''A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century'' (occasionally ''A Radical Program for the Twentieth Century'') was a

hoax A hoax is a widely publicized falsehood so fashioned as to invite reflexive, unthinking acceptance by the greatest number of people of the most varied social identities and of the highest possible social pretensions to gull its victims into pu ...

that first gained public notoriety on June 7, 1957, during a debate on the

Civil Rights Act of 1957 The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Civil Rights Act of 1875. The bill was passed by the 85th United States Congress and signed into law by President Dwigh ...

, when Rep. Thomas Abernethy of Mississippi read a reputed quotation from it into the ''

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...

'':

We must realize that our party's most powerful weapon is racial tensions. By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races that for centuries they have been oppressed by whites, we can mold them to the program of the Communist Party. In America we will aim for subtle victory. While inflaming the Negro minority against the whites, we will endeavor to instill in the whites a guilt complex for their exploitation of the Negroes. We will aid the Negroes to rise in prominence in every walk of life, in the professions and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.United States Congressional Record - House June 7, 1957, p. 8559 paragraph 3
/ref>

Abernethy had found the quotation in a March 1957 letter to the editor of '' The Washington Star''; he claimed it as proof that the Civil Rights Movement was a foreign Communist plot. However, ''The Washington Star'' soon apologized for having printed the quotation without verifying its authenticity and, on February 18, 1958, published an article entitled "Story of a Phony Quotation--A Futile Effort to Pin It Down--'A Racial Program for the 20th Century' Seems to Exist Only in Somebody's Imagination", which traced the quotation to

Eustace Mullins Eustace Clarence Mullins Jr. (March 9, 1923 – February 2, 2010) was an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, propagandist, Holocaust denier, and writer. A disciple of the poet Ezra Pound, * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

, who claimed to have found it in a Zionist publication in the Library of Congress. On August 30 of that year, Rep. Abraham J. Multer of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

read the ''Star'' article into the ''Congressional Record'' and raised several other points challenging the quotation's authenticity. These included the nonexistence of a British Communist party in 1912 (it was founded in 1920) and the nonexistence of a British Communist author named Israel Cohen. Although a British Jewish author and Zionist named

Israel Cohen Israel Cohen may refer to: * Israel Cohen (footballer), Israeli footballer *''A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century'', a hoax document supposedly written by an "Israel Cohen" in 1912 *Israel Cohen (Zionist) Israel Cohen (1879 – 26 Novembe ...

did exist in that period, he had no affiliation with Communism nor is there any record of him writing such a work. ''A Racial Program'' does not exist either in the Library of Congress or in the British Museum Catalogue of Printed Books.

Eustace Mullins also invented the fabricated speech ''

Our Race Will Rule Undisputed Over The World ''Our Race Will Rule Undisputed Over The World'' is a fabricated speech often cited in antisemitic propaganda, supposedly given by a Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovich. However, both the speech and Rabbi Rabinovich were, like the "Israel Cohen" of ''A Rac ...

'' under the different alias of "Rabbi Emanuel Rabinovich".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Racial Program For The Twentieth Century, A Antisemitic forgeries Hoaxes in the United States Anti-communism in the United States 1950s hoaxes Far-right publications in the United States 1957 documents White genocide conspiracy theory Racial hoaxes Antisemitism in the United States

Related

See also

References