When Grant Expelled the Jews by Jonathan Sarna from Tablet Magazine on Vimeo.
The author is a bit florid in his retelling of the story but it is an interesting one. It may also explain why Jews were Republicans until the advent of Father Coughlin and FDR.
Forward a Jewish Socialist Magazine makes a good point on the subject: Lincoln, Slavery, and Passover. Except they never mention Lincoln. But if you read between the lines you can figure it out. Funny that they (Forward) paint Republicans as the Party of The Rich. These days it is the Party of the white working class. Reagan Democrats. Well I like reading socialists. For the amusement and the intel.
This is a good explanation of the modern era since the advent (and I use the term advisedly) of FDR by Dr. Rafael Medoff. He discusses why the times they are a changin.
Here is a nice one on why so many Jews are Libertarians. The most (and still) famous of them all being Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum. There is a US Senator named after her.
Comments
12 responses to “Grant And The Jews”
It was an outrage Grant regretted for the rest of his life:
http://townhall.com/columnists/jeffjacoby/2012/05/14/when_general_grant_expelled_the_jews
***QUOTE***
More striking by far was the order’s long-term effect on Grant himself. He came to deeply regret what he had done, and went to great lengths to make amends — so much so that the eight years of the Grant administration would prove to be the first golden age for American Jewry. As president, Grant appointed more Jews to public office than any of his predecessors and displayed remarkable sensitivity to the plight of persecuted Jews abroad. At his death in 1885, Grant was fervently mourned in the nation’s synagogues. “Seldom before,” one Jewish newspaper remarked at the time, “has the Kaddish been repeated so universally for a non-Jew as in this case.”
***END QUOTE***
Talking Heads – Life During Wartime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzORu1dqEE0
Eric,
Thanks for that. The point was made in the video but for those who didn’t watch your comment is excellent.
No explanation is given as to the reasons for expulsion. A refutation of the charges would be more convincing.
It is not the truth or falseness of the charges. It is that they were applied to a class rather than the perpetrators.
The Forward article actually makes an interesting point. I’ve attended a couple of Passover seders (as a curious outsider), and I can sort of get the idea.
But what is interesting at the moment is that the old liberal philosophy can no longer bring home the bacon (if you’ll pardon the expression). Progressive government has ossified (or is it reified?) into something that exists primarily to feed itself, heedless of what it does to the people. Contra the Forward article, even if one desires to have the government help the needy, at this point you must stop and consider the limits and purposes of such help. Not to mention the utility of economic and political freedom.
It’s at moments like these, when the old assumptions are clearly invalid, when the old coalitions can shatter. I wonder how Jews will be voting in 30 years.
Rand was an Objectivist, not a libertarian. And she would have been offended by being labeled as such.
Yes, the nuanced differences I tend to forget or don’t understand. But I do remember her adamantly denying being a libertarian.
Stan,
True re: Rand. But I believe it was one of those internecine fights of little significance. She had a brand to protect.
…why Jews were Republicans until the advent of Father Coughlin and FDR.
Well, considering Coughlin was a socialist and hated Jews, and Roosevelt was a socialist and didn’t seem to like them very much either, I can’t figure that.
Firehand,
Glad you asked. My mother was of that era and considered Coughlin to be on the right.
She also said that the Democrats put food in people’s hand and the Republicans didn’t. Which is why she has never voted for a Republican since.
Also back then the Republicans were the party of the Jew haters. I try to tell her things have changed but those old emotions are deeply embedded.
…Republicans were the party of the Jew haters Really? The KKK was primarily-damn near totally- Democrats, and-
Oh, never mind. I understand the point, once people get something in their minds, doesn’t matter if true or makes sense, they stick with it.
Firehand,
Up until Roosevelt Jews were Republicans. So things switched. They are now switching back.