The International Jew

The International Jew, The World's Problem — 1920 articles in the Dearborn Independent
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The International Jew is a four-volume set of antisemitic booklets or pamphlets originally published and distributed in the early 1920s by the Dearborn Publishing Company, an outlet owned by Henry Ford, the American industrialist and automobile manufacturer.

The booklets were a collection of articles originally serialized in Ford's Dearborn Independent newspaper, beginning with The International Jew: The World's Problem, published on May 22, 1920.

Background

At the beginning of 1920, Ford's personal newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, was languishing in subscriptions and losing money. Ford and his personal secretary, Ernest G. Liebold, began to discuss a series of articles on the Jewish question.[1]: 97  While it was Liebold who claimed to have come up with the title The International Jew, he turned to "the walking dictionary" William J. Cameron for most of the writing.[1]: 99,103  For 91 issues, the weekly paper announced a variety of stories featuring the supposed evilness of Jewish influence.

Editor E. G. Pipp left the Independent in April 1920 in disgust with the planned antisemitic articles, which began in May; he was replaced by Cameron. While Ford did not personally write the articles, he expressed his opinions verbally to Cameron and Liebold. Cameron had the main responsibility for expanding these opinions into article form. Liebold was responsible for collecting more material to support the articles.[1]: 98–100 

The most popular and aggressive stories were then chosen to be reprinted into four volumes called The International Jew.[2] The first volume was published in November 1920 as an anthology of articles that had been published in the Independent from May 22 to October 2, 1920. The original print run of the first edition was estimated to be between 200,000 and 500,000 copies. Three additional volumes were published over the next 18 months.[1]: 145 

Liebold never copyrighted The International Jew and therefore had no control over anyone else publishing it themselves. The book was ultimately translated into 16 languages, including six editions in Germany between 1920 and 1922, and has remained in the public domain.[1]: 145 

Libel suit

Jewish Jazz—Moron Music—Becomes Our National Music (Volume 3) – August 6, 1921

Following the publishing of an article in the Independent that alleged Jewish control of New York banks that were holding Texas cotton farmers hostage financially, San Francisco lawyer and Jewish farm cooperative organizer Aaron Sapiro sued Ford and Dearborn Publishing for libel in a $1 million lawsuit.[1]: 211 

During the trial, William J. Cameron, the editor of Ford's "Own Page", testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified at the libel trial that he never discussed the content of the pages nor sent them to Ford for his approval.[1]: 220–221  Investigative journalist Max Wallace doubted the veracity of this claim and wrote that James M. Miller, a former Dearborn Independent employee, swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro.[3]

According to political scientist Michael Barkun, "That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial material without Ford's explicit instructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs. Stanley Ruddiman, a Ford family intimate, remarked that 'I don't think Mr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford's approval.'"[4]: 35 

Ultimately, the libel suit led Ford to issue a retraction and public apology in which he indicated having been unaware of the nature of the remarks, both those published in the Independent, and the subsequent pamphlets, and was "shocked" by the content.[1]: 238–240 

Soon after the trial, Ford closed the Independent on December 31, 1927.[1]: 255 

Influence on Nazi anti-Semitism

Ford's International Jew was translated into German in 1922 and cited as an influence by Baldur von Schirach, one of the Nazi leaders, who stated "I read it and became anti-Semitic. In those days this book made such a deep impression on my friends and myself because we saw in Henry Ford the representative of success, also the exponent of a progressive social policy. In the poverty-stricken and wretched Germany of the time, youth looked toward America, and apart from the great benefactor, Herbert Hoover, it was Henry Ford who to us represented America."[5][6]: 80 

Praising American leadership in eugenics in his book Mein Kampf,[6]: 80  Adolf Hitler considered Ford an inspiration, and noted this admiration in his book, calling him "a single great man".[7]: 241  Hitler was also known to keep copies of The International Jew, as well as a large portrait of Ford in his Munich office.[6]: 80 [7]: 241 

Content

After publication in the Independent, the articles were compiled as chapters into a four volume set as follows:

Volume 1: The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem (1920)

The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem (Volume I) – November 1920 – 1st Edition
  1. The Jew in Character and Business
  2. Germany's Reaction Against the Jew
  3. Jewish History in the United States
  4. The Jewish Question—Fact or Fancy?
  5. Anti-Semitism—Will It Appear in the U.S.?
  6. Jewish Question Breaks Into the Magazines
  7. Arthur Brisbane Leaps to the Help of Jewry
  8. Does a Definite Jewish World Program Exist?
  9. The Historic Basis of Jewish Imperialism
  10. An Introduction to the "Jewish Protocols"
  11. "Jewish" Estimate of Gentile Human Nature
  12. "Jewish Protocols" Claim Partial Fulfillment
  13. "Jewish" Plan to Split Society by "Ideas"
  14. Did the Jews Foresee the World War?
  15. Is the Jewish "Kahal" the Modern "Soviet"?
  16. How the "Jewish Question" Touches the Farm
  17. Does Jewish Power Control the World Press?
  18. Does This Explain Jewish Political Power?
  19. The All-Jewish Mark on "Red Russia"
  20. Jewish Testimony in Favor of Bolshevism

Volume 2: Jewish Activities in the United States (1921)

Jewish Activities in the United States (Volume 2) – April 1921
  2. How Jews in the U.S. Conceal Their Strength
  3. Jewish Testimony on "Are Jews a Nation?"
  4. Jew Versus Non-Jew in New York Finance
  5. The High and Low of Jewish Money Power
  6. "Disraeli of America"—A Jew of Super-Power
  7. The Scope of Jewish Dictatorship in the U.S.
  8. Jewish Copper Kings Reap Rich War-Profits
  9. Jewish Control of the American Theater
  10. The Rise of the First Jewish Theatrical Trust
  11. How Jews Capitalized a Protest Against Jews
  12. The Jewish Aspect of the "Movie" Problem
  13. Jewish Supremacy in Motion Picture World
  14. Rule of the Jewish Kehillah Grips New York
  15. The Jewish Demand for "Rights" in America
  16. "Jewish Rights" Clash With American Rights
  17. "Jewish Rights" to Put Studies Out of Schools
  18. Disraeli—British Premier, Portrays the Jews
  19. Taft Once Tried to Resist Jews—and Failed
  20. When Editors Were Independent of the Jews
  21. Why the Jews Dislike the Morgenthau Report
  22. Jews Use the Peace Conference to Bind Poland
  23. The Present Status of the Jewish Question

Volume 3: Jewish Influence in American Life (1921)

  2. The Jews and the "Religious Persecution" Cry
  3. Are the Jews Victims or Persecutors?
  4. Jewish Gamblers Corrupt American Baseball
  5. Jewish Degradation of American Baseball
  6. Jewish Jazz Becomes Our National Music
  7. How the Jewish Song Trust Makes You Sing
  8. Jewish Hot-Beds of Bolshevism in the U.S.
  9. Jew Trades Link With World Revolutionaries
  10. Will Jewish Zionism Bring Armageddon?
  11. How the Jews Use Power—By an Eyewitness
  12. How Jews Ruled and Ruined Tammany Hall
  13. Jew Wires Direct Tammany's Gentile Puppets
  14. B'nai B'rith Leader Discusses the Jews
  15. Dr. Levy, a Jew, Admits His People's Error
  16. Jewish Idea in American Monetary Affairs
  17. Jewish Idea Molded Federal Reserve Plan
  18. Jewish Idea of Central Bank for America
  19. How Jewish International Finance Functions
  20. Jewish Power and America's Money Famine

Volume 4: Aspects of Jewish Power in the United States (1922)

  2. How Jews Gained American Liquor Control
  3. Gigantic Jewish Liquor Trust and Its Career
  4. The Jewish Element in Bootlegging Evil
  5. Angles of Jewish Influence in American Life
  6. The Jews' Complaint Against "Americanism"
  7. The Jewish Associates of Benedict Arnold
  8. Benedict Arnold and Jewish Aid in Shady Deal
  9. Arnold and His Jewish Aids at West Point
  10. The Gentle Art of Changing Jewish Names
  11. Jewish "Kol Nidre" and "Eli, Eli" Explained
  12. Jews as New York Magistrates See Them
  13. Jews Are Silent, the National Voice Is Heard
  14. What Jews Attempted When they Had Power
  15. The Jewish Question in Current Testimony
  16. America's Jewish Enigma—Louis Marshall
  17. The Economic Plans of International Jews
  18. A Jew Sees His People As Others See Them
  19. Candid Address to Jews on the Jewish Problem
  20. An Address to "Gentiles" on the Jewish Problem

Abridged version in 1949

In June 1949, a 174-page, one-volume abridgement of the text appeared, titled The International Jew, subtitled "The World's Foremost Problem", edited by George F. Green, who was editor of the Independent Nationalist, a British fascist publication.[8][9] The book was sold in the United States by the Christian Nationalist Crusade.[10][11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Baldwin, Neil (2001). Henry Ford and the Jews: The Mass Production of Hate. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-891620-52-2. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  2. ^ Lee, Albert (1980). Henry Ford and the Jews. Stein and Day. p. 14. ISBN 9780812827019. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  3. ^ Wallace, Max (2003). The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich. St. Martin's Press. p. 30. ISBN 0-312-290-22-5. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  4. ^ Barkun, Michael (1997). Religion and the Racist Right: the Origins of the Christian Identity Movement. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2328-7. Retrieved February 16, 2021.
  5. ^ "Nuremberg Trial Proceedings". Avalon Project. May 23, 1946. p. 368. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  6. ^ a b c Stone, Oliver; Kuznick, Peter (2019). The Untold History of the United States. Gallery Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-9821-0253-1. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Hall, Anthony J. (2003). Earth Into Property: Colonization, Decolonization, and Capitalism. McGill–Queen's University Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-3122-2. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  8. ^ Carlson, John Roy (1951). Cairo to Damascus. Alfred A. Knopf. p. 37. Retrieved May 6, 2021.. This George F. Green seems not to be the same person G. F. Green (George Frederick Green), a British fiction writer.
  9. ^ Macklin, Graham (2007). Very Deeply Dyed in Back: Sir Oswald Mosley and the Resurrection of British Fascism After 1945. London: I.B. Tauris. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-84511-284-4. Retrieved May 6, 2021. This Independent Nationalist is not the same as the Irish political title "Independent Nationalist".
  10. ^ Glassman, Bernard (2003). Benjamin Disraeli: The Fabricated Jew in Myth and Memory. University Press of America. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-7618-2540-1. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  11. ^ Carlson, Elof Axel (2001). The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea. CSHL Press. p. 312. ISBN 978-0-87969-587-3. Retrieved May 6, 2021.

Secondary sources

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