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| Bess Myerson |
It wasn’t.
James Loeffler starts his new book, “Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America,” with Myerson’s win, noting that old habits die hard. Sponsors who traditionally embraced Miss America got cold feet. The Catalina Swimwear Company, which provided bathing suits for the contestants, withdrew its promised contract and scholarship.
“Several corporate sponsors refused to hire a Jewish spokesmodel,” he writes. “The Ford Motor Company reneged on its pledge of a gift of a new automobile.”
Odd — you’d think that Henry Ford, who’d accepted a decoration from the Nazis, might be eager to put some distance between his company and his former pals. But no.
Such expectations wilt as you read Loeffler’s book, which uses antisemitism to skillfully explore the difficulty of legally squelching haters in a nation whose First Amendment sanctifies free speech.
A significant chunk of Americans sympathized with Hitler before, during and after World War II — 70 new American antisemitic organizations appeared within a year after Myerson’s win.
The first two sections of the book focus on events in Chicago. We think of the city as a liberal bastion. Now, maybe. But not in 1946.
“Chicago,” the American Mercury wrote, “the birthplace of the German American Bund and scene of the greatest wartime seditious activities” — a Lane Tech grad was landed by U-boat during the war with a raft of Nazi spies — was on its way to becoming “the hate center of the nation and the staff headquarters for incipient American fascism.”
Thus in February 1946, notorious antisemite Father Arthur Terminiello, on a coast-to-coast speaking tour promoting Christian Nationalism, held a packed rally on the West Side. Protesters rioted outside and Terminiello was convicted under a Chicago ordinance against disturbing the peace.
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Had no idea about any of this with Ms. Myerson. How tragic and frightening.
ReplyDeletepretty lady
ReplyDeleteYes, she was. And on the 1950s game show "The Big Payoff." she was the "Lady in Mink" modeling the grand prize mink coat, and introducing guests and prizes, throughout the eight-year run of the program.
DeleteIn the Sixties, she was a panelist on "I've Got a Secret."And she was also a host of the TV broadcast of the Miss America pageant from 1954 to 1968..When she died at 90, the New York Times said "she was the most famous pretty girl since Queen Esther.".
Never knew she had been a Miss America until seeing a list of the winners, as an adult. Knew her mostly from watching her first game show, in the early Fifties, before I was even in kindergarten. We had a TV by 1950, before most of our neighbors did. My father was an early adapter.
Incredibly thought provoking, as usual. I will be reading the Terminiello decision. Thank you!
ReplyDelete“Antisemitic speech poses less danger than authoritarianism itself.” Because nobody is safe.
ReplyDeleteVery nice piece Neil.
ReplyDeleteBut I would argue that while "Antisemitic speech poses less danger than authoritarianism itself" it does pave the roads and grease the wheels of a seemingly inevitable ruin.
Hate speech, while "better" is still a first step. We must do better to snuff out such speech lest we too get comfortable with it.
On one hand you have a group composed primarily of wealthy, straight, white, male northern European Protestants.
ReplyDeleteThen there's everybody else. Black, brown, yellow and red. Hindus ,Muslims, Catholics and Jews. Let's not forget women and homosexuals and Poor people .
The white men subjugate all the rest.
They have the vast majority of power and wealth. How do they get away with it?
They are not afraid of using violence coercion political power and economic strangulation. They keep poor people ignorant and imprison the blacks. They promulgate the fantasy that anybody in America could live the dream. They pit us against one another
For far too many it's all a terrible nightmare.
People who are in one of the above categories who escaped the nightmare join with them in a hope of avoiding the worst of it.
Then they find out that it doesn't really protect them as they too are part of the bludgeoned class.
America where the rich and powerful try to squeeze every last dime out of everybody else.
And a vast majority of us have surrendered to this and our idea of fighting against it? Words
So true. But I would point out that conservative catholics have joined the ruling class privilege party as well. It's conservative, reactionary catholics that control the Trump Supreme Court.
DeleteI had no idea that so many of the supreme Court justices were catholic.
DeleteThe "coalition building" see coercion and corruption is the strong suit of the maga party.
They argue with each other but not for long when there's only one choice to go along.
The Democrats in all of the factions I listed above just argue.
The divide and conquer strategy is working against us. But when Jewish people can't get along with Jewish people and blacks can't get along with blacks and Hispanics can't get along with Hispanics we're destined for defeat. Poor white people have felt it for a long time we need a true rainbow coalition. And we need it now the midterms are in 2 months but all I have is words
FME, The same abusive authoritarian - mostly male sociopaths - come in every color and race and religion or lack thereof throughout history. There was a stretch of history where caucasians were not the world dominants. Looks like that will again be true in the future. Ethnic groups have had similar histories devoid of ethnic bonhomie...or are we ignoring all the massacres, uprisings and civil wars?
DeleteDemocrats don't just argue with each other. Many offer alternatives. And work in coalitions small and large. There are "strong armers" perverting their power to retain control of "their" party or Bernie would have had a fair shot at the nomination.
Great column.
ReplyDeleteMy takeaway for today…” The mainstream media flickers and fades, while “the internet persists as a rage factory where racists self-radicalize in digital echo changers.”
ReplyDeleteActually, that's a typo. Should be "digital echo chambers." Fixed now. Thanks for pointing it out.
DeleteI have long considered antisemitic speech and authoritarianism to represent fused concepts. Scapegoating, I figured, is how those with authoritarian leanings slowly dismantle the guardrails of justice.
ReplyDeleteWe, the people, are a considerable part of the problem.
Lack of historical understanding, reflection, and education erodes our empathy and our collective will for “justice for all.” We citizens say we want justice, that it's the cornerstone of democracy, but it’s a ground battle many are unwilling to stand up to, or for.
“Justice” is neither tolerance nor accommodation - it's a different sort of battle and orientation requiring diligence, fair-mindedness, and more than a little self-knowledge.
Thank you for this book recommendation and opportunity to think this through.
My dad fought in WW2, grew up outside Chicago, kept to himself mostly, and then one day got cut off changing lanes on the Kennedy by a "Jew boy." I discovered it was his go-to anti-Semitic murmur, used maybe four times that I can remember. When he said it, my mother would catch my eye and rolls her. Later I learned she cheated on him with a friend of his, and for that he took a job in Pittsburgh as punishment. She cried as we drove away, my dad wearing a Pirates hat.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing this. I was especially stunned by the treatment of Bess Myerson. So many parts of our history have been "tidied up" in the past, and efforts to keep "tidying up" history continue.
ReplyDeleteThe 1949 Englewood riot was just one of many white riots that took place in the Chicago area between 1946 and the late 70s...the most notorious and largest of which was the Cicero riot of 1951. That one was so violent that it resulted in the deployment of the National Guard.
ReplyDeleteThe whites in Englewood, upon hearing false rumors that a black family was moving into the neighborhood, beat Black people and white outsiders whom they believed to be Jews and/ or Communists (they're one and the same, doncha know.).
Never knew about the looting of the Jewish-owned stores, until now.
Had a Jewish friend whose father owned a supermarket on W. 63rd, in the 60s.
The 1949 rioting was anti-black, anti-Jewish, and anti-Communist...a tripleheader.
Not all that surprising, given the zeitgeist of those early and paranoid Cold War days.