Ep 305: The UN, Society, and Antisemitism with Susanne Seperson and guest JD Solomon P2 on hmTv

Podcast Title: The UN, Society, and Antisemitism
Episode 305 (Part 2)
Host: Dr. Susanne Seperson
Guest: J.D. Solomon
Series: hmTv

Description:
In Part 2 of The UN, Society, and Antisemitism on hmTv, host Dr. Susanne Seperson continues her gripping conversation with author and historian J.D. Solomon, diving deeper into the rise of antisemitism in pre-World War II America and the powerful public figures who fueled it.

Together, they unpack the influence of Father Charles Coughlin, the infamous “radio priest” who broadcast antisemitic propaganda to tens of millions; Henry Ford, whose newspaper The Dearborn Independent spread The Protocols of the Elders of Zion across the nation; and Charles Lindbergh, whose isolationist speeches revealed a troubling admiration for Nazi Germany.

The discussion moves from history to proximity, exposing the existence of Camp Siegfried — a Nazi youth camp in Yaphank, Long Island — and the Silver Shirts, a homegrown fascist movement that mirrored Hitler’s Germany.

Dr. Seperson and Solomon then connect these historical threads to today’s landscape — from modern hate speech and Christian nationalism to the disturbing reemergence of antisemitism in American life.

This episode is both a history lesson and a wake-up call, reminding us that hate left unchecked doesn’t disappear — it evolves.

Keywords: antisemitism, Father Coughlin, Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Silver Shirts, Camp Siegfried, German American Bund, Holocaust education, hate speech, Christian nationalism, hmTv, Susanne Seperson, J.D. Solomon

Transcript

Podcast Title: The UN, Society, and Antisemitism

Episode 305 — Part 2

Host: Dr. Susanne Seperson
Guest: J.D. Solomon
Series: hmTv

Susanne Seperson:
Hello, and thank you for joining me today. I'm your host, Dr. Susanne Blyeber Seperson, and this is our 12th episode of the podcast Antisemitism in the United States and in Society on hmTv.

It is my pleasure to welcome back our guest, Mr. J.D. Solomon, a writer of historical fiction.

We now turn to Part Two of our discussion. In Part One, we examined several major historical cases — including Leo Frank, Leopold and Loeb, and Daisy Douglas Barr, a female leader in what we might call the antisemitism movement of her time.

Today, we move forward to explore several powerful public figures whose words and actions spread antisemitism across America — among them Father Charles Coughlin, Henry Ford, and Charles Lindbergh.

Susanne:
Let’s begin with Father Charles Coughlin. He was a Canadian-American Catholic priest based near Detroit, and one of the first mass media influencers — known as “the radio priest.” During the 1930s, when America’s population was about 120 million, he drew an estimated 30 million listeners to his weekly broadcasts.

Mr. Solomon, what do you think attracted so many people to such a demagogue?

J.D. Solomon:
Father Coughlin really was the forerunner of what we’d now call hate radio — and even hate podcasting.

His appeal came from the same dark place that still fuels such figures today: fear, blame, and the desire for a simple villain. Coughlin was charismatic, passionate, and very skilled at weaponizing religion and patriotism.

At his peak, he reached one in five American households every week, blaming Jews for virtually everything wrong with the world. He openly admired Adolf Hitler, despised President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was fiercely anti-interventionist before World War II.

The Church eventually forced him off the air, but he continued through a newspaper and a political movement — until the FBI finally shut him down. At his height, he was terrifyingly influential.

Susanne:
It’s remarkable that someone could flip-flop so freely — anti-Communist one day, pro-socialist the next, isolationist then fascist — and yet still command such loyalty.

His downfall, I suppose, came after Kristallnacht in 1938, when he defended Nazi actions and accused Jewish-owned radio stations of silencing him.

He even plagiarized speeches from Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister. That’s beyond shocking.

J.D. Solomon:
Yes, exactly. After 1941 — when the U.S. entered the war — his reputation collapsed. He was exposed as an enemy sympathizer, and his influence evaporated. But the damage was done.

Susanne:
Let’s move from the “radio priest” to one of America’s industrial giants — Henry Ford.

Ford, of course, revolutionized manufacturing and modernized America. But he also published and promoted The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Russian czarist fabrication, through his newspaper The Dearborn Independent.

Would you comment on his role?

J.D. Solomon:
Absolutely. Ford was a rabid antisemite. In the 1920s, The Dearborn Independent ran constant headlines like “The Problem of World Jewry.”

He distributed this propaganda nationwide — to his factory workers, to consumers, even including copies of his newspaper in the glove boxes of new Model T’s.

After years of backlash and a growing Jewish boycott, he finally shut down the paper in 1927 and issued a half-hearted apology.

But his influence endured. There’s even evidence — perhaps apocryphal — that Ford sent birthday gifts to Adolf Hitler for years. Hitler himself admired Ford deeply.

Ford helped normalize antisemitism as “respectable.” He was the corporate face of prejudice.

Susanne:
Chilling. And then, another American icon — Charles Lindbergh.

He was a national hero for his solo transatlantic flight in 1927, but also a key voice in the America First Committee, an isolationist group that sought to keep the U.S. out of the war.

What turned Lindbergh toward antisemitism?

J.D. Solomon:
Lindbergh was a complex, contradictory man — brilliant, brave, and deeply misguided.

He subscribed to eugenics, the false science of racial hierarchy that was fashionable in the 1920s and 30s. He saw humanity as a hierarchy — with people like himself at the top. That ideology bound him spiritually to the Nazis.

He moved to England after his child’s kidnapping and visited Nazi Germany multiple times, touring Luftwaffe airfields and armament factories at Hermann Göring’s invitation.

In 1938, he received Germany’s highest civilian honor, just as Henry Ford had. He accepted it — and refused to return it.

In his infamous Des Moines speech on September 11, 1941, Lindbergh accused “the Jews” of pushing America into war. He said the quiet part out loud — and was rightly condemned.

After Pearl Harbor, he tried to make amends by flying combat missions in the Pacific, but the stain of that speech never faded.

He embodied how easily heroism can be tainted by hate.

Susanne:
That’s such an important insight. And yet, this pattern — blaming Jews as a unifying scapegoat — keeps repeating.

One group you mentioned that I had never heard of was the Silver Shirts. Tell us about them.

J.D. Solomon:
The Silver Shirts were a small, militant, pro-fascist organization aligned with the Ku Klux Klan.

They claimed a million members — probably far fewer — and published headlines like “Free Speech Stopped by Jew Riot” or “German Jews Get What They Asked For.”

They took their cues straight from Nazi Germany’s propaganda machine, trying to convince Americans that Jewish persecution was “deserved.”

They were fringe, but symptomatic of the normalized antisemitism that infected the 1930s.

Susanne:
Indeed. And speaking of that — let’s go local: Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, Long Island.

It’s almost unbelievable to people today that a Nazi youth camp operated in New York — with streets named after Hitler and Goebbels.

How did this exist in plain sight for so long?

J.D. Solomon:
Camp Siegfried was part of a national network of Nazi-themed children’s camps run by the German-American Bund, founded in 1935.

They trained kids in Nazi ideology while hosting massive rallies for parents on weekends. The Long Island Railroad even ran a special “Siegfried Express” train from Penn Station directly to Yaphank.

After Pearl Harbor, the camp was closed, but the surrounding community — German Gardens — remained for decades. Incredibly, property deeds there still contained racial covenants restricting ownership to those of “German ancestry” — until 2017, when New York’s Attorney General finally struck them down.

It’s a reminder of how deeply hate can embed itself — even in the soil beneath our feet.

Susanne:
Yes — and how frighteningly close it all was.

Now, let’s talk about how these ideas linger. You mentioned the Ku Klux Klan still existing — and indeed, I’ve seen that firsthand.

Even today, antisemitism is alive — whether through extremist movements or college campus protests that verge into hate speech. How do you make sense of this “full circle” moment we’re in?

J.D. Solomon:
It’s sobering. I’m less concerned about the outbursts on college campuses or election rhetoric — those flare up and fade.

What truly worries me is the resurgence of Christian nationalism and the normalization of hate speech through modern media — especially podcasts and online influencers echoing Father Coughlin’s rhetoric to millions.

What’s missing today is a unified, immediate, forceful condemnation from leaders — political, religious, and cultural.

When hate speech goes unchecked, it becomes hate action. We’ve seen it — in Pittsburgh, in Manchester, in Washington, D.C. Words are never just words.

Susanne:
Absolutely. Hate speech and hate action must be condemned across the board — from every side, in every sector: politics, media, entertainment, and sports.

There’s no room for it in a civilized society.

Mr. Solomon, I want to thank you — for your historical insight, for your courage in confronting this darkness, and for reminding us that awareness is our best defense.

And to our listeners: please subscribe, share, and stay connected for more enlightening conversations.

Until next time — make it our time. Take care, and be well.

[End of Episode 305 — Part 2]