Secretary of Interior Harold L. Lakes told a memorial meeting of the temple Israel brotherhood last night that the late benjamin n. Cardozo’s years on the supreme Court bench refuted the contention that the presence of Jews in public life fosters anti-Semitism.
“Not a single gossamer in today’s web of anti-Semitism can be traced to his presence on the bench,” mr. lckes said. “respected, admired and beloved by all, his actions answered those who preach that the presence of Jews in public lire aids the cause of anti-Semitism. He did his part to prove that Cardozos and Brandeises will always support the cause of righteousness; will always approach the problems of humanity with understanding and sympathy.”
The Secretary of Interior also asserted that Jews “are in the forefront of the fight for progress and civil liberties,” but denied that they were radicals in the sense that they were “visionary utopians” or sought to overthrow the government by force. he spoke on a program with Kenneth Teasdale, former president of the Missouri bar association; Joseph A. McLain Jr., dean of Washington University Law School, and Charles G. Ross, an editor of the st. louis post-dispatch.
Recalling the opposition to the appointment of Cardozo to the Supreme Court because he was a Jew, Mr. Ickes said: “There are those who always oppose the appointment of a Jew to anything; persons, who, for one reason or another, wear their unsavory prejudices on their sleeves for all to see, I will say no more on this than that I detest such bigotry.”
Those who opposed the appointment on the ground a second Jewish Supreme Court Justice would create further anti-Semitism “seemed to forget,” he declared, “that the coward who runs away from his mortal enemy justly forfeits the guerdon of the brave. They proposed, in effect, a self-made ghetto and sought the ear of president Hoover to gain presidential sanction for that ghetto. these Jews were no less blind in their opposition to progress than were the rich Jews in democratic countries in Europe when fascism started in march to power.”
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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.
