The theory of racial superiority was denounced as totally devoid of scientific basis by prominent scientists and Secretary of Agriculture Henry A. Wallace, speaking during a special panel discussion on racism yesterday at the World’s Fair.
The discussion was held in the presence of 200 educators, church leaders, school officials, psychologists and teachers who heard the theory assailed by Prof. Franz Boas, noted anthropologist, and Prof. Hadley Cantril of Princeton University, in addition to Mr. Wallace.
“The racial situation in Europe is so confused,” Mr. Wallace said, that even the Nazi theorists have been appalled and found it necessary to retreat from the concept of a Nordic body to a Nordic soul.
Prof. Cantril, who is a noted expert on propaganda methods, urged adoption of the following four-point program to combat racism: “Examine the fallacy of racial differences as such differences pertain to psychological characteristics; expose sources of propaganda aimed at creating prejudices; expose some of the propaganda tricks and indicate under what conditions they are effective, and show the nature of objective conditions that breed and strengthen prejudice in the limits of propaganda.
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.
