Antisemitism in the U.S. during the 1920s
History of antisemitism in the United States
Not until the atrocities came to light in the post WWII did the sentiments in our country change dramatically.
History is being repeated in our Universities/high schools and is being cheered on by some in our government and Dept of Education.
History of antisemitism in the United States
- 1920s
Antisemitism in the United States reached its peak during the 1920s and 1930s. The attraction of the Ku Klux Klanin the mid-1920s, the antisemitic works of Henry Ford, and radio speeches by Father Coughlin in the late 1930s indicated the strength of suspicions about Jews.
One element in American antisemitism during the early 1920s was the identification of Jews with Bolshevism where the concept of Bolshevism was used pejoratively in the country. (see article on "Jewish Bolshevism").
Immigration legislation enacted in the United States in 1921 and 1924 was interpreted widely as being at least partly anti-Jewish in intent because it strictly limited the immigration quotas of eastern European nations with large Jewish populations, nations from which 3 million Jews had immigrated to the United States by 1920.
Restriction on immigration
In 1924, Congress passed the JohnsonReed Act severely restricting immigration. Although the act did not specifically target Jews, the effect of the legislation was that 86% of the 165,000 permitted entries were from Northern European countries, with Germany, Britain, and Ireland having the highest quotas. The act effectively diminished the flow of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe to a trickle. - Henry Ford was a pacifist who opposed World War I, and he believed that Jews were responsible for starting wars in order to profit from them: "International financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the international Jew: German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all those countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme ... here the Jew is a threat".[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_antisemitism_in_the_United_States#cite_note-28][28][/url] Ford believed that Jews were responsible for capitalism, and in their role as financiers, they did not contribute anything of value to society.[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_antisemitism_in_the_United_States#cite_note-29][29][/url]
Not until the atrocities came to light in the post WWII did the sentiments in our country change dramatically.
History is being repeated in our Universities/high schools and is being cheered on by some in our government and Dept of Education.
