Former Secretary of the Treasury Henry L. Morgenthau Jr. today branded as “wholly untrue” an allegation by John O’Donnell, Washington columnist for the New York Daily News and the Washington Times-Herald, that he was among several highly placed Jews who were behind a drive to disgrace and remove General George S. Patton Jr.
O’Donnell, in his column today, charges that Mr. Morgenthau, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter, White House administrative assistant David Niles and Sidney Hillman have been “out to get” Patton because the victim in the notorious face-slapping incident, when Patton struck a soldier suffering from battle fatigue, was a Jew. O’Donnell alleges that Patton referred in uncomplimentary terms to the soldier’s Jewish ancestry when he rebuked him for being afraid to fight.
The removal of Patton from command of the Third Army, writes the News columnist, who was once presented with a Nazi Iron Cross by the late President Roosevelt, is an indication of the “secret and astoundingly effective might of this republic’s foreigh-born political leaders.”
Justice Frankfurter, Mr. Hillman, who is now in Paris, and Mr. Niles were not available for comment.
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