Editors of English-Jewish weeklies in the South called this week for Federal and community-wide reaction to the bombing of the Jewish Temple in Atlanta and the lesser blasts and attacks on synagogues.
In newspapers published, circulated and read in the deep South, editors have pointed out: The reign of terror has transcended state lines; violence was preceded and encouraged by public figures calling for defiance of the courts and the rule of law in the integration issue, that the pattern of attacks on Jewish institutions bears a frightening parallel to the coming of Hitler to power in Germany.
The Miami Floridian, published in a city which less than a year ago was on the same firing line as the Atlanta and Peoria communities now, charged that Attorney General Rogers “absurd” contention that it was the responsibility of the local law enforcement authorities to handle bombing of synagogues had “encouraged the Peoria blast.”
The Observer of Nashville, Tenn., commented that a “sober-minded society must counter with determination” this challenge to a free society and its values and must resolutely fight to “preserve the safety of its institutions, the dignity of law, the cherished freedoms for which men have labored and fought and died.”
The Hebrew Watchman, of Memphis Tenn., stated flatly; “This is not a Jewish problem alone.” The Texas Jewish Post, published in Dallas, said in a page one editorial: “It is a pattern designed by those who would like to see the United States of America become a totalitarian country.”
Similar expressions of the significance of the attacks on Jewish houses of worship for both the Jews and all others in the U. S. were voiced by English-Jewish newspapers in other parts of the country.
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.
