Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism has been a constant presence throughout American Jewish history, and that presence can be explored using Gale’s Political Extremism and Radicalism series. America’s founders imagined a country free from religious persecution, guaranteed in the religious freedoms promised by the Bill of Rights upon its approval in 1791. States’ rights would trump this vision of religious freedom, however, as limitations were imposed against religious minorities, including Jews. From the moment they first arrived at the colony of New Amsterdam (New York), Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant petitioned to have them removed, but the financial benefits of Jewish mercantile networks prevailed. They were publicly denied worship unless they embraced Christianity and the church; however, as synagogues began to spring up, out of economic necessity, Judaism was quietly tolerated.

Despite their early success in the Americas, Jewish people continued to live as outsiders, religiously condemned by Christians, and became the target of racial tropes that persist even today. Their religious practice, unique accents, and surnames led to scapegoating based on age-old stereotypes that found their origins in Europe long ago. During the Civil War conflict, anti-Jewish intolerance was rampant among the Union and the Confederacy, with accusations that Jewish people were helping the opposing side of the conflict as well as selling military supplies at inflated prices to make a profit.

Despite the undercurrent of anti-Semitism that persisted in American life, Jewish communities flourished. Two million Jews entered the country between 1881 and 1914, escaping poverty and numerous Pogroms in Europe that proved to be financially and personally devastating. Upon their arrival, they were often met with fear and resentment, for their mannerisms, customs, way of life, and perceived successes as they rose both personally and professionally. So, naturally, during economic downturns conspiracy theories surfaced of financial markets and government exploitation by Jews, who were believed to be corrupt international financiers.

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These tensions continued to grow, resulting in very public displays of American anti-Semitism, as declarations of Aryan superiority grew louder. In 1913, an angry mob looked to Jewishness to convict Leo Frank, a 29-year-old Jewish factory superintendent, of murdering a young female coworker in Atlanta, Georgia. After the governor reduced his sentence to life imprisonment, the mob, riding a wave of anti-Semitic sentiment, abducted Frank and lynched him. American Jewish citizens were becoming increasingly anxious over society’s unwillingness to protect them from extreme prejudice. Mob violence escalated during World War I as Americans feared the influence of foreign nations and the spread of Bolshevism, attributing these negative influences on Jewish citizens.

American anti-Semitism post-World War I inspired quotas restricting Jewish students from attending institutions of higher learning, despite their qualifications, and also led to their exclusion from certain universities, neighborhoods, hotels, and clubs. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and other institutions of higher learning limited the enrollment of Jews to discourage the rise of anti-Semitism. Prominent figures also came forward. Henry Ford, known for his anti-Semitism, published a newspaper in the 1920s in Dearborn, Michigan called The Dearborn that was riddled with anti-Semitic tropes and propaganda. He believed Jewish people sought to control the world by commerce and exchange, beliefs which were praised in Hitler’s treatise, Mein Kampf.

In the 1930s the attacks increased, as neo-Nazis were allowed to openly speak hatred over radio airwaves, justifying and inspiring physical assaults against Jewish citizens both in the United States and abroad. American followers of Hitler, or Nazi sympathizers, were inspired to paint swastikas on Jewish-owned businesses and terrorized them as they rallied in the streets. During Hitler’s reign, America also maintained highly restrictive immigration laws, turning away hundreds of immigrants daily. In 1939, for example, the USS St. Louis was turned away from a Miami port, ultimately returning 900 refugees to Nazi Germany, where one-third would be murdered in the Holocaust.

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In the 1940s, approximately 550,000 American Jews fought in World War II. Initially, isolationists blamed them for participation in this devastating conflict. Once the war was over, the awareness of America’s victory over the Nazis coupled with the witnessed atrocities of the Holocaust was jarring enough to result in a noticeable public decline in anti-Semitism in America. Post-conflict criticism of Jewish Americans dropped from 64 percent to 16 percent in 1951, and Judaism was considered a prominent religion in public discourse. This trend would continue through the 1970s, as restrictions loosened, and anti-Semitism faded from view.

Today, complex social change, including anxiety about globalization, economic inequality, the COVID-19 pandemic, and changing demographics, has inspired a resurgence of bigotry, scapegoating, and mistrust. For some, including prominent conservative leaders surrounding former President Donald Trump, the Jewish community once again became the “globalists” responsible for complex social change. As Trump rallied behind the slogan “America First,” echoing prominent anti-Semites during World War II, his words found power in the alt-right and hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, QAnon, and the Proud Boys. He stood mute as prominent journalists were attacked for their Jewishness, trafficking stereotypes in the media and among his own supporters, and condoned violence in Charlottesville as mobs of white men marched chanting “You will not replace us.”

Gale’s Political Extremism and Radicalism series offers researchers insight through primary source materials, helping them make sense of our contemporary struggles with anti-Semitic rhetoric. It examines the ideology and social forces behind the rise of Far Right groups, conspiracy theories, and the political movements that support them, identifying the major figures and events of these groups that are behind our modern-day discourse.

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