2 Friday, June 5, 1981 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Purely Commentary Ex-VP Mondale's Expose of the AWACS Menace and Its Lesson Tracing the Henry Ford I Anti-Semitic Record, the Spreading Venom, the Apology and the Inerasable Guilt . . . Diplomacy Is Tested in the AWACS Case . . . The Community-Minded Paul Borman nore information, over the entire battlefield, about Israel's air combat preparations or opera- tions in its own defense? Would the Saudis permit the U.S. to have a veto on how this information could be used? Could Saudi Arabia itself stand aloof in the face of intense pressure from its Arab allies to join confrontation or battle with Israel? And could Israel tie its security to hopes that it would? The answer to all these questions must be "no." In fact, in my judgment, the same answer applies to our agreement to increase the range and effectiveness of the 62 high-performance F-15 aircraft we will begin delivering to Saudi Arabia next year. Writing in the Jerusalem Post (May 15), under the title "Against AWACS," former U.S. Vice President Walter F. Mondale had some firm commitments on the subjects. His essay could be defined as one of the most penetrating ex- poses of a major danger confronting Israel. Here is what the former Vice President had to say, in the main, on the subject: Selling air-borne warning and control systems (AWACS) to Saudi Arabia is the wrong decision, done in the wrong way, at the wrong time. It is the wrong decision. It has been clear for some time that the security of the Persian Gulf is The legitimate requirements of Saudi defense vital to the United States. do not justify introducing such sophisticated It is also clear that Persian Gulf security must equipment which can only complicate — and in begin with efforts by regional countries, even the case of AWACS perhaps confound — Israel's though we will also need to be involved — as out- ability to provide for its own security. Overall lined by the Carter Administration and followed regional security would go down. Tensions in any by the Reagan Administration. That means Saudi Arab-Israeli crisis would be immeasurably in- Arabia must have the ability to defend itself, and creased. if need be, to help defend its immediate neighbors on the Gulf, as well. But how should this be done? AWACS would represent a substantial and One key element is air defense, as dramatized by dangerous increase in the level of sophisticated the potential Iranian threat to the Gulf oil fields arms in the Middle East. Israeli measures to last fall, and the dispatch of four U.S. AWACS to counter the Saudi AWACS, if effective at all, Saudi Arabia to warn of attack and to coordinate would involve new expenditures of a magnitude operations of U.S. aircraft based on carriers in the this small, badly strapped nation cannot begin to Arabian Sea. afford. That was a good President Sadat has already indicated that the stopgap effort, cen- sale of the AWACS to Saudi Arabia will require tered upon what we Egypt to think about more sophisticated might have had to do weaponry, and no thoughtful observer believes militarily. But going this new arms race would end there. from there to say that Why repeat these arguments which have been ad- Saudi Arabia needs vanced in the past few weeks? For the obvious reason that it these highly sophisti- also poses a question related to "statesmanship" and "dip- cated aircraft, under lomacy." Mr. Mondale did not object to arms for Saudi its own control, is an- Arabia when it was a serious challenge to President Jimmy other issue entirely — Carter and his foreign policies. Would be have been as firm and in my judgment against AWACS when he was in power and in the responsi- ill-conceived. ble national position as he is now when out of it? Is it realistic to be- lieve that, in an Arab- It is the sad experience that when opposition assumes Israeli crisis, the Saudi power it forgets the criticisms uttered when it was easy to AWACS would point be the challenging minority. Is it different now? WALTER MONDALE the other way and ig- If the Mondale warnings will be limited to the By Philip Slomovitz Jerusalem newspaper, those concerned with fairness in politics and in diplomacy may just as well retain tongue in cheek. If they mean business, they will join the battle against the threat to Israel's security regardless of party affiliations. The test in the AWACS case seems to be postponed until September. The vigilance must not subside, if trouble is to be averted. Mondale can be a hero if he leads in the battle both in his own party and on a non-partisan basis. It is the bipartisan action to squash the proposed arms deal that is needed. Community Deservedly Honors Paul Borman and His Firm's Associates for Notable Services A current Detroit social and industrial contribution so vital in its significance that it must not be overlooked. A new Farmer Jack supermarket is being added to the chain of the firm's stores in this state. The ground breaking for such a store is significant because it marks the recon- struction of a destroyed area, it points a finger of shame to the time when there were riots and murders, during the 1967 disturbances, on what was Twelfth Street. Hundreds of stores were de- stroyed that sad week in 1967. Many died, the rioting marked a tragic chapter in American his- tory. A supermarket on the scene of what had to be described as shameful means a return to the human spirit in the community, the recapturing of the spirit and the restoration of American fair play. Iri cooperation with the De- troit Economic Development Atikk Corporation, together with the PAUL BORMAN Virginia Park Citizens Council, public and private financing is being made available to cooperate with the Farmer Jack chain in establishing the Twelfth Street supermarket. It is the public spirited re- sponse of Paul Borman as head of Farmer Jack that the commendable project is a reality. The cooperating agencies, Farmer Jack and Paul Borman, earn the recognition being accorded them for an act of true citizenship and social understanding. Voluminous Record of Henry Ford's Anti-Semitism Ford is an inerasable root name. It dominates indus- try. It is among the most famous in modern world history. The founder of the Ford empire, the pioneer leader in the automobile manufacturing sphere, will be a subject for discussion as long as there is evidence of anti-Semitism, whenever there is the expose of the outrageously fictitious and truth-distorting Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Interest in Ford will con- tinue as long as any effort is made to depict the object of his hatred as the Interna- tional Jew. Since the creation of his Flivver, as it was referred to, Henry Ford was the sub- ject of much discussion, of scrutiny and character study. Many books have been written about him and the automobile bearing his name. The subject is in- exhaustible, as the numer- ous new books, magazine studies, reviews of his anti-Semitic tendencies now indicate anew. "The Public Image of Henry Ford: An American Folk Hero and His Com- pany" (Wayne State Uni- versity Press) by David L. Lewis retains major value in the thoroughness of its research. Dr. Lewis (profes- sor of business history, Graduate School of Busi- ness Administration, Uni- versity of Michigan) de- tailed the Ford anti-Jewish attitudes in his extensively researched volume about the life and activities of the "hero" in the realm of auto- mobile manufacturing. It is a reference work of great merit and it is invaluable for students of the auto in- dustry. Since the Lewis volume's appearance more than a de- cade ago, several writers have returned to the "Ford" topic, adding voluminously to the expanding Ford book- shelf. American Jewish His- tory, the quarterly maga- zine of the American Jewish Historical Society, in a re- cent issue, carried an arti- cle, "Henry Ford and the In- ternational Jew" by Dr. Leo P. Ribuffo, assistant profes- sor of history at George Washington University. Prof. Ribuffo presents many hitherto unknown facts and outlines many of the anti- Semitic trends which moti- vated the Ford hatred for Jews. * * * Ribuffo Article Shows Ford Bias DAVID LEWIS Periodical literature in- cludes many revealing ac- counts about the Ford legend. Exemplary is the article in the current Uni- versity of Michigan Quar- terly Review by the eminent Jewish author and essayist, Charles Madison, who ex- poses the myth of the Five- Dollar-a-Day Ford grant for which he applied in his pre-U of 111 student days. Dr. Ribuffo shows how Ford had begun to believe that "Jews defied Anglo- Saxon law." Commenting on the apology when he was sub- poenaed to appear at the trial conducted in the fed- eral court in Detroit in 1927, the American Jewish History article makes this revelation: "Unfortunately the apologies of 1927, like the remission of 1922, did not mean that Ford had 'got right.' He closed the Inde- pendent on Dec. 30, 1927 but — contrary to his lawyers' promise to Mar- shall — kept (Ernest) Liebold and (William) Cameron, both unrepen- tant, in his employ. He or- dered destruction of thousands of copies of The International Jew; yet, de- HENRY FORD spite entreaties by Marshall and Bernstein, barely pub- licized his retraction in Europe. His subordinates intervened to halt circula- tion abroad only when pressed by Jewish leaders. "Furthermore, Ford in- formed the Manchester Guardian in 1940 that 'in- ternational Jewish bankers' caused World War II. At roughly the same time, he told the nativist Gerald L.K. Smith that he had allowed Bennett to forge his signature on the retraction, hoped someday to reissue The International Jew and urged Smith to do so if he could not. "Partly due to Ford' lax- ity, the series continued to circulate among the 'rabid Jew-baiters' whom the In- dependent professed to dis- dain. Norman Cohn esti- mates that The Interna- tional Jew 'probably did more than any other work to make the Protocols world- famous.' The Nazi youth leader Baldur von Schirach recalled the "great influ- ence" of the books on young Germans of his generation. In Mein Kampf, Hitler applauded Ford's efforts. "Within the United States, The International Jew provided a 'usable past' for anti-Semites like Smith, who ultimately published an abridgement. As early as 1922, Norman Hapgood an- grily held Ford responsible for setting 'loose a malicious force that added fury to similar forces already in existence.' " Dr. Ribuffo should be cre- dited with having indicated that Ford's son Edsel dis- agreed with his father's anti-Semitic views. This is a point of compelling impor- tance in view of the em- phasis upon it in one of the books on Ford under review. Former Detroiter's Book Is Revealing Dr. Carol Gelderman, associate professor of English at the University of New Orleans, a native De- troiter, had access to diaries and hitherto unpublished data on which she based her book "Henry Ford: The Wayward Capitalist" (Dial Press). Prof. Gelderman provides basic information on Ford's mechanical genius, on his rise to power, his skill in developing his Flivver. It is the industrial revolu- tion in the making of his automobile that is em- phasized in this book, and the anti-Semitic role of the genius is not ignored. Mrs. Gelderman, who was intimate with Ford's grandchildren and turned to writing about Ford be- cause of her childhood asso- ciations with members of the family, states in her book that she was especially interested in the Peace Ship sponsored by Ford in World War I, one of the magnate's great fiascos. Therefore, the reference to Rosika Schwimmer in her volume has some significance. This interesting Schwimmer reference, which was among the reve- lations of the anti-Semitism of Henry Ford I, is -wor quoting: "When the Aug. 20, 192 r,- Independent named Her- man Bernstein as the man who alerted Ford to the warmongering Jewish ban- kers, Bernstein sued for libel. Rosika Schwimmer maintained that Ford had such ideas before the sailing of the Peace Ship. 'I met Mr. Ford first on Nov. 17, 1915, at a luncheon in his Detroit factory . . . There was Mr. Yonkers of the Detroit Journal who had arranged the appointment; Mr. Fred (Continued on Page 12)