Norris is pictured at an America First Committee rally in 1941 at Madison Square Garden giving what appears to be a Nazi salute. There is controversy over whether she was giving the Nazi salute. People reciting the pledge of allegiance sometimes made a gesture with an outstretched arm and the palm up, as opposed to the Nazi salute with the palm down. (More recent commenters sometimes call this gesture the "Bellamy salute," but according to the literary scholar Sarah Churchwell, the "Bellamy salute" refers to the language of the pledge rather than any gestures accompanying it.) Contemporary sources described Norris's salute as "closer to the Nazi salute" than to accepted methods of saluting the American flag. At this rally, which took place in May 1941, Norris is pictured with Charles A. Lindbergh and Senator Burton K. Wheeler.