Congresswoman Katherine St. George of New York and Alfred Kohlberg, president of the Jewish League Against Communism, the week-end cancelled engagements to speak before the Women’s Patriotic Conference after another speaker had made an anti-Jewish speech to the parley. The conference was attended by delegates from some 30 women’s organizations.
The offending speech was made by Maj. Robert H. Williams, identified by the Anti-Defamation League as one of the nation’s leading anti-Semites. Speaking of the Communist anti-Jewish campaign in Eastern Europe, Williams charged that the affair was a “hoax” adding: “Communism has not yet turned against the Jews. A snake does not swallow itself.” A number of Congressmen and Senators attended the conference, as did Mrs. Ivy Baker Priest, newly appointed Treasurer of the U.S. Messages were sent to the parley by President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon and various Senators.
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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.