Stars Spangled Swastikas: The Dangerous Of American Nazi Organizations In The 1930S

Thousands of Americans joined domestic Nazi organizations during the 1930s. While a vast amount of the public did not engage with such ideologies, the United States' flirtation with fascism was far more widespread than presented in conventional histories. These domestic organizations preached the perilous doctrines of National Socialism, utilizing patriotic language and iconography to garner support for their radical beliefs. This thesis portfolio evaluates the rhetoric employed by these American Nazis. The first paper evaluates the rhetoric of the German American Bund, the largest of these domestic Nazi sympathizers, and the language they employed regarding immigration. The second paper examines how these organizations appropriated Indigenous cultures to support their far-right politics.