Antisemitism in America

America in the 1930's was not a halcyon for diversity. Jim Crow was living high and mighty in the South. "New Immigrants" were constantly marginalized and kept out of American public schools. It seemed that, along with America's rampant racism at the time, the US was closing it's shores to the rest of the world. With isolationism dominating legislation and popular opinion, the United States was slowly erecting a wall to block out the world.

As Hitler declared war against democracy and diversity, Britain, France picked up their guns. The US, though, was not quite as responsive. The Neutrality Acts kept the US out of the war for quite a while. Even as news was leaking about the atrocities in the concentration camps in Auschwitz and Treblinka, the US remained adamant about staying out of the war.

While it's easy to be a moral absolutist and claim that Hitler was the only wrong-doer in World War II, it's important to explore all aspects of the war. It turns out that antisemitism was not only extremely prevalent in Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia; it was also highly prevalent in the United States.

It seems odd (or at least a little ironic) that the first man to make the trans-Atlantic flight from Roosevelt Field in New York to Le Bourget Field in France was the pioneer and figurehead of "America First," a committee devoted to isolationism. Charles Lindbergh was a superstar of 1930 and 1940's America. He was a conservative, WASPy, all-American. And, in accordance with his desire to keep America out of the fight against Hitler, he was a raging anti-Semite.

When I say "raging," I don't mean to compare him to Henry Ford, who is perhaps, about as infamous in the Jewish community as Hitler himself. Ford published fervently in his own news publication, The Dearborn Independent that the Jews were out to "control the world." He spread his distrust of Jewish bankers as cheap and untrustworthy into the popular media. One time, I had a conversation with my grandmother who lived in the 30's and 40's. She said that she, her friends, her entire family and her entire community refused to buy anything Ford-related. This boycott of Ford materials by the Jewish community lasted well into the 80's.

Lindbergh, a national hero, was known for his questionable beliefs. Lindbergh was an ardent defender of eugenics (the founding ideology of a "pure" race that justifies the racial purification that inspired the Holocaust) and white supremacy. Lindbergh's beliefs led many historians and contemporaries to suspect him of being a Nazi sympathizer. Lindbergh also believed that Kristallnacht, a night in which Nazi soldiers smashed the windows the Jewish shops, was an unjustified response to a reasonable "Jewish problem." He later claimed that "[Countries] must limit to a reasonable amount the Jewish influence."

Some historians argue that Lindbergh's advocacy for "America First" was a secret desire to usher in a Nazi victory in Europe. His belief in the superiority of the white race and his antisemitism certainly point towards such a disposition.

Perhaps, though, one of the worst and most lamentable cases of antisemitism in the US is that of Breckinridge Long, who worked as a government officer in charge of immigration quotas. Long, who was a known and established anti-Semite, was the former ambassador of Mussolini's Italy. Long was charged with helping Europe's Jews (as the US was aware of the Holocaust, but refused to intervene so as to preserve the Neutrality Acts). Instead, Long erected various bureaucratic obstacles to keep Jews from entering the US. It is estimated that without Long's influence, 200,000 Jews could have been saved.

History is the story of people - not of nations. While it's important to understand the political and economic history of the world, the social history unlocks incredible amounts of information about a time period, elucidating facts and realities that maps simply cannot convey. And, while it's easy to say the US was blameless in this war, we had our fair share of questionable and morally objectionable follies. At least, in the end, we can learn from our mistakes and make the future better.