Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

In the late 1930s, anti-Nazi sentiment in the US was not widespread or outspoken; Hitler’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 did not give rise to many US demonstrations. Nevertheless, the US Congress instituted restrictions on protests around the capitol.

In late 1938, a teen named Hershel Grynszpan, distraught over the Nazi-fueled violence and antisemitism that was spreading through Europe, shot a member of the German Embassy in Paris. The Nazis used this incident as an excuse to instigate what was later known as the Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass. Violent German mobs swept through Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland, murdering Jewish people and destroying Jewish businesses and institutions. Even this incident did not inspire significant protests in US, however; fewer than 100 demonstrators showed up in Washington the next day.

A few months later, a man named George Deatherage entered the German Embassy in Washington, offering to contribute to the Nazi cause. Baron Ulrich von Gienanth was one of the members of the Embassy who considered Deatherage a useful ally. Deatherage briefed von Gienanth on the current state of the US pro-Nazi movement: After five years of building up support, many pro-Nazi groups were now consolidating under the American Nationalist Confederation, with the aim of working together to form a heavily armed, paramilitary organization with cells in major cities throughout the country. When Deatherage asked von Gienanth how current antisemitic sentiment in the US compared to antisemitism in pre-Hitler Germany, the German attaché reassured him: “It looks to me from what I read in the papers and the information I have […] that probably there is ten times more [antisemitism] now in the US than there was in Germany before Hitler’s rise to power” (107). Now, in Deatherage’s eyes, all the movement needed was a leader: an American counterpart to Hitler. He believed that the perfect person for the job was Major General George Van Horn Moseley, an outspoken detractor of President Roosevelt and man with a reputation for ruthlessness. Moseley soon became more pronounced in his antisemitism, calling for a policy of “selective breeding,” including the sterilization of Jewish people.

The House Committee on Un-American Activities—also known as the Dies Committee, named after Martin Dies, the chairman—was formed in the spring of 1938. This committee, which was not well-funded, aimed to investigate “un-American” propaganda in the US.

The committee mostly directed its focus toward leftists, not realizing that extremism was gathering strength on the right. Committee members opposed communism, collective bargaining, strikes, legislation to impose a minimum wage and maximum work hours, and the New Deal. They viewed the workers’ rights movement as threatening. However, even though the committee focused on communism, citizens who were worried about the growing threat of fascism sought to bring this matter to the committee’s attention.

In August 1938, the Dies Committee heard testimony about fascism from the first witness , John C. Metcalfe. A former reporter, Metcalfe had joined a pro-Nazi organization so that he could report on it for the newspaper. He showed the committee dozens of photos, including one of a fascist military commander speaking to a crowd of 10,000 supporters in New Jersey and photos of Hitler Youth camps in the US.

Metcalfe returned a few months later and gave the committee the names of individuals as well as organizations. He identified 130 pro-Nazi organizations in the US and noted that many of them used words like “Christian” and “Patriotic” in their names.

In 1938, the publication Ken ran an exposé that revealed a plot formed by George Deatherage. Deatherage planned to overthrow the US government and install a Hitler-like dictator in power. He aimed to gather weapons and coordinate simultaneous strikes on cities throughout the country after the 1940 presidential election, causing enough death and destruction to disorient the country, overturn election results, and install an American Hitler as the new leader.

In 1939, the Dies Committee subpoenaed George Deatherage and General Moseley. When Deatherage appeared before the committee, he dove into a meandering monologue about his life story, his political agenda, his plans, and his methods. He was eager to return and speak to the committee again because he wanted to explain his conspiracy theories, including his belief that Roosevelt was a communist and that a vast international web of Jewish communists was working throughout the country.

During Moseley’s testimony, he defended US fascist and Nazi organizations, claiming that they were trying to uphold democracy. In addition, he expressed frustration toward the committee for not focusing more on rooting out communists. While Moseley skirted some questions about Hitler, he asserted that many of Hitler’s beliefs and actions were justified, saying that Hitler had “solved the racial problem” (136).