Dearborn Mayor Suppressing Publication of Article on Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism

[Lowell]

From DeadlineDetroit...

A cover story on Henry Ford’s anti-Semitism, tied to the 100-year anniversary of Ford’s purchase of a weekly newspaper in Dearborn to serve as an amplifier for his beliefs, has apparently prompted Mayor John B. “Jack” O’Reilly to order that the issue not be mailed to its subscribers.[[The story was posted on Deadline Detroit last Friday.)


O’Reilly ordered a new cover be printed, without the quote. McGraw said he understands the entire issue will be tossed.

As a publication of the City of Dearborn, the mayor holds that privilege, McGraw said. Neither the city’s public information officer, nor McGraw’s supervisor at the historical museum, returned calls for comment.

Bill McGraw is popular former longtime Detroit Free Press journalist, writer, Detroit historian and Dearborn resident. Many of this forum will know him for his outstanding Detroit Almanac. He was recently appointed editor of the Dearborn Historian.

Revealing interviews on the issue with McGraw have just been aired by WUOM's Stateside [jump to minute 13:00] and WDET's Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson. [link coming]

I find the Mayor's action to be a gross overreaction and suppression of free discourse that will rightly blow up in his political face, making him look small and petty, maybe worse. The Mayor's actions have already given wings to the story. His best course is to reverse course and say "but of course..."

[JBMcB]

It's disgraceful that a sitting mayor would involve themselves with the publishing of a historical newsletter. It shouldn't have even passed his desk. There's nothing better to do?

On the other hand, if a publication is an organ of the government, this type of things is going to happen. Everything becomes politicized when it's in the government's hands.

[Wesley Mouch]

It's disgraceful that a sitting mayor would involve themselves with the publishing of a historical newsletter. It shouldn't have even passed his desk. There's nothing better to do?

A mayor who pays attention to all things is bad?

I will bet that there's much more to this story. Did the mayor just happen to come across this cover page? Or was there internal debate before he made his decision? That's what executives do. They make decisions on appropriate execution of public policy.

First, the publication of this information wasn't SUPPRESSED. It was stopped. Anyone else may publish this fact at in print or online. Its true Ford was anti-Semitic.

Second, truth does not make an affirmative need for the City's historical publication to feature it on their cover.

Third, if you told me that the Mayor removed the paragraphs from a story about this, it would be a different story.

On the other hand, if a publication is an organ of the government, this type of things is going to happen. Everything becomes politicized when it's in the government's hands.

So third, the choice of cover art and copy is most certainly political. This wasn't a neutral choice by the editor. It may be that they Mayor was in fact de-politicizing the cover. I don't know what's in his mind [[as I'm not a progressive), but its reasonable to thing that the cover of the publication not be a political statement.

[[In case its not obvious, Trump's political POV has echoes of that of Ford, Chas. Lindberg and many other politicians and leaders of the past.)

Summary: the Mayor is the final editor of the paper -- and he made a reasonable decision to 'suppress' publication of political speech in what should be a non-political organ.

[JBMcB]

A mayor who pays attention to all things is bad?

If he's vetting the cover page of the city's historical newsletter, then yeah, he's micromanaging a bit.

I will bet that there's much more to this story. Did the mayor just happen to come across this cover page? Or was there internal debate before he made his decision? That's what executives do. They make decisions on appropriate execution of public policy.

I'm sure someone brought it to his attention. This should have nothing to do with the executive of the city. Ideally, the historical commission, or whomever publishes the newsletter, should also have nothing to do with the government. It should be a standalone entity.

I don't see running museums and publishing historical newsletters as core functions of a city government, as they will inevitably turn political, which is not the function of such a body.

[Seven&wyo]

https://youtu.be/SJVAkXtG8M8
They gave the story to family guy and it made into an episode. I for one am triggered

[preserve]

People didn't already know about this?

[Lowell]

People didn't already know about this?

I'm sure most up in here do, but a lot don't. I certainly didn't learn it about until sometime beyond my university years.

The suppressed article marked the 100th anniversary of Ford's acquisition of the Dearborn paper. It is a hugely significant event due wide influence it led to when its anti-Semitic articles were condensed into the four volume "The International Jew" which was translated into 12 languages and over 200,000 copies were distributed.

Significantly it was never copyrighted allowing anyone to copy and distribute it royalty free. Its influence on leading German Nazi's from Hitler on down is well-documented and its online revival by anti-Semitic outlets continues the spread of its venom.

Ford did make some weak disavowals and never called for violence against Jews, but it is a dark chapter in his checkered story.

[softailrider]

People didn't already know about this?

I thought it was pretty much common knowledge. HF just about got a free pass on his anti- semitism. An American icon in spite of all that.

[Meddle]

Can anybody say 'Orville'?

[Lowell]

Can anybody say 'Orville'?

In the interviews, linked in first post of thread, McGraw cites the removal and replacement of the Hubbard statue, at ground level and no longer on a pedestal, and Dearborn's coming to terms with that ugly past.

[313WX]

Can anybody say 'Orville'?

Only if you can say "Hubbard."

[Meddle]

And yet ..... maybe not so 'past'?

[Bong-Man]

Pretty well known historical fact that Adolph Hitler viewed Henry as a bit of a hero, and that included a portrait of Ford in his office.

[Richard]

Henry was not alone,most countries felt the same way back then,they knew what hitlers goals were,until he attacked Poland it did not bother them because it was just Jews and Gypsies.

Standard oil supplied the fuel and chemicals for the luftwaffe in order to attack Britain.

I do not see any difference in the mayor suppressing history then in the past few years of the country trying to remove the history that offends them.

We cannot really pick and choose on what history we preserve it all needs to be known,the good,bad and ugly .

There have been libraries all across the country purging the shelves of books that people view as offensive,people seem to agree with it though and embracing going down that path.

But with it being Dearborn

Seventy years after the liberation of Auschwitz, two-thirds of the world's population don't know the Holocaust happened—or they deny it.

When the data is sliced by religious groups, the results are even more surprising: Hindus were most likely to believe that the number of Holocaust deaths has been exaggerated. Muslims followed closely, and those two groups were distantly trailed by Christians, Buddhists, and those with no religion. In no coincidence, Hindus and Muslims were also significantly less likely to have heard of the Holocaust.

https://www.theatlantic.com/internat...eniers/370870/

[archfan]

...
There have been libraries all across the country purging the shelves of books that people view as offensive,people seem to agree with it though and embracing going down that path.
...

I hadn't heard that - which libraries?

[archfan]

The Deadline Detroit article said the magazine's circulation was around 240. By suppressing the issue, it got an exponentially larger audience. Silly censor.

[EastsideAl]

The Deadline Detroit article said the magazine's circulation was around 240. By suppressing the issue, it got an exponentially larger audience. Silly censor.

As with so many attempts to censor, the censors just served to amplify the thing they were trying to censor. In this case it's doubly stupid, because the story of Henry Ford's anti-semitism is quite well known. The only place where it is still a shocking revelation that can't be publicly aired must be Dearborn Michigan.

[Zacha341]

Yep, those promoting such are endorsing the same form of fascism they eschew.

Even when they do it in the name of eh' tolerance. That's how it starts. We know historically where this leads!

There have been libraries all across the country purging the shelves of books that people view as offensive,people seem to agree with it though and embracing going down that path.

[poobert]

Yep, those promoting such are endorsing the same form of fascism they eschew.

Even when they do it in the name of eh' tolerance. That's how it starts. We know historically where this leads!

The poster of this has not offered any evidence that libraries are suppressing books. Neither have you.

[Richard]

The poster of this has not offered any evidence that libraries are suppressing books. Neither have you.

Outside of doing a search for book banning,you can go here and use the little drop down menu for books banned by the year.

https://www.marshall.edu/LIBRARY/ban...efault2018.asp

Some examples are

The Harry Potter series.
The Great Gatsby
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Holy bible
The Tarzan series [[ he was living in sin with Jane)
Romeo and Juliet
The last 5 books with Curious George.
Pretty much anything by Shakespeare.

Its the Internet,a quick search opens up a plethora of options.

Thats okay though,I also get grumpy when people text me at 2 am,even worse when 99% of the time it is a scam from another countries time zone.

[poobert]

Outside of doing a search for book banning,you can go here and use the little drop down menu for books banned by the year.

https://www.marshall.edu/LIBRARY/ban...efault2018.asp

Some examples are

The Harry Potter series.
The Great Gatsby
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Holy bible
The Tarzan series [[ he was living in sin with Jane)
Romeo and Juliet
The last 5 books with Curious George.
Pretty much anything by Shakespeare.

Its the Internet,a quick search opens up a plethora of options.

Thats okay though,I also get grumpy when people text me at 2 am,even worse when 99% of the time it is a scam from another countries time zone.

You just quoted books that were historically challenged or banned. The top challenged- not banned - book from the site you provided for last year was temporarily removed from a school library shelves after a youth suicide. There are no books currently banned beyond a removal at a local level in the United States. To me, that is quite different than, say, a Nazi book burning but that is analytical thinking for you.

[Wesley Mouch]

The poster of this has not offered any evidence that libraries are suppressing books. Neither have you.

Banning books is the father of deplatforming. There is no doubt that all our curators of content [[Mayors, teachers, librarians, marketers, publicists, journalists, bloggers) all curate content. Those in power make decisions that they feel are appropriate for a higher-purpose.

From our Canadian friends, I present this current day 'banning'

The Ontario Peel District School Board is encouraging its staff not to teach the American classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird to students, saying it’s racist and that its language and message is harmful to black students, according to a memo sent to staff.

As reported by the National Post, the school board says it isn’t banning the novel outright, but is instead asking teachers who want to teach the book to discuss their lesson plan with their principal first. When deciding on the text, the memo asks teachers to consider if they’ve studied race and racism, and have “done the work or engaged in activities to reveal/interrogate [their] biases.”

see Global News article

The last sentence kindly tells any teacher who might want to assign the book that they are 'biased'.

Banning has been banned. So the new banning is much more subtle. Its wrapped in 'bias', 'hard' and 'racism'. The effect is pretty much the same. Control of media. Old story. Needs to be fought at all corners by all of us regardless of our politics.

Back to our thread, the mayor isn't banning anything. He's not suppressing anything. I've argued that the mayor may just be 'editing'. That said, it is appropriate to watch out for suppression, banning and deplatforming. I'd encourage the mayor to publish the article online on their historical website. There's no need to hide Ford's anti-Jewish words and deeds. But it hardly needs to be shouted by the front page of any city publication either.

[Pat001]

The horse is kinda out of the barn regarding Henry Ford's antisemitism. Hitler had a portrait of Henry hanging in his personal study and awarded Henry the Grand Cross of the German Eagle - a medal Hitler gave out to civilians. Good luck suppressing that.

[Honky Tonk]

The horse is kinda out of the barn regarding Henry Ford's antisemitism. Hitler had a portrait of Henry hanging in his personal study and awarded Henry the Grand Cross of the German Eagle - a medal Hitler gave out to civilians. Good luck suppressing that.

Fidel sent John F. Kennedy a couple of boxes of Cuba's finest cigars. Your point being?

[Zacha341]

Hah! Poli-tricks make strange bedfellows! The same thing is going on now!!!

Fidel sent John F. Kennedy a couple of boxes of Cuba's finest cigars. Your point being?