Scores of newspapers and radio stations throughout the South reprinted or quoted this week-end a column released to its client newspapers by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reporting the anger of millions of Southerners at the misuse of the Confederate name by hoodlums dynamiting synagogues.
The column, written by Milton Friedman, PTA Washington Bureau Chief, described Southern resentment over the fact that the synagogue bombers called themselves the “Confederate Underground. ” The column also recalled many Jews prominently associated with the Confederacy and described the roles these patriots had played in the history of the South.
A national news magazine. The U.S. News and World Report, quotes the column in its current issue under the heading, “Front Page of the Week,” describing anti-Semitism as “alien to Southern tradition.”
The Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal published the full text of the article to tell how “Jews had close link with Confederacy” The Tampa (Fla.) Daily Times published the full text of the article on its front page under a bold headline. In Norfolk, Va., the Ledger-Dispatch and Star, serving eastern Virginia and nearby North Carolina communities, reprinted the entire column in a headline context repudiating the synagogue bombers
Similar use of the PTA column was made by newspapers throughout the South and in regional radio news commentaries. Several papers voiced agreement with an assertion in the column that millions of Southerners linked with the Confederacy were arranged by exploitation of the name of the Confederacy by anti-Semitic hoodlums.
The newspapers widely quoted the column’s conclusion that “the history-conscious South is not ready to permit hoodlums to attack the places of worship of a group that participated in the Confederacy. Nor will the South allow its dream of past glory to be shattered by individuals with a Nazi mentality who hide behind the name ‘Confederate’
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.
