Pickets who recently carried anti-Semitic signs in front of the White House included individuals with criminal records, police authorities made known today after investigating the pickets at the request of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League.
The pickets were led by J. B. Stoner, 30, head of the “Christian Anti-Jewish Party.” Stoner was expelled from the Ku Klux Klan in Tennessee, the A. D. L. said, because he was “too anti-Semitic. ” Later he unsuccessfully ran for Congress as the candidate of his own party with a platform that included a pledge “to destroy the Jews by Constitutional means.”
A police check revealed that Edward R. Fields, 21, chief secretary of the Stoner Party, was taken into policy custody at Davenport, Iowa, earlier this year in connection with charges that he helped plaster store windows with signs proclaiming “Anti-Jew Week. ” He was also said to have taken part in similar activity Rock Island, III.
Two brothers were listed among other White House pickets. They were identified as Robert and Richard Bowling. Robert Bowling was arrested in November, 1953, for violation of the Selective Service Act. The case is still pending. He was previously arrested in February, 1949. for disorderly conduct and was convicted on a burglary charge in January, 1951. Richard Bowling was arrested in 1950 and 1951 on false registration and burglary charges and was convicted on both counts.
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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.