Leaders of the Fight for Freedom, Inc. today charged that Representative Hamilton Fish, New York Republican, was responsible for abusing the Congressional free mailing privilege by permitting anti-Semitic literature to be sent through the United States mails under his Congressional frank.
According to the Fight for Freedom office, anti-Jewish reading matter in the form of a pamphlet issued by Pelley Publishers of Asheville, N.C, together with a vicious attack on President Roosevelt, was carried in envelopes carrying Congressman Fish’s frank. One of the pages in the pamphlet advertised the notorious and completely discredited “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
This is not the first time we have found evidence of Congressional frank being used by pro-Nazi, anti-Semitic and pro-German groups,” the Committee stated. It is, however, the first time such evidence has come unsolicited into our own office. If Hamilton Fish knows nothing about who uses his frank, or when, there is urgent need for to immediate re-examination of the use of Congressional frank.”
Questioned by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Representative Fish stated that he has no knowledge as to who could have used envelopes bearing his Congressional frank. “It certainly was not done by any friend of mine, but rather by an enemy trying to smear my name.” the Congressman said, “perhaps by a member of the Fight for Freedom, or by a fanatical Jew who is opposed to my fighting against America’s entrance into the war. My record of twenty years in public service shows that I never made any anti-Semitic statement. On the contrary, I always opposed anti-Semitism. I have no more to do with the charges of the Fight for Freedom Committee than the President of the United States.”
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.
