https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Patler
Born in New York City in 1938, Patsalos had a violent childhood, with his father killing his mother when he was five years old. He was convicted of several crimes in his youth and treated for mental health issues. He expressed antisemitic attitudes by his late teens, and joined the neo-Nazi group the American Nazi Party in 1960. He was an artist and graphic designer for the ANP's periodicals. Patler briefly left the ANP in 1961 and formed a similarly named splinter group, the American National Party, with his close friend Dan Burros, as well as a neo-Nazi magazine, Kill! He and Burros had a falling out a year later and in 1962 Patler returned to the ANP.
Patler's ethnic Greek heritage caused some strife within the party and a minor schism between those neo-Nazis who advocated a more expansive idea of White, and the "Hitler purists" who viewed this as heretical. Patler idolized Rockwell but also blamed him for the problems in Patler's life caused by his adherence to neo-Nazism. Rockwell eventually kicked him out of the party for his instability, alleged communist leanings, and causing division in March 1967. Patler murdered Rockwell in August of that year, and received a sentence of 20 years in prison for first degree murder. He was paroled in 1975, though returned to prison after violating his parole. He later left the neo-Nazi movement.
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By 1956, he often expressed antisemitic attitudes, believing that the United States was controlled by Jews and expressing that Adolf Hitler had been right in his genocide of them.[5] One psychiatrist quoted him as having said: "I go to Church every Sunday morning and fight the Jews."[4] He joined DeWest Hooker's neo-Nazi National Youth League. Patsalos later said Hooker was his idol; to him, he was a father figure, and he adopted many of his antisemitic beliefs.[5][6] Through Hooker, he met in 1958 George Lincoln Rockwell, with whom he became friends.[7] His NYL membership resulted in several instances of criminal action.[5]
As part of the NYL he was arrested for criminal libel, and when he faced possibly being tried as an adult and having his probation revoked, he was given the alternative option of joining the U.S. Marine Corps in 1958. While undergoing basic training at Camp Lejeune, his father died.[5] He was briefly associated with the neo-Nazi National Renaissance Party.[8]
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From 1966 to 1967, Patler went to and from the party, experiencing mood swings, fighting with other neo-Nazis and believing himself the subject of various plots. He wrote several letters to Rockwell that oscillated between hatred and begging for his forgiveness.[11] Patler viewed Rockwell as a father figure, but blamed him for the problems in his life, including his abandonment of his Greek identity to fit the party's ideal and the failure of his first marriage.[11] A psychiatrist had previously noted him as having probable "repressed homosexuality";[5] in several of his final letters to Rockwell, he described him as one would a romantic partner.[37] In early 1967, he created his final issue of The Stormtrooper, "The Untold Story of Benito Mussolini". It was effectively a farewell issue with Patler going over his own past and the past of the party.[38] Patler and Evrin had two children together; after which he became more self-confident and questioned his position in the group. Hating the separation from his family, in March 1967, he left his post in Spotsylvania and returned to Arlington. Afterwards, Rockwell had the locks on his door cut off and Patler's possessions moved to Arlington.[7][36]
Afterwards, Rockwell wrote a discharge letter against Patler, including that he was guilty of "abandoning his post, gross insubordination and insulting conduct to superiors, neglect of duties, promotion of dissension among the ranks, promotion of distrust by non-Nordic members of the party, and usurpation of authority". He was then immediately dismissed.[8][17][36] Rockwell delegated this to Koehl instead of doing it himself. In addition, Rockwell made his stormtroopers examine Patler's property to ensure he did not leave with theirs. Patler spent the rest of the spring enraged over his treatment, writing letters disavowing Rockwell and the ANP, before again returning to begging for his forgiveness.[34][39] In his last letter to Rockwell, Patler wrote: "I don't think there are two people on earth who think and feel the same as we do. ... You are a very important part of my life. I need you as much as you need me. Without you there is no future".[37] Later, in 1972, he said of their relationship:[40]
I worshipped Rockwell and I loved him dearly. There seemed to be practically nothing I would not do for him. To me, he was everything. I loved him like a father and he loved me like his son.
In a 2012 book, Nicholas Patler, the son of Patsalos, recalled his father expressing regret for his time in the American Nazi Party, with him saying "I should have been with Dr. King and the Civil Rights people back then. They were truly my people, not those Nazis."[65] His son Nicholas Patler became a historian and authored a book on the civil rights movement, Jim Crow and the Wilson Administration, in 2004.[66][67]
In 2017, The Washington Post described Patsalos as a "staunch online defender of Donald Trump". Patsalos praised the marchers at the Unite the Right rally. He refused multiple interview requests from the newspaper.[67]
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