his amendment was intended to keep people 117 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: like Norman Rockwell from traveling from state to state, fomenting 118 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: civil disorder and again shaking my faith in the sanctity 119 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,320 Speaker 1: of transcription. This is actually missing from the congressional record, 120 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: but the reporter who wrote it up says that Kramer 121 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: said Norman Rockwell several times before he was interrupted by 122 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: a colleague who suggested that he probably means George Lincoln. 123 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: One particularly messy example came shortly after George Lincoln Rockwell's death, 124 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: when his assassin, John Patler, first appeared in court for 125 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,280 Speaker 1: an arraignment. Another member of the American Nazi Party had 126 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:49,360 Speaker 1: an outburst in the courtroom. So a man in the 127 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: gallery stood up and he's screaming at John Patler, and 128 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: he lunged toward him, and he was arrested. And after 129 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,599 Speaker 1: Eric Wenberg was arrested, it was discovered that he was 130 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: an aust Araelian citizen who'd overstayed a tourist visa. Before 131 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: authorities in the US could deport him, he traveled to Canada, 132 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,119 Speaker 1: and Canada too wanted the Nazi out, but the Canadian 133 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: deportation proceedings were delayed by an embarrassing clerical error. One 134 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 1: of the reasons the Canadian government gave for his removal 135 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:25,439 Speaker 1: was that he'd been arrested in the United States at 136 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:32,560 Speaker 1: a demonstration against the assassin of Norman Rockwell. John Beatty, 137 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: the Canadian Nazi who represented Wenberg at his deportation hearing, 138 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: showed up to court in a swastika armband and argued 139 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: that clearly this record is full of errors. Norman Rockwell 140 00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:49,320 Speaker 1: is still alive. Weinberg was eventually sent home to Australia, 141 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,480 Speaker 1: and in nineteen seventy two he died in a car accident. 142 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:58,000 Speaker 1: That doesn't sound particularly notable, but the car accident happened 143 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:01,640 Speaker 1: in Rhodesia, and it was reported at the time that 144 00:10:01,640 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: there was a million dollars in cash found in the 145 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: car with his dead body. So we'll have to come 146 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 1: back to that some other time. We're talking about Norman Rockwell. 147 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: But in all of these examples, people are accidentally slipping 148 00:10:17,120 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: Norman Rockwell's name into stories about the Nazi. I couldn't 149 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:24,320 Speaker 1: find a single instance of the mistake happening in reverse. 150 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,280 Speaker 1: Now you might be wondering, are these two men related, 151 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: they're not. I did find one completely unsubstantiated claim published 152 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: in two thousand and three in the journal Holocaust and 153 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:57,680 Speaker 1: Genocide Studies that Norman Rockwell was George Lincoln's uncle. There's 154 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:01,480 Speaker 1: no citation. The article was a review of Frederick Simon 155 00:11:01,520 --> 00:11:05,679 Speaker 1: Elli's biography of George Lincoln Rockwell, and I've read that book. 156 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: It makes absolutely no mention of Norman Rockwell at all. 157 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:14,920 Speaker 1: So that strange parenthetical claim in the article that the 158 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: illustrator is the Nazis' uncle seems to be just entirely 159 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:23,079 Speaker 1: made up. Norman Rockwell is about the same age as 160 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: the Nazi's father, and they're both from New England, so 161 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: it's a reasonable question to ask, but the answer is no. 162 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 1: I did some of my own genealogical research on both 163 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: families and I found no connection. Back in the days 164 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:43,080 Speaker 1: before Google, sometimes newspapers would have a feature that answered 165 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: factual questions submitted by readers, and I found a bunch 166 00:11:46,760 --> 00:11:49,560 Speaker 1: of those over the years where readers asked variations on 167 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: this question and the newspaper always answered no, sometimes citing 168 00:11:55,080 --> 00:12:00,320 Speaker 1: Norman Rockwell himself. This association was a troubling one for 169 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,200 Speaker 1: Norman Rockwell. His granddaughter, Abigail Rockwell, still runs a Facebook 170 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: page dedicated to his memory. In a post just a 171 00:12:08,760 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: few weeks ago, she wrote, my father told me Pop 172 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 1: was very upset to be sometimes confused with George Lincoln Rockwell, 173 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,720 Speaker 1: the founder of the America Nazi Party. He was so 174 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,959 Speaker 1: unsettled and perturbed by this he considered taking legal action, 175 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:31,040 Speaker 1: but was dissuaded from doing so. It's not just embarrassing 176 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 1: to be mixed up with someone else, especially someone so unsavory. 177 00:12:37,120 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: Norman Rockwell wasn't just not George Lincoln Rockwell. He was 178 00:12:42,679 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: against everything the other man represented. The name Norman Rockwell 179 00:12:50,920 --> 00:12:53,839 Speaker 1: probably puts some images into your mind's eye right away. 180 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: You might be picturing his painting of a family at 181 00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: the dinner table with a big turkey, or the one 182 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: of a man standing up ready to speak his mind. 183 00:13:04,040 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 1: Both of those Freedom from want and freedom of speech 184 00:13:08,040 --> 00:13:10,320 Speaker 1: were painted in the same year as part of a 185 00:13:10,360 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: four part series of paintings for the Saturday Evening Post 186 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:17,320 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three, and if you're only familiar with 187 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: his earlier work, you might be thinking, well, Norman Rockwell 188 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,080 Speaker 1: was just painting the America that George Lincoln Rockwell was 189 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 1: trying to create a whitewashed conservative America with traditional white 190 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:39,000 Speaker 1: Christian suburban family values. You're probably picturing his paintings of 191 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 1: a white family on their way to church, a pretty 192 00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: blond white woman at the soda counter, a white couple 193 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: at the courthouse getting a marriage license, boy scouts, soldiers, 194 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: the iconic image of Rosy the Riveter, classic mid twentieth 195 00:13:54,080 --> 00:14:03,320 Speaker 1: century Americana, images of peaceful suburban living, and notably images 196 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: with only white faces. And that's true. Those are Norman 197 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:13,559 Speaker 1: Rockwell's most famous works. Those are things that he painted. 198 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: Most of the ones you're probably thinking of were illustrations 199 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: he did for The Saturday Evening Post. Over the course 200 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: of forty seven years, he illustrated hundreds of covers for 201 00:14:25,800 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: that magazine. According to art critic Caroline Marling, the Saturday 202 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: Evening Post explicitly forbade Norman Rockwell from painting black subjects 203 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: in his cover art unless they were depicted performing some 204 00:14:40,040 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: kind of menial task. By the nineteen sixties, though, he 205 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: felt drawn to paint the world as it was, and 206 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: that meant acknowledging the struggle for civil rights, so he 207 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:58,920 Speaker 1: parted ways with the Saturday Evening Post. In the nineteen sixties, 208 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: Norman rockw Well painted for Look magazine, and it was 209 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:07,360 Speaker 1: for Look that he created some of his most moving paintings. 210 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:12,320 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty four, a painting called The Problem We 211 00:15:12,360 --> 00:15:17,720 Speaker 1: All Live With was published in Look Magazine's centerfold. It 212 00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: shows a six year old Ruby Bridges flanked by federal 213 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 1: marshals on her way to integrate her elementary school. The 214 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: following year, Look published a painting called Murder in Mississippi, 215 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: and it was Norman Rockwell's depiction of the murders of 216 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,640 Speaker 1: civil rights workers James Cheney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. 217 00:15:40,640 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: During the same years that George Lincoln Rockwell was criss 218 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:48,560 Speaker 1: crossing the country disrupting and mocking civil rights marches, Norman 219 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:54,640 Speaker 1: Rockwell was painting that struggle. He was quietly insisting through 220 00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,080 Speaker 1: his work that people like Ruby Bridges were every bit 221 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: as much a part of the fabric of America as 222 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:06,240 Speaker 1: the subjects of his kitche classic illustrations of Suburbia. When 223 00:16:06,280 --> 00:16:09,160 Speaker 1: his Nazi counterpart was making a mockery of the struggle 224 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: for equality in Mississippi by sending a storm trooper in 225 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:16,480 Speaker 1: blackface into the Capitol Building to disrupt Congress Norman Rockwell 226 00:16:17,080 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: was memorializing the civil rights activist who died fighting for 227 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:27,400 Speaker 1: racial justice there. In July of nineteen sixty seven, Norman 228 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,640 Speaker 1: Rockwell spoke at the National Press Club in Washington. Gossip 229 00:16:31,640 --> 00:16:36,240 Speaker 1: columnist Leonard Lyons reported that the artist was overheard rehearsing 230 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,240 Speaker 1: the opening line of his speech in a hotel shortly 231 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:48,080 Speaker 1: before the event. I am not George Lincoln Rockwell. Just 232 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: a few weeks later, the other Rockwell was shot in 233 00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 1: a strip mall parking lot. That bullet didn't end the 234 00:16:55,760 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: confusion between the two Rockwells, but it did end the 235 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: night life. Weird Little Guys is a production of Cool 236 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:15,280 Speaker 1: Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written and recorded by me, 237 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:19,840 Speaker 1: Molly Kunger. Our executive producers are Sophie Lichterman and Robert Evans. 238 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:23,280 Speaker 1: The show is edited by the wildly talented Rory Gagan. 239 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: The theme music was composed by Brad Dickert. You can 240 00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: email me at Weird Little Guys podcast at gmail dot com. 241 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:33,480 Speaker 1: I will definitely read it, but I almost certainly will 242 00:17:33,480 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: not answer it. It's nothing personal. I don't answer any 243 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: of my emails. You can exchange conspiracy theories about the 244 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,440 Speaker 1: show with other listeners on the Weird Little Guys subreddit. 245 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: Just don't post anything that's going to make you one 246 00:17:45,040 --> 00:17:46,080 Speaker 1: of my Weird Little Guys.