Approximately 200 delegates from anti-Semitic organizations and other extreme right-wing groups gathered in two separate "conventions" today because leaders of the meetings could not agree with each other. One meeting, under the chairmanship of Joseph Beauharnais, was greeted by a letter from Sen. Hebert R. O’Conor, Maryland Democrat. Beauharnais heads the "White Circle League" and is listed by the anti-Defamation League among leading hate-mongers.
Criticism was aimed at Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy at a larger gathering, under the chairmanship of Mrs. L.C. Van Hyning, publisher of the anti-Jewish "Women’s Voice." Sen. McCarthy was hit at this meeting for "stooping" to meet with representatives of the Anti-Defamation League several months ago at the home of George Sokolsky, a news columnist. The gathering which heard the criticism of McCarthy, also listened to sarcasm against Sen. Robert A. Taft. This arose from Taft’s repudiation of hate propagandists who included anti-Semitism in their attacks on Gen. Dwight Eisenhower.
The Van Hyning meeting was attended by about 150 persons, who wore MacArthur buttons and heaped praise upon MacArthur as the man who could best be expected to take what action they considered desirable. Conde McGinley, editor of the hate sheet "Common Sense," attended both meetings.
The Beauharnais meeting stressed anti-Negro agitation while the Van Hyning group felt the "real isseu" should be "Jewish Communists" and the "secret government." This rift caused the separate meetings. On the first day, Beauharnais drew 50 people, a much smaller crowd than the Van Hyning meeting.
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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.