Secretary of Interior Harold L. Ickes last night Conden Americans who accepted decorations from a dictator and warned wealthy Jews that any mistakes they made reflected on the Jewish race. Addressing the Chanukah dinner of the Cleveland Zionist District, Mr. Ickes asked Henry Ford and Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh to answer the question: “How can any American accept a decoration at the hand of a brutal dictator who, with that same hand, is robbing and torturing thousands of fellow human beings?”
He urged wealthy Jews “to exercise extreme caution in the acquisition of their wealth and great scrupulousness in their social behavior. He declared: “A mistake made by a non-Jewish millionaire reflects upon him alone, but a false step made by a Jewish man of wealth reflects upon his whole race.”
Declaring he was dismayed to hear some rich Jews thought their position imperiled because some fellow Jews held positions of responsibility and trust in the government, secretary Ickes condemned the opposition to the appointment to the supreme court of “one of the ablest and most outstanding legal statesman of his generation because that appointment might arouse prejudice against their particular group. Money that is cowardly enough to do this is money that should be cast away.”
Regarding the refugee question, he said he “personally” wished that the gates of America be thrown open, but “we must faithfully carry out the laws of congress limiting immigration.” He urged “moral and material support” of settlement of refugees in Palestine.
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.
