Henry Ford “did the square and manly thing” in making public his apology for articles in his “Dearborn Independent” rellecting on the Jews and “meant every word of it.” Aaron Sapiro. who recently settled his $1,000,000 suit for libel against Mr. Ford, declared in a radio address over station WEDC last night.
Mr. Sapiro added, however that his score against United States Senator James A. Reed Mr. Ford’s chief defense counsel, is not yet settled.
“I still wonder,” he said, “if a member of the Senate has a moral right to take money in the defense of religious bigotry. As a Senator Mr. Reed is being paid by Mr. Ford. myself and people of all religious denominations.
“During the course of the trial Mr. Reed continually availed himself of the opportunity to cast slurs at myself and other Jews. He was continually and purposely mispronouncing my name. and he was always commenting that there was religious difference in the case.”
“Since he was a successiful business man,” Mr. Sapiro said. referring to Mr. Ford. “many people looked on Mr. Ford’s opinions on the Jews as expressing the accumulation of one billion dollars’ worth of wisdom. I am glad that in a small way I was able to secure from Mr. Ford a retraction that was felt even more forcibly than the original criticisms.
“Ford did the square and manly thing and I believe he meant every word of the public apology. He is now doing his utmost to wipe out the harm he caused to the Jewish people.”
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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.
