Anti-Semitic groups in the United States raised more than $1,000,000 last year, it was revealed today by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith in its annual survey made public by Justice Meier Steinbrink, national chairman of the organization. At the same time, Justice Steinbrink emphasized that “successful attacks on deeply-imbedded patterns of racial and religious preju?ice in key areas of American life marked the year 1949.”
The bulk of the hate-promoters in this country “found the picking slim,” the survey noted. Fifty-seven anti-Semitic organizations were active in 1949 and nine ?thers not directly involved in anti-Semitic programs were controlled by known anti-Semites. The highest concentration was in the Midwest, which had 24 groups. The fortheast had 18 functioning anti-Jewish groups; the South, 16; the Far West, eight. Thirty-five once active groups liquidated during the year, largely from lack of finances, the survey disclosed.
Except on the West Coast, where Gerald Smith rallies often attracted audiences of 2,000 and more, attendance at public anti-Semitic meetings was shunned by the American public, the report established. Most propagandists invested heavily in camphlets and periodicals. Forty-nine regular anti-Semitic publications were circulated last year, the report said. Southern offices of the Anti-Defamation League reported disintegration of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Many Americans who reject the professional anti-Semite and refuse to be duped by his racket are nonetheless guilty of prejudiced behavior,” Justice Steinbrink declared. “We made a special study of all social attitude polls taken in the last 10 ?ears and find that a small number of minority groups shoulder the heaviest burdens of bigotry and discrimination imposed by the American public.”
“COLD WAR” HELPED TO CREATE RACIAL TENSIONS, REPORT SAYS
The tense international situation and the “cold war” have helped to create ?ears and racial tensions that on several occasions last year, flared into violence, the report declared. It pointed up riots in Peekskill, N.Y., and Chicago as indications of “an unwholesome approach by Americans to the menace of Communism.”
“The Chicago outburst began as a demonstration Negroes, took on an anti-Communist complexion, concluded as an anti-Semitic riot” it said. “The Peekkill disturbance began as anti-Communist protests and spilled over into anti-Negro and anti-Semitic demonstrations.” Other major findings of the survey include:
1. There were fewer expressions of anti-Semitism in Congress in 1949 than in the preceding year, but four members of Congress continued to exhibit their hostility toward the Jewish community–Sen. Pat McCarran of Nevada, and Reps. Ed Gossett of texas, Clare Hoffman of Michigan and John Rankin of Mississippi.
2. There was a complete default by Congress on civil rights legislation ledged by both major political parties during the last election campaign. Legislative campaigns on the state leval, however, were more successful and the number of states with fair employment practice laws increased from four to eight, Washington, ?egon, New Mexico and Rhode Island having enacted such legislation in 1949.
3. Although college students themselves are strongly opposed to quota systems, this and other discriminatory techniques were widely prevalent among American colleges for the purpose of limiting or barring applicants on the basis of race and religion. Examination of application blanks of 518 liberal arts schools disclosed that over 92 percent contained at least one “potentially discriminatory” inquiry, that is, a question which has no value in detormining an applicant’s scholastic record ## aptitude, but instead is designed to revoal his race, religion or the national origin of his parents.
4. Housing discrimination is still “shamefully widespread,” despite the 1949 ?upreme Court ruling which outlawed enforcement by the courts of racial or religious estrictive covenants. Many real estate operators and development builders are cir?umventing the intent of the Court’s decision with “loophole maneuvering.”
5. Mass media in the United States, particularly radio, the press and the agazine field, have shown a greater awareness of the need for publicizing human relations activities. There was a greater number of dramatic radio shows and published articles and fiction stories devoted to intergroup harmony than at any time since the war years.
The A.D.L.’s nationwide study was prepared under the supervision of Benjamin Epstein, national director, and Jacob Grumet, chairman of the League’s civil rights committee. Written by Arnold Forster, the organization’s civil rights director, it will be published today as a book under the title, “A Measure of Freedom.” To document and analyze the mass of data collected for its survey, the Anti-Defamation League ?tilized the research facilities of 35 regional offices and cooperating Jewish community councils scattered throughout the nation. Fifty persons worked on the project.
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.
