Nazis, Racists, and Hatemongers

It may be difficult for some to imagine American Nazis. After all, didn’t the United States fight the Nazis tooth and nail in World War II? Together with the Soviet army in the East, American soldiers are renowned for bringing down Adolf Hitler and ridding Europe of German fascism. The legacy of that war persists today: Nazis remain the villains of countless films, are killed with impunity in video games, and are banned from holding political office in Germany. However, there were indeed some Americans who vocally wished for a different outcome of World War II. One such group wrote to Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. in the face of his support of civil rights.

Calling themselves the Sam Adams Committee of Public Safety of the Democratic Nationalist Party, this American Nazi group demanded that all white politicians give up their support for black rights in favor of a nation only for ‘whitefolk.’ Their logo, a stacked version of the SS logo, forming a sort of black lightning bolt, left no uncertainty as to their political alignment. Recalling that the SS were Hitler’s most brutal adherents and the main perpetrators of the Holocaust, invoking their image carried with it a promise of inhumanity.

In their letter to Mayor Allen, presumably sent for his vocal support of the Civil Rights Act, the group ranted against any concept of equality between races, extolled the supposed strengths of the white race, and threated any who stood against the ‘white nation.’ They claimed, much like the Nazis before them: “We are of the same stock as the legions of Cesare, the Vandals who sacked a degenerate Rome, and the sailors of Sir Francis Drake.” 5 According to them, only the most true white men among them were fit to lead the destiny of the white race.

It seems that, in their estimation, this did not include Mayor Allen. According to them, “the foreign control of our United States of America began in 1933 with the anti-White regime of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Using World War II to consolidate its power, this anti-White group disguised by the term ‘liberal’ has now over-reached itself, by the passage of the so called “Civil Rights Bill.” The passage of this bill, they asserted, was the “power of Jewish Communism.” 7

The letter culminated in a lengthy list of demands, mostly aimed at taking away the rights and citizenship of all labeled “humanists and communists” and to all deemed “non-white.” In their place, then, would come the white nation, hostile to “Jewish” democracy, led by a strong white leader, taken by force. “Nothing can save our Western Civilization except the harshest measures against these non-Whites, by means of propaganda and physical terror.” In a final appeal to Mayor Allen, they ended the letter with “Remember… Your uniform is the color of your skin!”

This Nazi group was far from the only group of hatemongers writing to Mayor Allen to express their disgust with his support for the Civil Rights Act. One particularly prolific racist specialized in postcards meant to mimic a caricature of a black writer, written to Mayor Allen to protest his imagined favoritism of blacks over whites. For example, this unnamed malcontent wrote to Allen in one postcard under the name “Rastus McGoon,” saying “Let’s get the melting pot going, man. There are too many honkey faces around,” referring to the mayor as “Ivan Stepinfetchit Allen Black Bloc Blight Mayor.” In another one of his postcards, now under the name “Bullet Dodger,” he wrote “Coon protector & Mix Em Up Goon: They say that every coon car contains an arsenal… WHY NOT, WITH BLACK ALLEN THE MAYOR!!!” Dozens of such postcards exist, exemplifying the worst of the citizens Ivan Allen represented as mayor.

The letters in this exhibit are by no means indicative of every citizen at the time. They do, however, offer a unique view into the minds of those who hated Allen and the changing contours of the United States.