I ('

Purely Commentary

Marion K. Sanders produced a remark-
ably good biography in "Dorothy Thompson
—A Legend in Her Time" (Houghton Mifflin
Co.). The exciting periods during which she
was on the scene as foreign correspondent,
columnist, even as propagandist; the con-
troversies in which she played significant
roles; her courage in fighting Nazism; her
p r o - Zionism
a n d eventual
animosity t o
the movement.
There is
splendid c o v-
erage of all is-
sues that in-
volved her, in-
cluding h e r
m•riages and
h e r personal
torments — all
are adequate-
ly related by
the able biog-
Dorothy Thompson
rapher.
So complicated was this life in many
respetts, so vital the issues that affected
her attitudes and involved her contro-
versially, that Miss Sanders' life story of
a distinguished personality raises additional
questions of a social nature.
For a full appreciation of the shock that
came when Dorothy Thompson, who for
years had carried the banner of justice for
the Jew and suddenly became an antagon-
ist, Miss Sanders' "Dorothy Thompson"
serves a valuable purpose.
Dorothy Thompson was all she was
trumped up to be—a courageous battler for
many causes, an able writer, the "Blue-
Eyed Tornado," and she could even be de-
scribed as having been a good politician.
She certainly was able to make friends—in
her circle were many of the leading per-
sonalities in journalism, world affairs, the
theater—just as, in later years, she was
equally adept at making enemies.
It is worth noting that Miss Sanders
delved into all available sources and has
conferred with the family and friends of
the Thompsons. This biography details how
the heroine came into contact with Zionists
very early. She befriended many of them
on her trip abroad on the SS Finland in
1920, and Barbara De Porte, who was soon
to marry the distinguished writer and Re-
visionist Zionist leader, Meir Grossman,
was one of her close friends.
It was on the 1920 trip that she be-
friended Prof. Max Radin, Dr. David De-
Sola Pool—(she referred to him as "with
out doubt the handsomest man I ever laid
eyes on")—and others.
Joseph Schlossberg, the labor and Zion-
ist leader, was another of the distinguished
personalities Dorothy met through the fu-
ture Mrs. Grossman. Louis Untermeyer is
among the many who have a role in this
story.
'Many others crossed her path—Ludwig
Lewisohn, for example, appears on the scene
briefly, as do many others.
She was a great admirer of Chaim Weiz-
mann, and they became devoted friends. She
spoke of him frequently, wrote about him,
praised him as one of the world's greatest
personalities. Yet the break came and after
battling Nazism during the entire Second
World War, after propagandizing for Zion-
ism for a number of years, she became a
supporter of the American Council for Ju-
daism and an extremist in the anti-Zionist
ranks.
In 1943 she delivered an impassioned
address—"I Speak as a Christian . . . " at
the 26th anniversary celebration of the Bal-
four Declaration, in Carnegie Hall, New
York.
On Dec. 18, 1944, she addressed a pri-
vate party for the Weizmann Institute, at
the Waldorf Astoria in New York, in behalf
of the Weizmann Institute, and her address
was devoted to praising Chaim Weizmann
and the Zionist ideas he propagated.
A year later she was on the anti-Zionist
bandwagon.
Miss Sanders' biography quotes exten-
sively from "Meyer Weisgal . . . So Far,"
the autobiography of the former president
of the Weizmann Institute and Weizmann's
closest associate. Quoted among other ref-
erences to Dorothy Thompson in the Weis-
gal records is the incident about the "Pour
out Thy wrath" portion of the Passover
Hagada. It referred to a seder Dorothy at-
tended with Weizmann at Weisgal's home.

2 Friday, August 10, 1973

—

Tragedy of Philo-Semite Turned Antagonist of Zionism
and Israel . . . The Dorothy Thompson Roles as Pro-Jewish
Libertarian Who Scured and Joined Ranks of the Enemies

In our review of the Weisgal book (Jewish his memoir: 'Active Jewish 'leaders de-
News, March 10, 1972) we quoted the inci- cried, sneered and then attacked me as if
dent in full. thus:
I were a traitor. At one dinner party I was
"In 1943 Dorothy contributed the out- openly accused of furthering the plan of
standing essay on Weizmann in the book J freer immigration in order to undermine
edited. At about that time, or a little be- political Zionism.' Ernst attributed this op-
fore, Weizmann and Dorothy celebrated a position to what he called 'the fanatical
seder—one of several—in our house. Dr. emotional vested interest in putting over
Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of the Recon- the Palestinian movement' and to the exi-
structionist movement, had published a new gencies of fund raising. 'To raise millions
version of the Hagada, and had sent us is not too hard so long as solicitors can say,
copies for the celebrants. One of the star- "These bedeviled Jews of Europe have no-
tling innovations in this revised version of where else to go but Palestine," ' he wrote.
the ancient document was the omission of But this argument became academic when
the thunderous denunciation of the heathens neither America nor any other nation
who had destroyed Jacob throughout the opened its doors to the remnant of Europe-
ages: Shphoch chamoscho; nour forth Thy an Jewry. Israel, in the end, was the only
wrath upon the heathens, who knew Thee place where they could hope for a life of
not.' When Weizmann came to the spot dignity and usefulness. And as this be-
where this should have been, he insisted on came apparent, the idea of a Jewish state
finding an authentic copy and reading it drew the support of many Jews and non-
out. After a considerable to-do, Shirley Jews who had never previously been pro-
produced one from among her. father's wine- Zionist."
stained "hymnals,' and Weizmann, as it
When Dorothy Thompson joined the
were, restored the passage—which he knew anti-Zionist ranks she became aligned with
by heart anyway. Greatly nuzzled by this such antagonists to the Jewish cause as
procedure, Dorothy asked: 'Chaim, what is the Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick and Vir-
this all about?' Very carefully he translated ginia Gildersleeve.
it, saying: 'This is for you, my dear.' In the
(The anti-Israel and anti-Zionist activ-
light of what was to happen to Dorothy ities of leading Protestants was outlined in
later, his words were prophetic."
The Jewish News' review of Dr. Hertzel
Weisgal Afended her unqualifiedly and Fishman's "American Protestantism and a
in the tribute to her he is quoted as calling Jewish State"—a Wayne State University
her "the most striking woman whose path Press volume—June 8, 1973).
ever crossed mine . . . a victim of both
her emotions and her capabilities; a true
Dorothy Thompson must have been in-
victim in the clasSic sense."
fluenced by Vincent Sheean who became
an anti-Zionist during a mission to Pales-
The Thompson pro-Zionist attitudes con- tine as early as 1921. Weisgal believes there
tinued, until her visit in Palestine in 1945 was a Zionist antagonism that drove her to
and her about-face which led her into anti- her extreme enmity. He met with her even
Zionist ranks after more than two decades during the years of her campaigning against
of closest association with Zionism and Israel and the Zionist cause and he was
Zionist leaders.
among those who paid her final tribute.
Miss Sanders describes the reactions to
The death of her third husband, Maxim
her new attitudes, the rebukes to her also Kopf, (she was married also to Josef Bard,
from the New York Post which was pub- who was Jewish, and Sinclair Lewis), July
lishing her columns, and she states: "Dor- 9, 1958, put a damper on the Thompson
othy was convinced—and Weisgal agrees— residence in Twin Farms. In the chapter
that American Zionist groups mounted an recording the sadness that set in then—
organized campaign against her." She re- Dorothy herself died in 1961—Miss Sanders
ceived a "cautionary letter," according to wrote:
Miss Sanders, from Ted 0. Thackrey, edi-
"According to Meyer Weisgal, one of
tor of the NYPost, and Dorothy wrote to the 'errors of judgment' that she now ad-
him on Nov. 3, 1946:
mitted was her turnabout on the question
"I cannot imagine that anyone with a of Israel, which they discussed far into the
knowledge of my past would believe that night on his last visit to Twin Farms shortly
I am vastly more disturbed by persecutions after Maxim's death. Weisgal urged her to
of Germans than of Nazi victims . . . I use her influence to advance a peace resolu-
am concerned, however, that persecution tion of the (Middle East) conflict. In his
should ease and prosecution take its place memoir, 'Meyer Weisgal . . . So far,' he
. . . I am greatly perturbed about the be- wrote, 'This was one of the rare occasions
havior and propaganda of some Zionists, in our friendship when she was absolutely
or self appointed leaders or spokesmen for silent for a long, long time. When she spoke
the Zionist movement, specifically the (Pe- at last it was to say slowly, 'Meyer, what
ter) Bergson (also known as Hillel Kook) you have said has touched me very deeply.
and Ben Hecht group (supporters of the I want to think about it . .. What you told
Jewish extremists). These people are the me will not be forgotten . . . ' She did not
worst contributors to anti-Semitism in Amer- live long enough to take any action that
ica in my mind . . . I do not see, also. might have mitigated the anger of those
how anyone could misunderstand the pow- who never forgave her defection from the
erful plea I made to the United Nations to Israeli cause."
open the Allied countries to the displaced
But she had spoken so passionately, so
European Jews. There are Zionists, how- eloquently in defense of Zionism! For in-
ever, who did not like that column. They stance, March 21, 1944, at Madison Square
don't want any alternative except Palestine. Garden, under auspices of the American
"I was in Palestine in May 1945, and Zionist Emergency Council, she said in part:
I assure you, Ted, that the situation there
"It is reckoned that of the 3,500,000 Jews
is not the way it has been presented by
many of the Zionists. It is one of the most originally in Polnad, not a quarter of a
complicated and difficult problems on earth million still live. Those who do are pro-
today . . . It is true that I have shifted tected by non-Jewish members of the un-
many attitures in the past, but I have shift- derground, or live, like cave men, in the
ed them according to the facts and new Polish forests. They live to tell a story, not
to save a people. The people is gone.
knowledge of facts, or what I have reason
"But those who live have learned one
to believe are facts . . . Why, Ted, in all
good nature don't you give me credit for thing: A people without a homeland of
having predicted with considerable presci- their own is a doomed people. What Theo-
dor Herzl preached long ago, while the
ence, the chaos of the United Nations aris-
civilized Jews of Europe refused to listen,
ing over the veto power and the struggle
has been proved in our lifetime. And from
bound to develop by quadrapartite occupa-
one end of Europe to another, Jews sit down
tion between the Great Powers over Ger-
and weep, aye they weep, because they
many?"
remember Zion. And I say: Their word
should go out through all the earth and
On this score, the biographer appended
their cry to the end of the world. And there
a fast note referring to Morris Ernst of the
should be no speech and language where
American Civil Liberties Union who joined
their voice is not heard!
her in her anti-Zionist sentiments. Their
"Hear this cry! It comes from the rem-
attitude purportedly was on the subject of
Zionist preference for Palestine as a haven nant of Polish Jewry. 'At this last moment
of refuge for persecuted Jews, and the ac- before our death, we, the surviving rem-
cusation was that Zionists were sabotaging nant of the Polish Jews cry out to the
any solution other than the Jewish National world for rescue. We know that you sense
the agony of our martyrdom but are power-
Home. The footnote reads:
"Dorothy's friend Morris Ernst, who also less to help us. But we know also that there
favored this immigration scheme, wrote in are those who might help if only they would.
To them we say, for the blood of three mil-
lion slaughtered vengeance will fall not
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

By Philip
Slomovitz

only upon Hitler's beasts but upon the in-
different who instead of action offered only
words of sympathy. We, the last of the
Mohicans, will not forget nor forgive.'
"The opponents of Zionism are hypo-
crites. They oppose the Jewish homeland on
behalf of the Arabs. Very well then. What
Christian country, however under-populated,
is prepared to receive all who come?
"The plain unadulterated and brutal
truth is that the only snot on this whole
immense earth where European Jewish
refugees were received with open arms, and
with acclaim; the only spot where they
were received as assets, and not liabilities—
was Palestine.
"I have no patience with the argument
that Palestine 'belongs' to the Arabs, be-
cause they are the original settlers there.
If Britain had tried to colonize Can
Australia, New Zealand, or South Afri.
on the basis of an immigration restricted
to a certain proportion of the native in-
habitants there never would have been any
British Commonwealth. Yet, today, though
many decry the British Emnire, none de-
cry the Commonwealth. For there British
colonists have been true creators. They have
redeemed wildernesses and made them into
homes for civilized men. They have en-
riched the world."
Dorothy Thompson's anti-Zionist speech-
es are often resorted to by the Council for
Judaism and the anti-Israeli pro-Arab
groups. Her Zionist ideology is nearly for-
gotten. But the record is rich with evidence
of her propagandistic Zionist roles.
*
*
A few personal experiences are worth re-
calling in connection with the Sanders bi-
ography "Dorothy Thompson."
Dorothy came here for an anti-Nazi ad-
dress. She spoke to some 15,000 people in
the Olympia on a Friday night and after-
ward a group of us met with her on the
ballroom floor of the Statler Hotel. We
chatted. exchanged experiences and con-
fidences.
That night, Ludwig Lewisohn spoke at
the late Friday Night Service of Cong. Bnai
David, in the then Elmhurst and 14th Sts.
synagogue. He told his audience how he
had become a religious Jew, that he had
begun to put on tefillin and was raising his
son in strict orthodoxy.
Your reviewer saw him arriving at the
Statler, after his sermon, smoking a cig-
arette. He went to tell him that a friend
of his was with us in a semi-private party,
and as he approached Miss Thompson
arose. rushed over to him, and they em-
braced, he shouting "Dahahrahthee" and
she responding with "Lewdveeg." It was an
evening of marked friendship all around.
*
*
Another experience:
Dorothy was a great booster of the pres-
idential candidacy of Wendell Willkie. But
just before the 1940 election she was en-
armored with Franklin D. Roosevelt and
joined the FDR political camp.
This is the story she related to this re-
viewer:
Willkie. she said, came to her with a
protest: "I can't understand why 95 per
cent of the Jews are backing Roosevelt."
To which, she reported, she replied to him:
"Why, Wendell! If you appreciated all that
Roosevelt has done for the Jews you'd won-
der why the figure isn't 100 per cent Jewish
endorsements for him!"
There never was any doubt about the
Wendell Willkie liberalism and his just at-
titudes on matters of concern to Je --
This reviewer's Personal experience ,
him, during the 1940 presidential campaign,
proved that he was a staunch believer in lib-
eralized immigration to provide for the ad-
mission of Jewish' refugees.
*
Another incident:
Edgar Ansell Mowrer, who pioneered in
courageously exposing the Hitler terror long
before many foreign correspondents realized
the impending dangers—and who is among
those frequently mentioned in the Thompson
biography—was in Detroit to address a
Jewish National Fund rally in the social
hall of Shaarey Zedek on Chicago and Law-
ton. He described the events as they affect-
ed the European continent and then be-
came menacing to the Western hemisphere.
Dan Cullen was so deeply moved by the
Mowrer report that he came over to this
reviewer, who presided at that meeting,
and gave him a $100 check to inscribe
(Concluded on Page 8)

