AJC pamphlet chronicling Henry Ford's retraction

STATEMENT

HENRY FORD

X\EGARDING Charges Against JewsMade in His Publications, TheDearborn Independent, and a Seriesof Pamphlets Entitled "The Inter-national Jew," Together With anExplanatory Statement by LOUISMARSHALL, President of TheAmerican Jewish Committee, and His

Reply to MR. FORD.

NEW YORKTHE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE

1927

STATEMENT BY MR MARSHALL

Sine* die public alien nf the statement by H«nry Ford re-

LU.I j.ii1. i.'~i, .,.,::.-,••! ii -. •.:• li . ' ! , - • , : ' , • •, r.itu-t and in lh*, ™ , h i , , , , . , ; , : , ! - n , . i , , , - , . - : .; . , . . , - , , i « . , 0 , 1

Cu explain the conililiaris umfcr which that document came into my

On several occasions 1 have been apprrjached. by m i o mt-i^rsim Ii-iv.L-^!I lii'ii mi'l iii. ]f"^ Ms r.-.-'.L'fr wag uniformlyIhic if "he had anything lo prcpaftc I -wauM rcc-eLve and consider

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fiH that those wham he had put in charge of The DearhnrnInitprofant ' " J taken idvarngge -of him by publishini the « " i «of i i t i d t ! nmclring t in j e i t j , a, whbcli Ihe titter had a\talirabfl^t; Iha, In li:,,j l.i-.,,..,..• i«i»ir ,( , ! ili-i. i.ll of ihe cTiSfJc?made ^dins i ihcm. ' "foundatiun and unjudan; to put an ti 'J twj toward him.

There-UBflli, I .tvicivcd. Ihe Tils^orj of Ihts; niLli.-^Lin

L fi1-^ . in. : ' I11r.il 'we .n i l Mir - i . L .1-1.] \ .••[ -i'n i k . i T i L 1- f.

th^rmtrVe«.oradV-«u"rd not=ti"(Sl 'ihe i n j W X 'I n answer to t i l s . Messes. Davis and Palnm Inquired M

what might be done to Ijiim; -i, ..:• . r v L-..i lilions. I an jwt t

1 h i r ^ n 1.-..1 l ( | ,, iV;i .ii • • -h) •.-• ! ".-•J'^^l l'vr

,1 1 :i.l H-.L:- T •- -!i- I • i ll j [ I I

Aflei titilh.fr dl^cu^^ion. Mctsis. Djwis and Paima. said that

Sranf day*, latrr I i,, J i.il1.1,! .r, -„• a,;.,,-, .,, ! r i i l i^Kd t-ll-BI FoM

would iceept lUeif . ^ , . ^ , - J I : - . riprt I,-I!;,.•.-;•! l u r l^ r /iwus iat jiETSOHil InisrvJcVYi in mj. o.ffic, *,,tt ^fr. Films, over llielusig diiianoe I^IL'.-I.'II i- LII"I -.1 irLr. ' ,\ w.lh i!\e rtstilt that flilTbur^day, Jiai-.c ':"', I1 i~rr ^fr [\il:nri :nf<irinc4 me llial FocJwas really to ti(..i i!ir ln..^,nt-,t -J. ! •. li -i liTtm aitachti) milWhicll I KCCiVfrd ti> .lir n.,i] r.n Fn. la) . 111!" 1. l'.iT. Itu'lln-iwllh j Mvr«[h |t li'it,- ,..;..h,..^1. !• tv.r.! |.j Mr. Civis, j - ! . r i , ;bim ind Mr. T^:..-,i iu ^uifiti ;,. n - rjic •»:ilr.,iFin t s jn i i i

There have been so many rc-qucsla [ar ccpirt of these docu-ments and of n,v 1,-v.v , : .„ 1 .,-.l-:i«--.^ii a ' i l n t u i te Ford.that it na5 I m 0^i:.,-,| :•. ii. , •!>,:!, !.,ic;'.-il to give them thepublicity wbicti is disircd hi all concemed.

Ntw Y«rk, July H, 18W.

LETTER FROM HENRY FORDTO MR. EARL J. DAVIS

FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Dearborn, Mich.

Tune 30. 1927.Mr. Earl J, Davis,

Detroit, Michigan.

My dear Sir:1 hereby approve of the attached statement -and

authorize you and Mr. Joseph Palma to deliversame to Louis Marshall, of New York City.

Yours respectfully,

STATEMENT BY HENRY FORDTO LOUIS MARSHALL

For some time pabt I have given considerationto the series of articles concerning Jews which,since 1920 have appeared in The Dearborn Inde-pendent. Sane of them have been reprinted, inpamphlet form Uftder the title "The InternationalJew/1 Although hoth publications are my prop-erty, it goes without saying that in the multitudeof my activities it has been impossible for me todevote personal attention to their management orto keep informed as to their contents. It hastherefore inevitably followed that the conduct andpolicies -of these publications had to be delegatedto men whom I placed in charge of them and uponwhom I relied implicitly.

To my great regret I have learned that Jewsgenerallyh and particularly those of this country,not only resent these publications as promotinganti-Semitism, but regard me as their enemy.Trusted friends with wliom I have conferred re-cently have assured me in all sincerity that intheir opinion the character of the charges andinsinuations made against the Jews, both indi-vidually and collectively', contained in many o£ thearticles which have been circulated periodically inThe Dearborn Independent and have been re-printed in the pamphlets mentioned, justifies the

righteous indignation entertained by Jews every-where toward me because of the mental anguishoccasioned by the unprovoked reflections madeupon them.

This his led me to direct my personal attentionlo thi& subject, in order to ascertain the exactnature of these articles. As a result of this sur-vey I confess that I am deeply mortified that thisjournal, which is intended to be constructive andnot destructive, has been made the medium forresurrecting exploded fictions, fOf giving currencyto the so-called Protocols of the Wise Men ofZicn. which have been demonstrated, as I learn,to be gross forgeries, and for contending that theJews have teen engaged m a. conspiracy to centralthe capital and the industries of ihe world, besideslaying at their door many offenses against decency,public order and good morals.

Had I appreciated even the general nature, tosay nothing of the details, of these utterances, Iwould have forbidden their circulation without amoment's hesitation, because I am -fully aware ofthe -virtues of the Jewish people as a whole, ofwhat they and their ancestors have done forcivilization and for mankind and toward the de-velopment of commerce and industry, of theirsobriety and diligence, their benevolence and theirunselfish interest in the public welfare.

Of course there are black sheep in every flock,as there are among men. of all races, creeds andnationalities who are at times evildoers. It iswrong, however, to Judge a people by a. few indi-viduals, and I therefore join in condemning un-Tpservedly all wholesale denunciations and attacks.

Those who know me can bear witness that it isnot in Wy nature to inflict insult upon and tooccasion pain to anybody, and that it has been myeffort to free myself from prejudice. Because ofthat I frankly confess that I have been greatlyshocked as a result of my study and examinationof the files of The Dearborn Independent and orthe pamphlets entitled "The International Jew."1 deem it to be my duty as an honorable manto make amends for the wrong done to the Jewsas fellow-men and brothers, by asking their for-giveness for the harm that I have unintentionally

committed, by retracting so far as lies within mypower the offensive charges laid at their door bythese publications, and by giving them the un-qualified assurance that henceforth they may looktame for friendship and good will.

It is needless to add that the pamphlets whichhave been distributed throughout the country andin foreign lands will be withdrawn from circula-tion, that in every way possible I will make itknown thai they have my unqualified disapproval,and that henceforth The Dearborn Independentwill be conducted under such auspices that article*

flti upon the Jews will never again appear

Finally, let me add that this statement is madeon my own initiative and wholly in the interest of.right and justice and in accordance with what Iregard as my solemn duty as a mati and as a

will be conducted under such areflecting upon the Jews willn its columns.

t FORD.

Dearlonl, Mich., June 30, 192?.

LETTER FROM MR. MARSHALL

TO MR. FORD

July 5, 1927.

Dear Sir:1 am in receipt of your letter to Mr. Earl J.

Davis accompanied by your statement regardingthe long series of vituperative articl.es which sinceMay, 1920, has appeared in The Dearborn Indt-ptndent and which contains the most violent at-tacks upon the Jews. You now declare that afteran examination of those articles you fed shockedand mortified because of the harm which theyhave clone, and you ask for forgiveness.

For twenty centuries we Jews have been acews-tomed to forgive insults and injuries, persecutionand intolerance, hoping that we might behold theday when brotherhood and good will would beuniversal. We had fondly hoped that in thisblessed Republic, with its glorious Constitution

and its just laws, it would be impossible to en-counter the hatred and rancor to which our breth-ren have been and still are subjected in otherlands. We could not at first credit the informationthat The Dearborn Independent had permitteditself to be made the vehicle for disseminatingexploded falsehoods and the vilest concoctions ofvicious minds, invented by adventurers who hadbarely found asylum here when tfiey attempted tointroduce the exotic growths of anti-Semitism.

Happily such excrescences could not flourishon American soil. Happily the enlightened presso£ this Country treated them with contempt andas unworthy of notice. But we Jews none the lesssuffered the anguish of tortured memories, thenightmares of a horrible past, and the sorrow that,in spite of the progress of civilization, there were,those who stood ready to misunderstand us. Whatseemed most mysterious was the fact that youwhom we had never wronged and whom we hadlooked upon as a kindly man, should have lentyourself to such a campaign of villifkation appar-ently carried on .with your sanction.

The statement which yQU have sent me givesus assurance of your retraction of the offensivecharges, of your proposed change of policies inthe conduct of The Dearborn Independent, ofyour future friendship and good will, of yourdesire to make amends, and what is to be expectedfrom any man of honor, you couple these assur-ances with a request for pardon. So far as myinfluence can further that end, it will be exerted,simply because there flows in my veins the bloodof ancestors who were inured to suffering andnevertheless remained steadfast in their trust inGod, Referring to the teachings of the Sermon onthe Mount, Israel ZangrwM once said that we Jewsare after all the only Christians. He might haveadded that it is because essentially the spirit offorgiveness is a Jewish trait.

It is my sincere hope that never a^ain shallsuch a recrudescence of ancient superstition mani-fest itself upon our horizon.

Very truly youTS,

Louis MARSHALL.