The anti-Semitic tendency in the audience of the Women United rally in Carnegie Hall on Monday night is described in a letter to the New York Herald Tribune by Mrs. A. A. Eberly, who attended the meeting. She writes:
“As soon as I took my seat I was handed a copy of The Vindicator. A man seated next to me asked me if I had attended any of ‘these meetings’ before. When I answered ‘No,’ he began pointing out articles in The Vindicator for me to read. While I read them, he made running comments, such as: ‘What’s wrong with this country is all the Jews in it, ‘No refugees from Europe should be allowed to come into this country,’ ‘We ought to get rid of all refugees,’ ‘The biggest problem this country has to face is how to get rid of the Jews.’ All around me men and women were making similar remarks for my information.
“The first speaker, Senator Reynolds, of North Carolinas, said, among other things, ‘The best thing in the world is the blood, red and ripe, of the sons of American mothers.’ All around me were calls of ‘That doesn’t mean Jews.’ Emphasis upon American blood being better than any other blood in the world met with stupendous applause.
“When Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt spoke of the great need for tolerance in times of crises, illustrating her point by a story of an Italian merchant who had been boycotted in Oyster Bay, even though born in this country and having two sons within draft age who are perfectly willing to do their duty as American citizens, I thought it was my turn to applaud, surrounded by an almost menacing silence.”
From other sources it was learned that many of the persons present at the meeting were recognized as having frequently attended Christian Front, Christian Mobilizer and similar rallies. Father Coughlin’s Social Justice was being hawked. Among those on the platform was John Cecil, anti-Semitic leader of the “American Nationalist Party.” Others noticed at the rally were Thomas Maloney, Edward Westphal and Russell Dunn, leaders of various anti-Semitic and pro-Fascist groups.
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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.
