Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis: Something I think about a lot lately is how much Nazi support there actually was in the US and if things had gone slightly differently we would not have been calling ourselves the good guys of WWII

Something I think about a lot lately is how much Nazi support there actually was in the US and if things had gone slightly differently we would not have been calling ourselves the good guys of WWII

Posting this screenshot from the NYT archives for no particular reason

This is beyond the normalization of publications like the Times at the time. But the Times specifically was wrong on Hitler, wrong on MLK Jr, wrong on Ida B Wells, wrong on the famine in ukraine, wrong on weapons of mass destruction. Being wrong somehow isn't disqualifying.

Circling back I do wonder what would happen if we taught WWII history not as the US "boldly daring to do the right thing" but really ending up doing the right thing by the edge of a coin toss, and even then it wasn't like the country saw Jewish people as fully human.

it's just like Lincoln didn't set out to end slavery. He just realized he had to in order to save the country

Rachel Maddow’s book Prequel is quite good on the topic of how bad it was

The podcast is also great podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

‎Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra: Episode 1: Trip 19 on Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com ‎Show Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra, Ep Episode 1: Trip 19 - Oct 10, 2022

True, though Lincoln actually did hate slavery before that point. The liberals of FDR's time hated Hitler, but it was not a universal view in the USA.

Lincoln thought slavery was morally wrong but did not see himself as an abolitionist and did not think Black people deserved the same rights as white people. It is ok to be honest with his views.

The abolitionists were the radical firebrands of the day; he wasn't one of them, but he became the president of the anti slavery Republicans. His views on black civil rights seem to have become more liberal over time or perhaps he just felt safer expressing them.

Ive been watching the old UK “The World at War” docu from 1973 and the ep about the US starts off with a nazi rally in NYC populists making isolationist speeches and talking about the “America First” movement. It hit hard.

Also remember the US didn't namely enter the war against Germany to free Europe. They only did so after Hitler declared war on them on 11th December in the aftermath of Pearl Harbour. Hardly the cavalry riding to Europe's rescue they like to pretend.

Namely = gamely.

Haven't seen that in years. Can't recall at what point in the series the Holocaust comes up. Acknowledged before D-Day, or not until camps are liberated.

There's a Churchill quote from that time, something like "the Americans will do the right thing, after they have tried everything else". Ouch

We certainly didn’t allow Jewish refugees into the country. And though people want to blame FDR for that, the historical polls are damning. It was public opinion that kept Jewish refugees out.

The book Human Smoke does a great job of presenting the anti-semitism, isolationism, and fascist leanings of the United States in the lead-up to the U.S. finally entering the war.

People of Japanese descent also did not get treated right. And how about those cities we burned?

“Searching for the Good War” is flawed but the case it makes is compelling: the idea that the US got into the war to halt the holocaust is more a product of Spielberg revisionism than a common attitude of the time

Looking for the Good Warus.macmillan.com “A remarkable book, from its title and subtitle to its last words . . . A stirring indictment of American sentimentality about war.” —Robert G. Kaiser,...

Boldly jumping in just to make sure the socialists weren't the only winners

?

Their target audience is older affluent white men. Always has been. They remain a major paper by pandering them Older white folks I have known almost all said they agreed with MLK and most are lying. But the "paper of record" can't so easily erase its record of parroting them

What is it they say about Americans always doing the right thing?

That we do it when we've run out of opportunities to do the wrong thing?

Right. Or after exhausting every other possibility. People, even US politicians, love to attribute a quote along those lines to Churchill who never said anything like it.

A fun historical fact is that the German-supported Nazi Party in New York was basically destroyed by Jewish-led organized crime groups. www.tabletmag.com/sections/new...

Gangsters vs. Nazis: How the Jewish Mob fought American admirers of the Third Reichwww.tabletmag.com Emboldened by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, and fueled by the Great Depression, anti-Semitism increased throughout the United States, and over 100 anti-Semitic organizations sprung up acr...

who doesn't love a good mafia story? Sometimes I think what's wrong with NYC these days is the erosion of organized crime. (half kidding)

I have been obsessed with how mobsters fought fascists over the years since I first saw The Rocketeer as a kid. youtu.be/_D-Z0AA-7vQ?...

The Rocketeer - Naziyoutu.be

Ok fine! I'll watch it again! 😂I think I was too young when I watched it. I didn't really know anything about WWII itwas REALLY a work of fiction.

Who doesn't celebrate overcoming and defeating Nazi's??!!

Wow, I did not remember Paul Sorvino was in this. I have to rewatch it now.

And in LA a Jewish-led spy ring took down the Nazis trying to infiltrate the movie business and murder Louis B. Mayer, William Wyler, and a bunch of other prominent Hollywood Jews while the FBI was focused on Communists. www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

Pulitzer Finalist ‘Hitler in Los Angeles’ Optioned by ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ Producer (Exclusive)www.hollywoodreporter.com Chris Bremner is attached to adapt the true story of how an amateur spy ring foiled Nazi plots in Hollywood, including one to assassinate Charlie Chaplin and other stars.

Adding this to my reading list.

It's great! Changed my entire outlook and I started using those same techniques on local shitlords to great effect. Leon Lewis was a hero and it's awful watching Jonathan Greenblatt trample all over his proud legacy at the ADL

I have this crank theory my grandpa, a San Diego newspaper guy, was involved, but no real proof

The adjective “crank” is such a delight

My grandpa, a Los Angeles newspaper guy (he had the franchise for delivering about 10k of those things daily in Ventura County, for 40 years. He put his five kids through college on that too.)

amen amen

Will this movie ever get made?

🤷🏻‍♀️

👀

Where is the Netflix Limited Series?!? I mean…

You can always get a nod to this in the original Rocketeer movie!

The one with Billy Zane? I loved that movie as a kid

It holds up! I adore it.

I should try a rewatch now that I like know things

Same

Nah, it was Billy Campbell...and it's still an awesome film. Billy Zane was in THE PHANTOM, which was also a great, but underrated, film.

That's where I know the name Mayer Lansky from!!

they literally quote susan berman from hbos the jinx

Jewish gangsters in the UK also beat up a lot of fascists between the wars.