American Jewish Committee and Jewish Labor Committee Reply to Lindbergh

The American Jewish Committee and the Jewish Labor Committee, in a joint statement issued here today rejected the “unsupported and unsupportable charge impinging the patriotism of Americans of the Jewish faith” contained in the speech which Charles Lindbergh delivered last week in Des Moines.

Pointing out that Americans of Jewish faith reject as an un-American appeal to selfish interests Lindbergh’s injunction to Jews to support his policy on the ground that any other attitude would lead to anti-Semitism, the statement emphasizes that “our interests and those of our country are one and indivisible.” The statement reads:

“On September 11th at Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. Lindbergh made an unsupported and unsupportable charge impugning the patriotism of Americans of Jewish faith. The overwhelming denunciation with which the charge has been met from coast to coast by the press and by leaders of all faiths, places it in the category in which it belongs. It is not serious argument but only another example of the now familiar tactics of the Nazis to divide other countries by stirring up religious and racial hatreds and setting group against group. In supporting these tactics and accusing others of lack of patriotism, Mr. Lindbergh’s charges react only upon himself.

“Americans of Jewish faith, in common with Americans of every other faith, denounce Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and his numberless other crimes against civilization. But the sympathy of any group of Americans interests. Each of us answers for himself the question whether the United States is or is not next on Hitler’s list of victims and what our foreign policy should be.

“As everyone knows, Jews in this country represent in all respects, save a common religion, a cross section of the American population, with all the differences of viewpoint which such a cross section includes. As individuals, each one of us has a right to his views, whether for or against isolationism, without fear that Mr. Lindbergh can intimidate any of us with the low and baseless charge that there are other ‘interests’ which we place ahead of loyalty to our country.

“In fact, Mr. Lindbergh, in order to secure converts for his own point of view, counsels that we should do just that. He warns Jews to support his policy on the ground that any other attitude would lead to anti-Semitism. We are obliged to Mr. Lindbergh for his gratuitous advice and reject completely his un-American appeal to selfish interests. We will not put even what he considers our ‘interests’ before those of our country-since our interests and those of our country are one and indivisible.”