Senator David A. Reed was today called upon to affirm or deny an allegation in the daily newspapers here that he was instrumental in bringing about a rapproachement between the National Republican Committee and Congressman Louis T. McFadden in a letter addressed to the Senator by William B. Leaf, president of the Philadelphia Council of the American Jewish Congress.
The letter to Senator Reed is another move in the local committee’s aggressive campaign to bring to the attention of the American public the menace threatening America in the recent action of the Republican party making McFadden the party chairman. Yesterday William S. Vare was called upon to disavow the action of the party leadership.
Leaf’s letter to Reed points out that if the Senator’s part is true as reported, “it is extremely regrettable.”
“By his action in the past,” Leaf wrote, “Congressman McFadden has shown himself to be bigoted and bent on fomenting racial strife and religious animosities. As you well know, in his public addresses delivered on the floor of the United States Congress and in other places, he has deliberately and wilfully maligned our people, resorting to canards and to vicious vituperation to achieve his sinister end.
“In these days of unrest one of his type is a menace to organized society. Surely one of his brand is unworthy of a position of trust and confidence in the inner circles of one of the major political parties in American life. My purpose in writing you is to ascertain from you—through affirmation or denial of the allegation in the daily newspapers—your part in Congressman McFadden’s elevation. A special meeting of our executive committee has been called for next Monday evening. I shall appreciate hearing from you before this so that I may incorporate your status in this matter in my report.”
Resolutions expressing “apprehension and disappointment” over the action of the Republican National Committee in readmitting McFadden into the party councils and elevating him to a position of leadership were unanimously adopted by the Pennsylvania State department of the Jewish War Veterans at a meeting here this afternoon. The organization represents nine posts scattered throughout Pennsylvania, with a membership of approximately 20,000.
The resolutions call upon leaders of the Republican party to repudiate the action of the committee. Department Commander I. Bernard Rotbert of this city presided at the meeting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
