Jewish Participation in Henry Ford Centennial Disputed in Detroit

The question whether Jews should serve on a committee of civic leaders set up by the mayor of Detroit to observe the 100th anniversary of the birth of Henry Ford, is raised in the Jewish News here by its editor and publisher, Philip Slomovitz.

Two Jews have accepted membership on that committee. Mr. Slomovitz questions the “wisdom of those who Join in honoring an arch anti-Semite.” He points out that the U.S. Post Office Department has rejected a request that a commemorative stamp be issued on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the automobile tycoon.

“Henry Ford” he argues, “not only was personally responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism, when he first began to distribute the faked ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’ and his atrocious hate-inciting pamphlet ‘The International Jew’. Even long after his apology to the Jewish people for his actions–an apology made in order to put an end to the libel suit that was pending in a Detroit court in 1927– he was responsible for the spread of his anti-Semitic ideas in Germany and in Latin America, in addition to the damage he had done to this Jewish fellow-Americans.”

Rabbi Leon Fram, one of the Jewish participants in the Henry Ford Centennial Committee of Detroit, in a statement in The Jewish News, said: “Henry Ford’s anti-Semitism was an episode in his life. It was not his principal interest or activity. Above all, the fact remains that Henry Ford apologized. He took action during his lifetime to purge himself of the sin of his anti-Semitism. What more can a fair-minded person ask? Even though it is true that his apology did not undo the evil his anti-Semitic publications had wrought, it is also not to be questioned but that his complete and unconditional apology also made a strong impression on the American people and served greatly to repudiate anti-Semitism in American life and reduce its impact.”