I PURELY COMMENTARY I
Benjamin Franklin
Continued from Page 2
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40
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1988
as Harry Levin obliquely
put it, "some of his best
friends were non-Aryan."
Even as mere "generaliza-
tion," the quotation about
Benjamin Franklin is suffi-
cient to demand clarification
and presentation of the facts
that totally refute the canard.
A mere quote is sufficient to
crete hatred and increase
prejudice.
The libelous quotation has
been used in anti-Semitic pro-
paganda in Russia and in
Arab countries from the time
the flasehood was concocted.
In 1967, the faked statement
even appeared in French
newspapers and American
bigots resorted to it. In 1967,
newspapers in Morocco and
Paris resorted to the lie. It's
amazing that a libel of the
1930s found an echo in Moroc-
co. It is the type of propagan-
da that was even revived in
the United Nations attacks
on Jewry and Israel when the
bigots equated Zionism with
racism.
In the interest of historical
accuracy, let us reproduce
here a news release that was
dated July 7, 1938. That
release from the Anti-Nazi
League that was headed by
the late Samuel Untermyer
stated:
The anti-Semitism at-
tributed to Benjamin
Franklin by American
Nazis was revealed as a
deliberate lie by the Non-
Sectarian Anti-Nazi
League of 20 W. 47th St.,
New York City, following
communications with
Alfred Rigling, librarian of
the Franklin Institute of
Philadelphia, Pa.
"Dr. Franklin never ut-
tered the sentiments which
are attributed to him in the
supposed journal or diary
of Charles Pinckney," Mr.
Rigling told the league. "In
fact, no such diary has ever
been found. There is
moreover positive
evidence that Franklin
held- Jews in high esteem:'
"Within the past month
Franklin's mythical speech
full of animadversions
against the Jews, which he
is supposed to have
delivered before the Con-
stitutional Convention, has
reappeared in the daily
press. According to the
published account, this
speech warned the people
of the United States
against the 'vampire' race,
and concluded: 'I warn
you, gentlemen, if you do
not exclude the Jews
forever your children and
your children's children
will curse you in their
graves:
The provenance of these
statements has been traced
to the February 3, 1934,
issue of Liberation, the
publication of a Fascist
organization which ap-
peared in Asheville, N.C., in
1933. 'Franklin's Prophecy,
so-called, was immediately
reprinted by papers in Ger-
many and Switzerland and
from thence, recrossing the
Atlantic, it turned up in the
United States on
September 25, 1934, in a
pamphlet in New York.
"The
'Prophecy,'
characterized by Professor
Charles A. Beard, in the
Jewish Frontier for March
1935, as a 'barefaced
forgery, was supposed to
be found in a diary kept by
Charles Pinckney of South
Carolina. No such diary is
known to exist nor can
anything resembling it be
found among any of the ex-
tant Pinckney papers. Fur-
thermore, neither Pro-
fessor Beard's examination
of Franklin's writings nor
careful searches in the
available records 'in-
cluding the vast collections
of Franklinana in
Philadelphia' have produc-
ed anything that 'gives the
slightest justification for
believing that the 'Pro-
phecy' is . . . more than a
bare-faced forgery. Not a
word,' wrote Professor
Beard, 'have I discovered
in Franklin's letters and
papers expressing such
sentiments against the
Jews as are ascribed to
him by the Nazis —
American and German:
There is, moreover, positive
evidence that Franklin
held Jews in high esteem,
and when the Hebrew
Society of Philadelphia
was trying to raise money
for a 'religious house'
Franklin not only signed
the petition appealing for
contributions to 'Citizens
of every religious
denomination, but he also
contributed 5 pounds to
the fund. Finally, it should
be remarked that the
language of the 'Prophecy'
is neither of the eighteenth
century nor in the usual
vein of Franklin:'
It's a pity that there is a
repeated need to keep
refuting stupidities like the
Franklin canard. So many
condemnations of the libel
have been written and ut-
tered that it would take
volumes to utilize them. All
such canards must be expos-
ed and the need of it now,
while deplorable, is accom-
panied by this additional plea
— that lies must never be per-
mitted to be heard without
condemnation.