Presaging the agency's activist support for legislation to end racial discrimination, ADL files an amicus brief in Brown v. explicitly sought to foment anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments.Īs anti-Communist fervor and conspiracy sweep the country, ADL is a premier opponent of character assassinations, culminating in President Dwight Eisenhower's historic 1953 televised speech, during ADL's 40th Anniversary celebration, denouncing Senator Joseph McCarthy. Board of Education, a church-state separation case, opposing the constitutionality of released time to allow students to attend religious instruction in public school classrooms.ĪDL publishes the 1952 exposé, The Troublemakers, documenting how Arab propaganda in the U.S. The following year, ADL files a brief in McCollum v. Kraemer, the High Court supports ADL's view that restrictive housing covenants are unconstitutional and therefore unenforceable. Increasingly, the FBI and the media turn to ADL for its expertise.ĪDL files its first amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief with the U.S. In an important sign of ADL's growing effectiveness and stature, Henry Ford, who previously promoted antisemitic propaganda, sends a letter in January 1942 to ADL National Chair Sigmund Livingston expressing a belief "that the hate-mongering prevalent for some time in this country against the Jews, is a distinct disservice to our country, and to the peace and welfare of humanity."ĪDL launches massive research operations to uncover Nazi supporters and hate groups in the U.S., making its findings available to government agencies in Washington, D.C. joins the war against the Axis powers, ADL bolsters support by promoting unity among Americans of all backgrounds in the fight to defeat totalitarianism. After ADL's intervention, The Associated Press promises "not to bring racial or religious prejudice into our reports."Īs the U.S. that portray Russian Bolshevik revolutionaries with Jewish stereotypes. Army training manual advises that Jews are "more apt to malinger than the native born." Following ADL protests, the manual is promptly destroyed on orders of President Woodrow Wilson.ĪDL objects to political cartoons in the U.S. In one of its first anti-bias actions, ADL distributes a memo signed by the publisher of The New York Times to his media peers, discouraging "objectionable and vulgar" media references to Jews.Įven a U.S. When the Governor reduces his death sentence to life in prison, a hate-filled mob - including many influential community leaders - drags Frank from his prison cell and lynches him.Īs World War I breaks out, negative stereotypes about Jews abound. Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman, is convicted of the rape and murder of a 13-year-old female employee, after a trial defined by antisemitism. Newspapers, books and plays frequently depict Jews with crude stereotypes.Īgainst this backdrop of bigotry and intolerance, Chicago attorney Sigmund Livingston puts forward a bold idea - to create an organization with a mission "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people, and to secure justice and fair treatment to all." ADL is founded with the clear understanding that the fight against one form of prejudice cannot succeed without battling prejudice in all forms. The Jewish community in the United States faces rampant antisemitism and overt discrimination.
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