Opinion: These American anti-Semites deserve to live in infamy forever

To the editor: Law professor James Q. Whitman’s article, while technically correct about the Nazis copying racist laws at the time in the U.S., misses the real point: Why did intelligent persons in power profess such ideas and codify them into despicable laws that classified races into sub-standard positions? (“When the Nazis wrote the Nuremberg laws, they looked to racist American statutes,” Opinion, Feb. 22)

We must look to the trend setters of the day, including Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, who professed a deep hatred of Jews and non-whites and supported their beliefs with the “science” of eugenics. Hitler was greatly influenced by Lindbergh, Ford and eugenics, and his “Mein Kampf” was replete with their ideas.

Ford later recanted his beliefs; Lindbergh never did, going to his grave in 1974 as a white supremacist and reputed Nazi sympathizer. The damage done by Ford and Lindbergh was immeasurable and irreversible.

We should not forget those who enabled the dissemination of these horrific and tragic ideas and teach our children accordingly.

David Ross, Beverly Hills

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To the editor: “Every American sponsoring an immigrant [must] be screened to determine their motives. And all would-be immigrants will undergo the same at their respective consulates. I promise if any suspicions are raised, the visa will be refused. We cannot and will not take this chance. Our national security depends on it.”

Are these words from President Trump in 2017? No. They were uttered in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s assistant secretary of state, Breckinridge Long, in response to Europe’s Jews escaping Nazi Germany on ships such as the ill-fated St. Louis.

Either we learn from history or watch the ignorant repeat the same mistakes.

Shelley Rivlin, Encino

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