Charges that the appeal to “members of the Christian church” in last Friday night’s pro-Willkie radio speech by John L. Lewis, president of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, tended to incite racial and religious hatred were denied today by his daughter, confidante and secretary, Miss Katharine Lewis.
“Mr. Lewis stands on his lifelong record,” Miss Lewis said. “He has never been intolerant of Jews. Mr. Lewis will not clarify his speech. He sees no need for doing so.”
The New York newspaper PM had been among those which saw in the Lewis speech an appeal to religious prejudice. The paper cited this paragraph in Lewis’s speech attacking President Roosevelt:
“You members of the Christian church, why should you vote for and support the man who ignores home considerations and practices the modern sorcery of war-mongering? Labor and the Christian church are the first victims of the social and political convulsions which follow war and one-man government.”
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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.
