|
During the 1920's, ADL began using the weapon of exposure to
battle the bigotry of the millions of white-robed Ku Klux Klan members. The Klan boycotted
Jewish merchants, vandalized their stores and burned crosses outside synagogues and other
Jewish institutions. In 1923, the KKK Imperial Wizard condemned Jews as "an
unblendable element...alien and unassimilable...money mad." The League challenged
Henry Ford's circulation of the infamous anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion, in his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent.
ADL circulated pamphlets by Sigmund Livingston on The
Protocols -- A Spurious Document and another, The Poison Pen, targeting The Dearborn
Independent. The agency called on President Woodrow Wilson and former Presidents Taft
and Roosevelt to denounce Ford's anti-Semitism. After years of calumny, Ford publicly
apologized to the Jewish people. In a letter to ADL's Sigmund Livingston, he expressed
hope that "hatred of the Jews, commonly known as anti-Semitism, and hatred against
any other racial or religious groups, shall cease for all times."
Another insidious form of anti-Semitism featured classified
ads that clearly discriminated against Jews in employment and housing. Colleges and
medical schools had "quotas" limiting the admission of Jews. ADL established
facts to influence public opinion against job discrimination and quotas in higher
education, and sought legal remedies.
Congress passed laws severely restricting immigration,
diminishing the flow of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. ADL learned two very
significant lessons in the 1920's: achieving equality needed affirmative techniques as
well as defensive efforts, and the welfare of any one minority was intertwined with the
welfare of all.
Next: 1930-1940 |
E-Mail This Report
