Mayor LaGuardia made public today a denial of charges voiced in the current issue of The Nation (reported in JTA NEWS JULY 21) that New York policemen have displayed a “fraternal attitude” toward followers of “radio priest” Charles E. Coughlin and have been partial in disturbances in which they were involved.
“That absolutely isn’t so,” he declared. “The situation has been under proper observance. There seems to be a trend just now on the part of some people shouting their loudest for freedom of speech to obtain suppression at this time. Naturally, inciting to riot and creating racial and religious hatreds does not come within the guarantees of free speech.”
Reiterating views expressed in a letter to the Jewish National Workers’ Alliance earlier this month (JTA NEWS JULY 11) on the difficulties of handling the Coughlinite sit nation without trespassing on civil rights, the Mayor declared the police had rendered “excellent service and have exercised the proper kind of restraint.” He said arrests had been made “where they should have been made” and promised continued maintenance of “law and order.”
A committee appointed by Police Commissioner Valentine is investigating police handling of the problem. Headed by former Deputy Police Commissioner Byrnes MacDonald, a member of the Mayor’s secretariat, the committee was named after receipt of many complaints of police partiality in disturbances arising from sale of Coughlin’s “Social Justice” and Christian Front rallies.
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.
