Sec. 562, P. L & R. U. S. POSTAGE PAID New York, N. Y. Permit No. 3870 T Il E P OPAGANDA BATTLEFRONT

Issued by: FRIENDS OF DEMOCRACY, INC. Eastern Regional Office: 137 East 57th Street, New York 22, N. Y. April 29, 1944 VOL. II, No. XVI

The New York Daily News—Mouthpiece of the Disloyal Opposition

Before December 7, 1941, the America First prospect. The Fascists wrote letters to Mr. Pat- ...Comiiikteg.,..was the rallying ground for the Amer- terson. Soon his letters - to - the - editor column ican Fascist movement. reeked with notes like this:. "The millions who love From Joe McWilliams in New York to Her- the truth ... love and listen to Father Coughlin." mann Schwinn in California, the Fascists extolled Lindbergh as America's "man on a white horse." The Nazi-Fascist recog- THE FASCISTS WORK Father Charles E. Coughlin urged readers of Social FOR PATTERSON nition of Patterson as a Justice to invade the Committee; Elizabeth Dilling fellow traveler dates marched her women to Washington to urge Con- back to 1939 when the Deutscher W'eckruf mid gress to follow the America. First line. Beobachter, organ of the German American Bund, In Wichita, Kansas, E. J. Garner praised Lind- praised the New York Daily News for saying bergh for calling "a spade a spade." In California, Danzig was not "worth the life of a single Eng- Coughlinite groups and the German American lishman" or of one French "poilu." Bund practically closed up shop so that their mem- The affection became more pronounced as the bers might work for America first. war in Europe advanced. During the last few Although the action of the Japs at Pearl Harbor months of 1941, nearly every issue of the resulted in the dissolution of General Wood's Deutscher Weckruf praised or reprinted one or America First Committee, it did not destroy more editorials from Patterson's paper. The last Fascism in the United States. It merely wrecked four issues carried five editorials from the Daily its medium of expression. News, a plug for Danton Walker's column in the The Fascists were still Fascists. So they went Daily News, and a paragraph praising the News shopping for another "respectable" front. in general. Joseph . Medill Patterson's New York Daily Other Nazi-Fascist organs were quick to follow News, which still clung to the "pat-MTC"`Ibgans, the Weckruls lead. Besides the Bund paper, those "`.—rine——rica First," looked like a likely, and friendly, who praised the Daily News and reprinted its editorials include: Senator Robert Rice Reynolds in Washington, 1. Roll Call, a magazine edited by William D. C. Reynolds has inserted into the Congres- Dudley Pelley of Indianapolis, Indiana. PeIley is sional Record a speech by Gerald Winrod and an now serving a jail sentence for sedition. editorial from Domenico Trombetta's 11 Grido 2. Publicity, a newspaper published by E. J. della Stirpe. Winrod is under indictment for Garner of Wichita, Kansas. Garner has been in- sedition, and Trombetta has been denaturalized, dicted three times by Federal grand juries and interned as an enemy alien, and is under indict- is now standing trial in Washington on charges ment for failure to register as an agent of the of conspiring to commit sedition. Italian government. 3. America In Danger, a news bulletin edited 15. The Malist, a news bulletin edited by F. by Charles Hudson of Omaha, Nebraska. Hud- H. Sattler of Meriden, Connecticut. The Malist son, too, has been indicted three times for sedi- is filled with references to "Masonic conspira- tion and is now standing trial in Washington. cies" and "atheistic Jews." 4. The Defender, a magazine edited by Gerald 16. Peace Now literature published in New B. Winrod of Wichita, Kansas. Winrod is now York City. Headed by George W. Hartmann, on trial for conspiring to commit sedition. the Peace Now Movement is calling for an 5. X-Ray, a newspaper edited by Court Asher immediate negotiated peace with Hitler. of Muncie, Indiana. Asher is under two Federal 17. America Preferred, a small magazine edited indictments for sedition. by Carl Mote in Indianapolis, Indiana. Mote is 6. America Speaks, a newspaper edited by Wil- an anti-Semite who has collaborated with most liam Kullgren of Atascadero, California. Kull- of the pro-Fascists in the mid-West. gren is under two indictments for sedition. It was The Cross and the Flag that told just 7. The Broom, a newspaper edited by C. Leon how America's "vermin press" feels about Joe de Aryan of San Diego, California. De Aryan Patterson: "The New York Daily News is the is under two indictments for sedition. largest daily newspaper in America. On many 8. Social justice, a newspaper published by matters their editorial policy is in substantial Charles E. Coughlin. of Royal Oak, Michigan. agreement with the editorial policy of The Cross Social Justice was discontinued after it was held and the Flag. Perhaps no two men in America to be "obviously seditious." are doing more to hold back the tide of inter- 9. Scribner's Commentator of New York and nationalism, Red Communism and bureaucratic Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Ralph Townsend, one Fascism, than Capt. Patterson who runs the New of its editors, was convicted as a Japanese agent. York' News and Col. McCormick who runs the (This is not a Charles Scribner's publication.) Chicago Tribune." And Edward James Smythe, 10. The Brooklyn Tablet, a newspaper edited who is on trial in Washington for conspiracy to .by Patrick Scanlan in Brooklyn, New York. commit sedition, summed it up further by say- Scanlan is a follower of Father Charles E. ing: "For Truth and Justice, read the Chicago Coughlin and was k Christian Front leader. Tribune, Washington Times-Herald, and New 11. The Gaelic American of New York City. York Daily News editorials." This paper features a column by Edward Lodge . . . AND PATTERSON IS Now Patterson Curran, a leader of the Christian Front and USEFUL TO THE FASCISTS hasn't repulsed Coughlin's personal representative in the East. the Nazi-Fascist 12. The Cross and the Flag, a magazine edited overtures. His editorials have never denounced by Gerald L. K. Smith at Detroit, Michigan. the "vermin press"; he has never, to our knowl- Smith, once a member of William Dudley Pel- edge, asked the pro-Nazi press to 'stop using ley's storm-trooping Silver Shirts and an old his editorials for their propaganda purposes. friend of Coughlin's, has organized a nation- Patterson, on the other hand, has made some over- wide America First Party which threatens to tures himself. be a powerful force for super-nationalism in On December 15, 1938, the New York Daily the coining Presidential election. News reprinted almost in full the text of William 13. and 14. The American Vindicator and Dudley Pelley's "list of Jews" in the government. The National Record, newspapers published by The story, which covered three very precious, crowded pages, listed about 300 "Jews" — includ- set up a Nazi government in the United States. ing William C. Bullitt, Frances Perkins, Leon Although Patterson's editorials have not taken a Henderson, Cordell Hull, and Heywood Broun. stand on this indictment, the letters-to-the-editor The story was written by Patterson's Washington are still clamoring in the same vein. "Phoney sedi- correspondent, John O'Donnell. tion trials, purges and persecutions," on let- After Pearl Harbor, Patterson not only retained ter said, "are the order of the day for anyone John O'Donnell, but he printed O'Donnell's col- who disagrees with the Administration." Another umn, "Capitol Stuff," five days a week instead of said: "In 1940, 27,404,235 people voted for Brow- one day a week. This despite the fact that O'Don- der, Roosevelt, Thomas and Aiken ... everyone of nell was quoted as saying: "The Nazis have done these voters ought to be indicted for conspiring a lot of good things ... certain elements needed to establish Nazism in the United States. Why cleaning up in Germany." bother with 30 persons and ignore 27 million It was also after Pearl Harbor that Patterson plus?" extolled the work of James J. McCourt, Queens Patterson further showed how he feels about Coughlinite, who petitioned Congress to remove the alleged seditionists early this year when one Mayor LaGuardia as city defense director. In 1942 of his editorials came to the defense of James the New York. Daily News featured a series of LeRoy Drew. Drew, a New York patrolman, tem- articles designed to clear Ham Fish of the charges porarily was suspended from his post for un- that he had worked with the Nazi agents, George American activities. His "alleged offense," Patter- Sylvester Viereck and Frederick Auhagen. son brushed the whole matter off by saying, "con- As Patterson's editorials paralleled more and more sisted in not liking Jews." Actually, Drew had closely the Axis propaganda line, the letters-to- been associated with nine persons who are under the-editor column, "Voice of the People," de- indictment for conspiracy to commit sedition and veloped a definite pro-Fascist trend. Known pro- undermine the morale of the armed forces of the Fascists and anti-Semites such as joilassk, Aga& United States. Wells, and Limbo Fairchild began to pop up in One of Patterson's latest overtures to the Nazi- the c When S7Tar7ustice was barred from Fascists is the boost he gave to the Peace Now the mail, the letters jumped to the defense of Movement. A recent editorial began: "John Coughlin. G. H. Quinn wrote: "The attempt to O'Donnell in his 'Capitol Stuff' Washington Col- silence FathgCarariff looks very , much like a umn the other day had an amusing item from sore-head squawk to me. The interventionists some organization ..." The "amusing item" turned clamored loudly for war. Now that they have out to be a quotation from- Peace Now, the move- it, and it is not going any too well for them ... ment that is calling for an immediate negotiated they want to vent their spleen via the gag peace with Hitler and Hirohito. method." After the 33 .persons were indicted on charges of sedition, the letters-to-the-editor sud- denly became concerned over "freedom of speech." PROPAGANDA IS A WEAPON These letters foreshadowed a Patterson editorial Propaganda is a weapon as much as submarines, stand. In July, 1942, just after the alleged sedi- tionists were indicted, Patterson intimated that tanks and bombers. Friends of Democracy has they were victims of the "gag method." And on been carrying on a militant campaign against anti- February 7, 1943, he came out squarely in their democratic propaganda for a number of years. defense. "It all began with the gagging of Father Coughlin," Patterson wrote, "who was thrown The impact of the Axis propaganda is now tre- off the air because what he said offended a lot of mendous. Therefore, it is necessary for Friends of people." According to Patterson, those indicted Democracy to carry on more vigorously than for sedition aren't seditionists at all — they are heretofore. Our organization invites the coopera- "publishers of small anti-Administration sheets." tion and support of all who are concerned about In January, 1944, the Department of Justice secured another indictment. This one charged 30 the preservation of democratic civilization. persons with conspiring with German officials to Meanwhile, the letters- to- the - editor column Before December 7, 1941, the Daily News pub- boosted the latest crusade of the more rabid nego- lisher told us Hitler was no menace. Thirteen tiated peacers. Don't buy War Bonds, these people days before Pearl Harbor, he ran an editorial en- say. And. the New York Daily News letter says: titled, "Come on — Let's Appease Japan." "I've just kicked a War Bond salesman out of my After the Japanese attack and the German dec- house with these remarks: 'Do you realize how laration of war, Patterson didn't change his mind. our War Bond money is being squandered, you He called Roosevelt a dictator, insisted that the stupid Jackass? Get the hell out of here!' " Administration would cancel elections for the duration, and declared that there was no differ- Ever since 1941, the Berlin HITLER ECHOES ence between our Four Freedoms and Hitler's shortwave radio has been read- PATTERSON "Geopolitics." New York Daily ing the Patterson has said that we could stop fighting News editorials to the American people. Quoting Hitler now, that a victorious Russia would be as Joseph Patterson as an authority, Hitler has tried great a menace to the United States as a. victorious to prove that Roosevelt was "pulling us into war," Hitler, that the British are likely to get us "into that Roosevelt should be impeached, that the more and bigger wars." Patterson reveals his atti- British started the war, that the Atlantic Charter tude toward China in editorials about "Asiatic is a "statement of the joint philosophy of (two) hordes" which he expects will be "spilling over dictators," that Russia is going to doublecross us here" after the war and "helping themselves to at the first opportunity. our living space, raw materials and women." Just as Patterson feels that the sedition indict- While the nation has been clamoring for the ments will set "precedents for moving against unconditional surrender of the Axis, Patterson has larger anti-Administration publishers," Hitler's been saying that unconditional surrender is a bad New York Daily shortwave contends that the thing. It will only prolong the war, he says. It News is "being persecuted by the Roosevelt ad- isn't pacifism that motivates Patterson's clamor ministration." The New York Daily News, Ber- for a negotiated peace, for we'll always have wars lin said, is a "true American paper ... representing that's human nature, he says. But he keeps the majority of the American people." right on denouncing unconditional surrender and implying that we should negotiate a peace. . AND PATTERSON Just as Hitler "discov- PARALLELS HITLER ered" the New York At least three times Patterson has held over our Daily News in 1941, heads the bogey of revolution. If the 1942 elec- Patterson's paralleling of Hitler dates back to tions had been called off (no one suggested that pre-Pearl Harbor days. they would be called off except Patterson and Lindbergh) , he said there would have been an "attempted or actual revolution." Patterson feared FRIENDS OF DEMOCRACY, INC. that there would be a "revolution" if the Ruml 137 East 57th Street Plan was not adopted by Congress. But Patterson New York 22, N. Y. became most heated in discussing the Four Freedoms. Enclosed please find my contribution (which also entitles me If "these dreams" are brought "into cold, solid reality after the war," he wrote, "they will fan up to membership in your organization) for a fight in this country which will make the recent Use it to keep THE PROPAGANDA BATTLEFRONT com- isolationist-interventionist fight look like a mere ing, and also to carry on the work of Friends of Democracy. warm-up." Name As Hitler said to Rauschning: "We will find Street men to do our work, everywhere. We won't even have to buy them. They'll come looking for us City Zone State driven by ambition, by partisan discord, by blind- Contributions to Friends of Democracy are deductible from income tax ness, by pride and by hatred." A NONSECTARIAN, NONPARTISAN, NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION SUPPORTED BY VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS National Headquarters: VOL IL No. XVI Fidelity Building Kansas City. Missouri