Editing America First Committee (section)

==Antisemitism, Lindbergh, and other extremists==
"Seeking to brand itself as a mainstream organization, America First struggled with the problem of anti-Semitism of some of its leaders and many of its members", according to the historian Dunn.<ref name="dunn-66"/> The group had some Jewish members at the outset: Sears heir and philanthropist [[Lessing J. Rosenwald]] was on the national committee; former California congresswoman [[Florence Prag Kahn]] was a member; and the first publicity director for the New York chapter was Jewish.<ref name="dunn-66"/> However, the automotive pioneer and infamous anti-Semite [[Henry Ford]] had joined the national committee at the same time as Rosenwald, which soon led to Rosenwald resigning.<ref name="cole-1953-132-133">Cole 1953, pp 132–133</ref> In response, America First removed Ford from the national committee and also removed from it [[Avery Brundage]], whose [[1936 Summer Olympics#Controversies|actions at the 1936 Berlin Olympics]] were associated with anti-Semitism.<ref name="dunn-66"/> Attempts by America First to recruit other Jewish people to the national committee found no takers.<ref name="cole-1953-132-133"/> As Dunn writes, "the problem of anti-Semitism remained; some chapter leaders spewed anti-Semitic accusations, while others invited anti-Semitic speakers to address their members."<ref name="dunn-66"/> America First tried to keep some distance between itself and the popular radio priest and fascist sympathizer [[Father Coughlin]].<ref>Cole 1953, pp 134–138</ref>

The world-famous American aviator [[Charles Lindbergh]] was admired in Germany and was allowed to see the buildup of the German air force, the [[Luftwaffe]], in 1937. He was impressed by its strength and secretly reported his findings to the General Staff of the [[United States Army]], warning them that the U.S. had fallen behind and that it must urgently build up its aviation.<ref>{{cite book|author=James Duffy|title=Lindbergh vs. Roosevelt: The Rivalry That Divided America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rAiVCRELHsQC&pg=PA76|year=2010|publisher=Regnery|pages=76–77|isbn=9781596981676}}</ref> Lindbergh, who had feuded with the Roosevelt administration for years,<ref>Cole 1974, pp 124–130</ref> delivered his first radio speech on September 15, 1939, through all three major radio networks.<ref name="olson"/> Voicing his belief that people of Northern and Western European descent were the safeguards of civilization against Asia (which included the Soviet Union),<ref>Cole 1974, pp 78–81</ref> his speech argued that instead of fighting, all of Europe and the United States should "defend the white race against foreign invasion".<ref name="olson">{{Cite book |last=Olson |first=Lynne |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/797334548 |title=Those angry days : Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's fight over World War II, 1939-1941 |date=2013 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-4000-6974-3 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=69–72 |oclc=797334548}}</ref>

For the first half of America First's 15 months of existence, the group and Lindbergh kept at arm's length from each other, as Stuart was leery of being too closely associated with some of the extreme views of Lindbergh's circle, while for his part the aviator preferred to act independently.<ref>Cole 1974, pp 118–119</ref> Wood, however, wanted to bring Lindbergh on, and on April 10, 1941, it was agreed that Lindbergh would join the national committee, with the aviator's first rally appearance taking place on April 17 at the [[Chicago Arena]].<ref>Cole 1974, pp 119–121, 123</ref>

Once he did join,<ref name="starr"/> Lindbergh became America First's most prominent speaker.<ref name="deconde"/> His involvement significantly increased rally attendance and organization membership, but it also greatly increased the level of criticism that America First faced from interventionists and from the Roosevelt administration.<ref>Cole 1974, pp 122–124</ref>

On June 20, 1941, Lindbergh spoke to 30,000 people in Los Angeles and billed it as a "Peace and Preparedness Mass Meeting". Lindbergh criticized the movements that he perceived were leading America into the war and proclaimed that the U.S. was in a position that made it virtually impregnable. He also claimed that the interventionists and the British who called for  "the defense of England" really meant "the defeat of Germany."<ref>{{cite book|author=Louis Pizzitola|title=Hearst Over Hollywood: Power, Passion, and Propaganda in the Movies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KW7ago9Wo3MC&pg=PA401|year=2002|publisher=Columbia UP|page=401|isbn=9780231116466}}</ref><ref>Cole 1974, p 9</ref>

<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Senator Shipstead and Charles Lindbergh. America First Committe meeting.jpg|thumb|Senator Shipstead second from left with Charles Lindbergh far right at America First Commitee meeting, in Minnesota, May 10th, 1941.]] -->[[File:Charles Lindbergh speaking at America First rally.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Charles Lindbergh speaking at an America First Committee rally in [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], in early October 1941]]

A speech that Lindbergh delivered to a rally in [[Des Moines, Iowa]], on September 11, 1941, may have significantly raised tensions. He identified the forces pulling America into the war as the British, the Roosevelt administration, and [[American Jews]]. While he expressed sympathy for the plight of the Jews in Germany, he argued that America's entry into the war would serve them little better:

{{blockquote|It is not difficult to understand why Jewish people desire the overthrow of Nazi Germany. The persecution they suffered in Germany would be sufficient to make bitter enemies of any race. No person with a sense of the dignity of mankind can condone the persecution the Jewish race suffered in Germany. But no person of honesty and vision can look on their pro-war policy here today without seeing the dangers involved in such a policy, both for us and for them.

Instead of agitating for war the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way, for they will be among the first to feel its consequences. Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength. History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation. A few farsighted Jewish people realize this and stand opposed to intervention. But the majority still do not. Their greatest danger to this country lies in their large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio, and our government.<ref>Cole 1953, p. 144</ref>}}Many condemned the speech as [[Antisemitism|antisemitic]]. Journalist [[Dorothy Thompson]] wrote for the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'' an opinion that many shared: "I am absolutely certain that Lindbergh is pro-Nazi."<ref name="atl-af-2017"/> Republican presidential candidate [[Wendell Willkie]] criticized the speech as "the most un-American talk made in my time by any person of national reputation."<ref name=":0" /> In the end, Lindbergh's remarks hurt the cause of the isolationists.<ref name="lafeber"/>

During the period after Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had signed the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact|Molotov–Ribbentrop non-aggression pact]], most American Communists were opposed to the United States entering World War II, and they tried to infiltrate or take over America First.<ref>{{cite book|author=Selig Adler|title=The isolationist impulse: its twentieth-century reaction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G2UqAAAAYAAJ|year=1957|pages=269–70, 274|publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780837178226}}</ref>{{Verify source|date=June 2022}} After June 1941, when [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] launched [[Operation Barbarossa]], the invasion of the Soviet Union, they reversed positions and denounced the AFC as a Nazi [[front organization|front]], a group infiltrated by [[Nazi Germany|German]] agents.<ref>[[Albert E. Kahn|Kahn, A. E.]], and M. Sayers. ''[http://www.shunpiking.com/books/GC/ The Great Conspiracy: The Secret War Against Soviet Russia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090412211409/http://www.shunpiking.com/books/GC/ |date=2009-04-12 }}''. 1st ed. Boston: [[Little, Brown and Co.]], 1946, chap. XXIII (American Anti-Comintern), part 5: Lone Eagle, pp. 365-378. Kahn, A.E., and M. Sayers. [https://www.questia.com/read/3580839?title=The%20Plot%20against%20the%20Peace%3a%20A%20Warning%20to%20the%20Nation! ''The Plot against the Peace: A Warning to the Nation!'']. 1st ed. New York: [[Dial Press]], 1945, chap. X (In the Name of Peace), pp. 187-209.</ref> Nazis also tried to use the committee. The aviator and orator [[Laura Ingalls (aviator)|Laura Ingalls]]' pro-Nazi rhetoric and straight-armed Nazi salutes on her America First speaking tour worried the group's leadership, but they allowed her to continue because of praise from local chapters where she had spoken.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Jeansonne |first=Glen |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/33043098 |title=Women of the far right : the mothers' movement and World War II |date=1996 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |others=Mazal Holocaust Collection |isbn=0-226-39587-1 |location=Chicago, Ill. |pages=68–69 |oclc=33043098}}</ref><ref>''New York Times'', December 18, 1941, "Laura Ingalls Held as Reich Agent:  Flier Says She Was Anti-Nazi Spy".</ref> When Ingalls was arrested in December 1941 and put on trial for being an unregistered Nazi agent, the prosecution revealed that her handler, German diplomat Ulrich Freiherr von Gienanth, had encouraged her to participate in AFC activities.<ref name=":1" /> In addition to Ingalls, who was convicted, another America First speaker would be convicted for failing to register as a Japanese agent.<ref name="dunn-237">Dunn, p 237</ref>

Various historians have described attempts to keep Nazi and fascist sympathizers out of its chapters as not always successful.<ref name="dunn-237" /> Historian [[Alexander DeConde]] wrote, "Most of the America First supporters were middlewestern Republicans who distrusted the President for various reasons, but it was not a purely sectional organization or partisan political movement. Thousands of sincere Americans of varied background and from both political parties joined and contributed to it. It also attracted support from a number of fringe hate organizations, from anti-Semites, and from Nazi sympathizers. This minority support tarnished its reputation."<ref name="deconde"/> Author [[Max Wallace]] argues that by the summer of 1941, "extremist elements had successfully hijacked the movement".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wallace |first=Max |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51454223 |title=The American axis : Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the rise of the Third Reich |date=2003 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-29022-5 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=279–281 |oclc=51454223}}</ref>