In the course of an attack on the isolationist views of Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, James P. Warburg, the banker, broadcasting over Station YMCA under the auspices of the Fight for Freedom Committee, revealed last night that he had been urged by a number of persons not to speak because he is a Jew, but asserted that it was nevertheless his duty to “speak out as an American.”
The revelation was made in a brief introduction to the speech which Warburg added shortly before he went on the air. He said.
“I wish to thank Bishop Hobson of Cincinnati, chairman of the Fight For Freedom Committee, for his invitation to respond to Charles Lindbergh tonight.
“A number of well-meaning people, many of whom I do not know, have telephoned and wired urging me not to speak because I am a Jew. I was aware of this fact before. As soon as I was invited, I asked the Bishop to consider the anti-Semitic party line against Jews and bankers; Bishop Hopson dismissed this as irrelevant.
“I have but one duty, and that is to speak out as an American. Jew or Gentile, an American can say only this to Charles Lindbergh: Your second non-stop flight has taken you to strange destination.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.