By the time Arthur Terminiello arrived at Chicago's West End Woman's Club on a Thursday evening in February 1946, a hostile crowd that would swell to 1,000 or so protesters had already gathered outside the auditorium. They were outraged by the event at which Terminiello was scheduled to speak: a Christian Veterans of America meeting organized by the evangelist Gerald L.K. Smith, a flagrantly antisemitic populist and spectacularly unsuccessful presidential candidate who had founded the America First Party three years earlier.
Picketers blocked access to the building, repeatedly tried to force their way in, and castigated those who dared to enter, calling them "Nazis," "Hitlers," and "damned fascists." An overmatched contingent of about 70 police officers escorted speakers and attendees into the building while vainly trying to maintain order. Angry protesters tore people's clothing and hurled vegetables, rocks, bottles, and stench bombs, breaking more than two dozen windows and injuring three officers.
