National Gentile League, Inc., also known as the American Gentile League, was an American

antisemitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Ant ...

organization active in the 1930s. It was incorporated by B. E. Clark, W. N. Fox and M. L. Burnett in 1934, but it was most notably headed by Donald Shea of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

Lois de Lafayette Washburn Lois de Lafayette Washburn (born c. 1894) was an American fascist and the founder of anti-Semitic groups in Chicago and Tacoma, Washington. She signed her letters "T.N.T." Early life She claimed to be a descendant of General Lafayette,Carlson, Jo ...

acted as the executive secretary for the organization. When the movie star

Edward G. Robinson Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films durin ...

called for a boycott of all German-made products in 1938, the National Gentile League launched a counter-boycott on Robinson and others who had the "same attitude against

gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

s", claiming to represent "12 million True Blue Americans". Donald Shea, acting on behalf of the organization, attempted to defend George Van Horn Moseley in a 1939

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

hearing, but Shea's statement was deleted from the public record as the committee found it so objectionable.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

's Secretary of the Interior

Harold L. Ickes Harold LeClair Ickes ( ; March 15, 1874 – February 3, 1952) was an American administrator, politician and lawyer. He served as United States Secretary of the Interior for nearly 13 years from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold th ...

prohibited the group from using the

National Sylvan Theater The National Sylvan Theater — often simply the Sylvan Theater — is a public sylvan theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument, National Mall, in Washington, D.C., USA. It is located within the northwest corner of the 15th Street and In ...

for a three-day rally that was planned to begin on June 6, 1939. Ickes stated that the Sylvan Theater belonged to Americans of all races and not a group that fosters

racial prejudice Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonis ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, c ...

prevented Donald Shea's access to four coastal defence commands and ordered him to move to the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. ...

in October 1943.

References

{{reflist 1934 establishments in Maryland Antisemitism in the United States Antisemitism in Maryland Far-right organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1934

See also

References