History Unfolded: US Newspapers and the Holocaust

Headline: In The American Tradition

Publication Date: Monday, February 20, 1939
Historical Event: American Nazis Rally in New York City
This database includes 1,208 articles about this event
Tags: Gannett full page downloadable; Public Responses in America; Racism and Antisemitism in America
Article Type: Editorial or Opinion Piece
Newspaper: The Akron Beacon Journal
Location: Akron, Ohio
Page Section and Number: 4
Author/Byline: --
Article Text: Americans who believe in free speech can be divided into two groups: those who demand free speech for everyone; those who demand it for themselves and deny it to all who don't agree with them.

Mayor La Guardia of New York has long been one of the most vocal members of the first classification. He proves it all over again by refusing to stop a pro-Nazi rally of the German-American Bund to be held in Madison Square Garden tonight. Pressure was brought by religious and patriotic organizations, but the stumpy little mayor's answer was that to prevent the meeting would be granting "the kind of free speech they have in Fascist countries."

We applaud the mayor. He has shown himself to be a true champion of free speech. Rightly, he understands that hateful as are the doctrines of Naziism, to suppress their expression is not the way to fight them. The only way under our democratic system is to permit their exponents to say what they will and then to demolish their arguments with the light of reason. Mayor La Guardia is well within the American tradition with his refusal to intervene.
History Unfolded Contributor: Marlene K.
Location of Research: Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com)