The Dearborn Independent's April 19, 1924 investigative reporting on Aaron Sapiro and "pals" organizing of farmers. Left to right: Albert D. Lasker, Sapiro, Eugene Meyer Jr, Bernard Baruch. (click to enlarge)

“The International Jew” Study Hour presents:   Carolyn Yeager and Hadding Scott discuss Henry Ford’s famous trial in 1927, his formal so-called “statement of apology,” and its effect on his long-term influence as an anti-Jewish voice.

• “The International Jew” series of articles in The Dearborn Independent covered every aspect of Jewish influence on and in America;
• Even after the articles that make up “The International Jew” were completed in Jan. 1922, The Dearborn Independent continued to publish tough criticism until 1927 (as in 1924 story at right);
• Jewish and liberal reaction against Ford’s newspaper was strong, but did not deter him,
• In 1925, lawyer and farm organizer Aaron Sapiro filed a one-million dollar  libel suit against Ford for the article shown at right — which went to trial in 1927;
• Rather than take the witness stand, Ford preferred to settle, agreeing to stop publishing The Dearborn Independent and destroy all existing pamphlets containing the articles;
• While Ford lived up to his agreement, in 1949  there appeared a 174-page one-volume abridgment of the text under the title of “The International Jew” in England and the United States;
• Today, The International Jew can be read on the Internet and bought in bookstores, so Henry Ford seems to have won.

Note: We have been using the Noontide Press publication of The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.

Carolyn Yeager and Hadding Scott read and comment on Chapter 7, “Arthur Brisbane Leaps to the Help of Jewry.”

Image: Arthur Brisbane in his newspaper office in New York. He was one of the best-known editors of the 20th Century — becoming editor of William Randolf Hearst’s New York Journal and a close friend of Hearst. His syndicated column had an estimated daily readership of over 20 million.

Brisbane’s editorial of Sunday, June 20, 1920, titled “Facts: An Antidote to Prejudice,” is the subject of this chapter which appeared in Ford’s Dearborn Independent 2 weeks later on July 3, 1920.

Brisbane’s editorial can be read here, as a reprint in the Canadian Jewish Chronicle of July 2, 1920.  The front page of this edition of the Chronicle is also of interest, under “Poor Ford” where Henry Ford is described by the Jews as being either mentally unbalanced or mentally defective.

Note: We are using the Noontide Press publication of The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.

Carolyn Yeager and Hadding Scott complete Chapter Two, “Germany’s Reaction Against the Jew.” Pictured right: Henry Ford receives the Grand Cross of the German Eagle in 1938.

Next week:  Chapter Three, “Jewish History in the United States”

Note: We are using the Noontide Press publication of The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.

Carolyn Yeager and Hadding Scott give the context in which The Dearborn Independent was begun as the Ford International Weekly in 1919; who were the main players; and Ford’s likely motivations for carrying out the project.

In this first program, the Preface and Chapter One “The Jew in Character and Business”  were read and discussed. Next week, the completion of chapter one and Chapter Two “Germany’s Reaction Against the Jew” are scheduled.

Note: We are using the Noontide Press publication of The International Jew — The World’s Foremost Problem which can be found online here as a pdf file.