NAZI, FASCIST AND COMMUNIST ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE ALL CONTROLLED BY, RESPECTIVELY, THE GERMAN, ITALIAN AND SOVIET RUSSIAN GOVERNMENTS, WERE ORIGINALLY ORGANIZED BY THEM AND WERE OR ARE FINANCED FROM ABROAD, FRANK C. HANIGHEN, AUTHOR OF “THE SECRET WAR” AND CO-AUTHOR OF “MERCHANTS OF DEATH,” DECLARES IN AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED TODAY IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
NONE OF THESE ALIEN-FOSTERED ORGANIZATIONS IS POWERFUL ENOUGH TO BE RATED A SERIOUS MENACE TO AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS AT PRESENT, MR. HANIGHEN DECLARES, BUT, HE ADDS, THERE IS DANGER THAT THEIR PROPAGANDA MAY AFFECT AMERICAN NEUTRALITY IN THE EVENT OF A EUROPEAN WAR. IN THE CASE OF NAZIS HERE, HE ALSO NOTED THAT THEY “MAY EXERT CONSIDERABLE INFLUENCE” THROUGH THEIR PROPAGANDA AGAINST THE JEWS.
THE NAZI MOVEMENT HERE, NOW EMBODIED IN THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUND HEADED BY FRITZ KUHN, HAS BESIDES ITS ANTI-SEMITISM, ONE ASPECT WHICH “MIGHT HAVE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES” IF GERMANY WENT TO WAR, MR. HANIGHEN SAID — ITS FOSTERING OF GERMAN NATIONALISM AMONG GERMANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS HERE.
ITALIAN FASCISTS IN THE UNITED STATES ARE LESS IN THE LIMELIGHT THAN NAZIS AND COMMUNISTS FOR SEVERAL REASONS, MR. HANIGHEN CONTINUED, AMONG THEM THAT “JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS, THE MAINSPRING OF THE ANTI-NAZI AGITATION, HAD BEEN INCLINED TO TOLERATE ITALIAN FASCISM BECAUSE ITS PROGRAM DID NOT AT THE START INCLUDE ANTI-SEMITISM.”
IF THE “ROME-BERLIN AXIS” NOW EVIDENT IN EUROPEAN DIPLOMACY, SHOULD BE EXTENDED TO THE UNITED STATES, MR. HANIGHEN WARNED, “THE NAZI AND FASCIST GROUPS HERE MIGHT HAVE TO BE TAKEN MORE SERIOUSLY.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
