Frank J. Loesch, a member of President Hoover’s Crime Commission, came in for a severe tongue-lashing on the floor of the House by Congressmen Dickstein and O’Connor, both of New York, for the statement he is reported to have made recently at the University of Iowa in which he said that “gangsters are chiefly of the recent immigrants and first generations of Jews and Italians, with the Jews furnishing the brains and the Italians the brawn.” This statement drew a sharp rebuke yesterday in a letter from Congressman Celler.
Congressman Dickstein challenged Mr. Loesch “to prove the accusation that the foreign elements in the United States are violators of the law more particularly than any one else.” Congressman O’Connor said that Mr. Loesch’s statement is “a diabolical libel on the good name of two races who are as law-abiding and as God-fearing as any we have in this country.”
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.
