12 February 7 • 2019
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SHARI COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Mayor halts distribution of magazine with
story on Henry Ford’
s anti-Semitism.
A
utomotive pioneer Henry Ford’
s
anti-Semitism is well-document-
ed. While he was an innovator in
automotive manufacturing, he held some
centuries-old myths about Jews as the
controllers of banks and global finance.
In 1919, he bought a weekly newspa-
per, The Dearborn Independent, which
was used to express virulently negative
opinions about Jews. Some of its articles
were subsequently published in book
form and widely distributed in the U.S.
and abroad.
To mark the 100th anniversary of
Ford’
s purchase of the weekly Dearborn
Independent, Bill McGraw,
editor of The Dearborn
Historian, a quarter-
ly magazine published
by Dearborn’
s historical
museum, decided to focus
on this topic. In addi-
tion, he was interested in
exploring the topic because
of the recent sharp increase of anti-Semi-
tism here and abroad.
McGraw says he mentioned the topic
to museum staff at least three times in
advance and no one objected. During
his research, he found that Henry Ford’
s
anti-Semitic views are currently being
circulated on white supremacist and
neo-Nazi websites. “Henry Ford is a liv-
ing, breathing person for those on the
right wing,” McGraw said.
A retired award-winning Detroit Free
Press reporter and co-founder of the
online news aggregator DeadlineDetroit.
com, McGraw is well-regarded in Metro
Detroit. This was his second issue as
magazine editor and it was to be his last.
The cover featured a photo of Henry
Ford and a quote from The Dearborn
Independent: “The Jew is a race that has
no civilization to point to, no aspiring
religion, no great achievement in any
realm.”
Because the magazine isn’
t copy-
righted and has only 230 subscrib-
ers, McGraw also posted the article
on DeadlineDetroit.com to enhance its
visibility.
When the printed magazines were
delivered and Dearborn Mayor John
“Jack” O’
Reilly saw them,
he was immediately con-
cerned. According to
McGraw, O’
Reilly believed
the cover was too “harsh.”
Initially, McGraw heard
the cover might have to be
reprinted, but the mayor
gave orders Jan. 28 that
the magazine should not be mailed to its
subscribers and that McGraw’
s contract
should be terminated.
Attempts to reach O’
Reilly were unsuc-
cessful; however, the public relations
department for the city of Dearborn
issued this statement Friday, Feb. 1:
“For years, Dearborn has supported
and participated with interfaith organi-
zations and in regional roundtables with
diverse communities, and actively pro-
motes initiatives dedicated to increasing
unity and understanding.
“So, we want Dearborn to be under-
stood as it is today — a community that
works hard at fostering positive relation-
ships within our city and beyond. We
expect city-funded publications like The
Historian to support these efforts.
“It was thought that by presenting
information from 100 years ago that
included hateful messages — without
a compelling reason directly linked to
events in Dearborn today — this edition
of The Historian could become a distrac-
tion from our continuing messages of
inclusion and respect.
“For this reason, the Mayor asked that
the distribution of the hard copies of the
current edition of The Historian be halted.
”
The Dearborn Historical Commission
held an emergency meeting on Jan.
Disparaging
Dearborn
Bill McGraw
Any eff
ort to suppress the dissemination of
factual information is an act of censorship and
goes against our country’
s long tradition of
freedom of the press.
— BETH KONRAD, SPJ DETROIT PRESIDENT
John O’
Reilly
CITY OF DEARBON
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
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on the cover