Henry Ford, having permitted his weekly magazine, the Dearborn Independent, generally to vituperate Jews since 1920 and so stir up an anti-Semitism strange to the U. S., last week recanted everything that that weekly had printed against Jews. His confession of error:
"To my great regret I have learned that Jews generally, and particularly those of this country, not only resent these publications [the Dearborn Independent and the pamphlets entitled "The International Jew,"] as promoting anti-Semitism, but regard me as their enemy. Trusted friends . . . have assured me that the character of the charges and insinuations made against the Jews . . . justifies the righteous indignation entertained by Jews everywhere toward me because of the mental anguish occasioned by the unprovoked reflections made upon them.
"This has led me to direct my personal attention to this subject, in order to ascertain the exact nature of these articles. As a result of this survey I confess that I am deeply mortified that this journal, which is intended to be constructive and not destructive has been made the medium for resurrection of exploded fictions, for giving currency to the so-called protocols of the 'Wise Men of Zion,' which have been demonstrated, as I learn, to be gross forgeries, and for contending that the Jews have been engaged in a conspiracy to control the capital and the industries of the world, besides laying at their door many offenses against decency, public order and good morals.
"Had I appreciated even the general nature, to say nothing of the details, of these utterances I would have forbidden their circulation without a moment's hesitation, because I am fully aware of the virtues of the Jewish people as a whole, of what they and their ancestors have done for civilization and for mankind toward the development of commerce and industry, of their sobriety and diligence, their benevolence and their unselfish interest in the public welfare. . . .
"Those who know me can bear witness that it is not in my nature to inflict insult upon and to occasion pain to anybody and that it has been my effort to free myself from prejudice. Because of that I frankly confess that I have been greatly shocked as a result of my study and examination of the files of the Dearborn Independent and the pamphlets entitled 'The International Jew.'
"I deem it to be my duty as an honorable man to make amends for the wrong done to the Jews as fellowmen and brothers, by asking their forgiveness for the harm I have unintentionally committed, by retracting so far as lies within my power the offensive charges laid at their door by these publications, and by giving them the unqualified assurance that henceforth they may look to me for friendship and good will."
The Confessors. Henry Ford's confessors in this matter were Arthur Brisbane, William Randolph Hearst's editor, and Louis Marshall of Manhattan, potent constitutional lawyer and president of the American Jewish Committee.