Felix McWhirter, Indianapolis banker and Republican State finance officer, denied today before the House Committee on Un-American Activities that there was any anti-Semitic intent behind his inquires to James E. Campbell, Owensboro (Ky.) anti-Jewish agitator, regarding the “Jewish connections” of prominent persons. The inquiries were made purely for his own information, the banker said.
He was questioned about the letter to Campbell in which he asked whether the wife of Secretary of State Cordell Hull was a “part or full-blooded Semite” and his queries about the “Semitic connections” of Alfred M. Landon and William Allen White.
“What difference did such information make?” asked Committee Chairman Martin Dies. “No difference,” Mr. McWhirter replied. “I think the hymn of hate has been sung in too many places, and too many people have been on the receiving end. I am interested only in getting facts, not in their dissemination.”
Mr. McWhirter said he had received Campbell’s confidential reports but considered them “a fantastic dream of someone as to how the Government might be taken over by someone who wanted power.” Asked by Mr. Dies what he did with the reports, Mr. McWhirter replied: “I have a six-foot wastebasket,” but added that he had known Campbell for nine years and had confidence in him personally. Asked if he was against class and racial prejudice, he replied: “I think Jews and Gentiles, Catholics and Protestants, New Deal Democrats and Republicans are pretty good.” He denied that he had ever engaged in, approved of or cooperated in anti-radical or anti-religious propaganda.
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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.
