Search Constraints
1 - 3 of 3
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- Description:
- Portrait of Detroit attorney Aaron Sapiro who in 1925 filed a libel lawsuit against Henry Ford and his newspaper The Dearborn Independent. "The Independent accused Aaron Sapiro, the movement’s leader, of defrauding American farmers to advance an international Jewish conspiracy. Ford saw himself as the only legitimate champion of rural America; he targeted Sapiro both because he was Jewish and because he was not a farmer ... Determined to silence Ford, Sapiro demanded a retraction. The paper replied with still more defamatory articles. In 1925, Sapiro filed a federal libel suit in Detroit, requesting $1 million in damages. For nearly two years, the defense tried fruitlessly to prove that the articles were true--the only way a publisher could evade responsibility for libel ... Reed and the Ford lawyers underestimated Sapiro and the strength of his case, and Marshall misjudged its potential for strengthening the civil rights claims of American Jews ... As the trial careened toward its end, Ford became desperate to end the suit and avoid taking the witness stand. He ordered his bodyguard, Harry Bennett, to secure a mistrial. Bennett planted an interview with a juror in a Detroit newspaper, producing the desired result. Ford then hurriedly dispatched emissaries to meet with Marshall, who agreed not only to mediate the conflict but also secretly to write Ford’s statement of apology. Having criticized Sapiro for bringing litigation that he believed would only reinforce racist stereotypes, Marshall made sure that Ford’s apology was directed not to Sapiro but to the Jewish people. Thus, though American law did not then recognize hate speech as such, Marshall got Ford to sign a public statement that did," from "Suing Henry Ford: America's First Hate Speech Case," by Victoria Saker Woeste at the American Bar Foundation's website.
- Notes:
- Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library AudioVisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library
- Date Issued:
- 1927-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library
- Collection:
- Virtual Motor City
- Description:
- Gertrude Murphy of the Women's Overseas Service League's Santa Clara County Unit discusses a headline in the San Francisco Daily Journal which led to a libel suit against the paper. She said that the headline had declared that the Musicians Union had insulted the Women's Overseas Service League, that the union denied the claim and subsequently filed suit against the paper. She says that she worked for the Daily Journal at the time and that the lawyer for the Musician's Union actually came by her office to fish for information, but that the suit was finally dropped. Recorded during the 1975 area conference held in San Francisco, CA. Mae-Marie Irons narrates.
- Date Issued:
- 1975-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Women's Overseas Service League Oral History Project
- Description:
- Portrait of Detroit attorney Aaron Sapiro who in 1925 filed a libel lawsuit against Henry Ford and his newspaper The Dearborn Independent. "The Independent accused Aaron Sapiro, the movement’s leader, of defrauding American farmers to advance an international Jewish conspiracy. Ford saw himself as the only legitimate champion of rural America; he targeted Sapiro both because he was Jewish and because he was not a farmer ... Determined to silence Ford, Sapiro demanded a retraction. The paper replied with still more defamatory articles. In 1925, Sapiro filed a federal libel suit in Detroit, requesting $1 million in damages. For nearly two years, the defense tried fruitlessly to prove that the articles were true--the only way a publisher could evade responsibility for libel ... Reed and the Ford lawyers underestimated Sapiro and the strength of his case, and Marshall misjudged its potential for strengthening the civil rights claims of American Jews ... As the trial careened toward its end, Ford became desperate to end the suit and avoid taking the witness stand. He ordered his bodyguard, Harry Bennett, to secure a mistrial. Bennett planted an interview with a juror in a Detroit newspaper, producing the desired result. Ford then hurriedly dispatched emissaries to meet with Marshall, who agreed not only to mediate the conflict but also secretly to write Ford’s statement of apology. Having criticized Sapiro for bringing litigation that he believed would only reinforce racist stereotypes, Marshall made sure that Ford’s apology was directed not to Sapiro but to the Jewish people. Thus, though American law did not then recognize hate speech as such, Marshall got Ford to sign a public statement that did," from "Suing Henry Ford: America's First Hate Speech Case," by Victoria Saker Woeste at the American Bar Foundation's website.
- Notes:
- Collection located at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. To schedule an appointment to view the original image, order high resolution copies, or seek permission to use an image, contact the Walter P. Reuther Library AudioVisual Department at reutherreference@wayne.edu., Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, and This metadata was created by Wayne State University Library system based on original description by the Walter P. Reuther Library
- Date Issued:
- 1927-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries and Walter P. Reuther Library
- Collection:
- Virtual Motor City