Sen. Harry Goldwater of Arizona, who is considered a possible Republican candidate for the Presidency, was portrayed today as the target of an anti Jewish smear campaign by racial reactionaries, particularly in the Southern states.
The campaign was described in a New York Herald Tribune article by Rowland Evans and Robert Novak. The report said it was “nothing new for the lunatic fringe on the far Right to revile Goldwater, a life-long Episcopalian who happened to have an immigrant Jewish grandfather.” However, the writers added, now that the Senator “is running ahead for the Republican Presidential nomination, anti-Semitic outbursts are multiplying.”
The report cited the July issue of the Thunderbolt, a “hate sheet” published in Birmingham, Alabama, which was devoted “to an anti Jewish attack describing Goldwater as a ‘kosher Conservative.'” The report also said that neo-Fascists last week picketed Goldwater-for-President headquarters in Goldwater’s home town of Phoenix.
The columnists reported that “Dump Goldwater” flyers were distributed at the National Draft Goldwater rally in Washington on July 4. The flyers called the Senator a “Jew phony” and “The Arizona Israelite.” The Thunderbolt also was quoted as telling its readers: “Will white Christian Conservatives be fooled into voting for the first open Jew to be President of the U. S. A.? A two faced Jew, of Russian parentage would be the…fatal blow to the Right wing in America.”
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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.
