Role of New York Times and Its Publishers: Significant
Analysis of 'Jewish Attitudes' in Gay Talese's Study

Gay Talese, as a former New Jews who adhered to foreign cus-
York Times staff member. was in toms after settling in America,
an excellent position to gather the Jews who persisted in speaking
data that turned his story of the Yiddish along the street, who read
Times, The Kingdom and the Yiddish newspapers on trains and
Power"—a "story of the men who saw Jewishness in terms of a na-
influence the institution that in- tion or race rather than in terms
fluences the world"—into both a of a religion. Such Jews, he felt,
journalistic history and a history encouraged by their clannishness
of the era under discussion. and bigotry that kept them aliens,
This important study of a great disqualified them socially, stereo-
newspaper. published by World typed them commercially. made
Publishing Co.. has special value life not only more difficult for
for Jewish readers who are inter- them, but regrettably. also for the
ested in the attitudes of the Times more established Jews who had as-
publishers and editors on issues similated themselves and prospered
involving the Zionist movement. in America. He was equally critical
Israel and other Jewish matters. of the get-rich-quick Jews who dis-
Adolph Ochs. and Arthur Has played their wealth with ostenta-
Sulzberger's sensitivities about tion, if not vulgarity.
ADOLPH OCHS
"Throughout his lifetime to the
Jews and the Times are described
at the very outset in a volume year of his death, which came in And yet the old German-Jewish
attitude that George Ochs-Oakes
that takes into account the Jew- 1931 when he was 70. George Ochs
ishness of the publishers and Oakes (he had changed his name) expressed more than 30 years ago,
their concern that their paper overwhelmingly opposed the Zion- the disenchantment with American
be viewed as "Jewish." Early in ists and all other advocates of a Jews who dwelled on their Jewish-
bis historical analysis, Talese ex- Jewish state in Palestine. and this ness. the desire that Jews blend
plains, in the instance of one of view was also endorsed by Adolph into the American scene — this
the star reporters. the senior Ochs and for years it was part of thinking, on occasion still pervades
bullpen editor in the newsroom. the editorial policy of the New the hierarchy of the New York
Raymond H. McCaw, was con- York Times. When Arthur Hays Times.
"Veteran
reporters in the
cerned about Raskin's first name, Sulzberger became publisher of the
Times newsroom have long been
Abe. He asked for his middle Times he made speeches and state-
aware of higher management's
initial. suggesting the bylining ments urging Jews not to agitate
sensitivity to things Jewish. The
because it raised quietly a ques- for a Jewish Palestinian state. and
editing and handling of, stories
tion that would not have been in 1939 Sulzberger was among a
that are about Jews or are of
raised aloud in the New York group of influential Jews who
special interest to Jews is a bit
Times' newsroom. There was a urged President Roosevelt not ti
more delicate and cautious, if
feeiing among some Jewish re- appoint Felix Frankfurter to the
such is possible to perceive—
porters in the Thirties, however Supreme Court because they be-
and even it it is not, the report-
reluctant they were to discuss it lieved that it would intensify anti-
ers' mere supposition sustains
openly, that Ochs and Suzberger, Semitism in America, a notion that
some of the past 'consciousness
sensitive men, did not want the Roosevelt resented and ignored.
of George Ochs-Oakes. The New
"In 1946 the New York Times
Times to appear 'too Jewish' in
York Times does not wish to be
public, and one small result of canceled an advertisement submit-
thought of as a Jewish news-
this was the tendency of editors ted by the America League for a
paper. which indeed it is not, and
to sign stories with initials in Free Palestine. infuriating Zionists
it will bend over backwards to
place of such names as Abra- and causing Sulzberger to explain
prove this point; forcing itself at
at
length
while
the
New
York
ham: although, again, the re-
times into unnatural positions.
porters could not prove it and Times had in the past often run
contorted by compromise, bal-
they were wise to keep 'this the ads of organizations that itj
ancing both sides, careful not to
opposed editorially—it had previ-
theory to themselves."
offend, wishing to be accepted
Talese proceeds at this point to ously carried many Zionist •ads.
and respected for what it is—a
state: "To mention it to an editor Sulzberger reminded them, and
good citizens' newspaper, law-
might expose the reporter as an had even run advertising by the
abiding and loyal. solidly in sup- ,
ungrateful paranoiac. one who was Communist party: had in fact once
completely ignorant of the Times lent the Daily Worker newsprint
port of the best interests of the
policy against discrimination of when the Communist journal was
nation in peace and war.
any kind, to say nothing of the fact short of it—the derision to cancel
"That such a formidable institu-
that there were Christian staff the Zionist advertising on this oc- tion as the Times should be so
members who used initials, it be- casion was based first, on the lacking in arrogance. so weighed
ing quite customary in those days: Times' conviction that the Ameri- down by its sense of responsibility
and further, to make a Jewish is- can League for a Free Palestine and a fear of going one step too
sue of this trivial point might put was directly connected with one of far, may explain in part its sur-
a reporter in the same category the Jewish terrorist groups in the vival and strength and it may also
with those cranks and special-inter- Middle East: and second the anti- hint at a part of its vulnerability—
est groups who endlessly seek to British charges in the ad were not not only the vulnerability of the
embarrass the Times by doubting supportable by facts, and thus Jewish family that owns it but also
its purity. groups who charged Sulzberger said he could not be the vulnerability of the nation upon
consecutively through the Thirties responsible for the ill will that the which the family has hitched its
into the Sixties that the Times was advertisement in the Times would star. The anti-Semitic slights and
a tool of Wall Street. was pro-Brit- stir between Britain and the United subtleties beneath the surface of
ish, pro-German. anti-Labor. pro- States. 'We happen to believe that
America have. in one way or oth-
Communist, anti-Zionist. an apolo- the British are acting in good faith er, touched nearly every member
gist for the American State De- and not in bad faith.' Sulzberger of the family. extending even into
partment. wrote to one of the Zionist leaders. the third generation—Sulzberger's
*
*
'From our standpoint, therefore.
son, a Marine on his way to Korea,
Nevertheless, there is sufficient your advertisement is not true: but was turned away from a restricted
evidence later on to indicate the since there is no yardstick by resort in the Hope Sound, Florida;
anti-Zionist prejudices and to re- which truth of this kind can be a Sulzberger daughter in a girls'
seal the attitudes of the Ochs fam- proved. it means that we are put- private school in New York was
ily. The Talese story about the ting our judgment ahead of yours assumed to be a friend of the only
Times describes the family back- —something of which you will not other Jewish girl in the class (the
ground, tells about Adolph's inter- approve and which we do only two girls came to dislike one an-
esting younger brother George who with the greatest hesitancy.'
other rather quickly): George Ochs-
became active with him in the
- By the time that George Ochs- Oakes' son, John Oakes, a brilliant
publishing business and other Oakes' son, John Oakes, became student, was accepted within a
members of the family; about the influential on the New York Times, Jewish quota at the Lawrenceville
father Julius Ochs who was an the state of Israel had become a ; School.
officer in the Union Army and reality and the Times editorial
"Given these and similar inci-
Adolph's mother Bertha who "was page has been benerally friendly, dents, the fact that even the family
loyal to the South and was ac- to it in recent years, reaching a that owns the New York Times can
cused, with some justification, of high point in 1967 when during the; be subjected to such social scru-
being a Confederate spy."
Israeli-Arab war, the Times re- tiny, it is no wonder that there
George had drifted into politics. minded the United States govern - would be within the institution a t
served as mayor of Chattanooga ment of its commitment to defend sensitivity to Semitism and a fas-
and in relation to him and his in- the sovereignty and independence tidiousness about keeping the
fluence upOn Times policy Talese of Israel and even advocated the Times above reproach, untouched I
informs us:
intervention of American military by the prejudice within the nation."
"As a Jew, a German Jew, forces if the Israeli army needed ; • • •
George Ochs shared with some help, which, as things turned out,
The thoroughness with which
members of his family, and many it did not. The New York Times Talese has covered his subject
German Jews around the nation, news department has also main- makes it current history. Thus,
a feeling of superiority and dis- tamed for a number of years, and again from an especially important
affection toward the more recently and still maintains in the 1960s. a ' Jewish point of view, the incident
arrived Jewish immigrants from full-time reporter who specializes relating to the visit in New York
Eastern Europe — and, unlike in covering Jewish activities in of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia
Adolph. George was outspoken' on America. a very sensitive assign- who was snubbed by Mayor Lind-
this subject. While he sympathized ment whose aims include, accord- say and Governor Rockefeller adds
with their poverty and struggle. ing to one editor, keeping the New , to the deep interest in an evalua-!
George had little tolerance for York Zionists off Sulzberger's back. I tive work. The Times' editorial '

; Ochs' views on the Leo Frank case
in Atlanta. We are told that Ochs
1"believed in Frank's innocence,
I although !he gave the editors the
feeling that he was not impressed
Adolph Ochs' attitudes are note-
with Frank's character." He be-
worthy. There was the concern
lieved
Frank was the type of man
over politics, over the emerging
Nazi terror, the role of reporters ; who would have felt cheated "if
;
denied
the opportunity of making
and editors. (The erhinent corre-
spondent Frederick Birchall of the a speech from the scaffold . .
Times is quoted as having said: Ochs had hoped, however, that the
"Let me control the headlines and anti-Jewish feeling was not as
I shall not care who controls the intense as it was reported to be in
editorials.") It is in relation to Georgia. a place he claimed as a
some of these matters that Talese Southerner to understand. But his
judgment was abruptly shaken by
relates the following:
the news of the lynching of Frank,
"A subject that troubled Ochs and the fact that the leader of the
at this time was the anti-Semitism mob was a brother of a man who
that he personally began to feel was Ochs's personal friend."
through the hate mail that was.
• • •
reaching him in such volume that
An unusual amount of space is
he finally decided to post a guard
in the corridor leading to his office devoted also by Talese to the
Times' coverage of the case of the
and also to install two plainclothes-
men in the main lobby of the Jewish lad, Daniel Burros, who
joined the American Nazi Party,
Times building. The Times was
now being referred to in letters as who, when exposed, committed
suicide.
a "Jewish newspaper," and one
Coverage of news in Russia, in
day in 1915 Ochs warned his city
editor. Arthur Greaves, not to give Poland, in Israel and the roles of
too much space to the American distinguished correspondents like
Jewish Committee's call for a Harrison Salisbury, Meyer Berger,
campaign to aid Jews in the war David Ilalberstam, A. M. Rosen-
zones of Europe. 'I don't approve thal and others, receive interest-
of it,' Ochs said. 'They work to ing analyses, but, surprisingly,
preserve the characteristics and there is no mention of the "popu-
traditions of the Jew. making him lar Jewish reporter, 'Pat' Spie-
a man apart from other min. gel."
and then complain that he is
"The Kingdom and the Power"
treated differently from other is a most significant work—as a
men. I am interested in the Jew- history of journalism, as commen-
ish religion — I want to see that tary on the attitude of Jews who
preserved—but that's as far as I ow ned a great instrument that
want to go. There's Brandeis.' molds and molded public opinion,
Ochs continued. 'He's become a who emphasized their religious af-
professional Jew. A few years ago filiations but were anxious to be
hardly anybody knew he was a anti-Zionist and to emphasize their
Jew. He had never taken part in assimilationist tendencies. —P.S.
any Jewish movement. When
President Wilson was forming a
Talmudist Israel Lewy
cabinet and somebody told him he
Talmudist Israel Lewy (1841-1917)
ought to have one Jew on it, and lectured on the Talmud at the Ber-
suggested Brandeis for Attorney lin Hochschule fur die Wissen-
General. Wilson said. 'But he isn't schaft des Judentums from 1872 un-
a Jew.' And when Brandeis heard ; til 1883, when he transferred to the
that, he apparently resolved to be- Breslau Rabbinical Seminary. He
come Jewish."
remained there until his death. His
Considerable space is devoted in critical approach influenced scien-
Talese's book to the Times' and tific study on the Talmud.

position, the vast news coverage,
revive a story of significance in
relation to American interest in
the Middle East.

28 Friday, September 12, 1969

—

THE DETROIT JEWISH MEWS

Wishing You
A Very Happy and Healthy New Year

A-OK
PEST CONTROL SERVICE, INC.

862-3200

E. John Klein

HOLIDAY GREETINGS

TO OUR MANY FRIENDS
AND CUSTOMERS

HANK'S CUSTOM CLOTHES

15850 W. 7 MILE

835-2999

Happy New Year to Our
Friends and Patrons

FRIGID FOOD
PRODUCTS, INC.

William R. Roth and Sons

.1599 East Warren

TEl

