12 February 7 • 2019
jn

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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in 
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on the cover