Reprinted from March 2016
TOM WATSON v. LEO FRANK
A reminder from our Spiritual Leader who will never stop teaching and inspiring us. “לצז”
The news media in recent times have been filled with episodes about members of minority groups who were victimized by miscarriages of justice. Jews are not immune to the problem. One of the most shocking examples of this in American history occurred in 1913 during the trial of Leo M. Frank who was accused of murdering Mary Phagan, a fourteen year-old girl, who worked in the pencil factory which he managed, on the flimsiest of evidence and in an atmosphere seething with bigotry and prejudice.
One of the key personalities who railroaded Frank was a prominent Georgian politician named Tom Watson. The Frank family initially offered Watson $5,000 to become the defense attorney; but Watson turned it down in order to devote his energies to helping the prosecution. In the newspaper which he published, called “The Jeffersonian,” he wrote about the case in almost every issue for a year. He warned the people of Georgia that Frank belonged to the Jewish aristocracy whose members were determined that none of their group would die for the death of a working-class Gentile. Furthermore, Watson contended that anyone could see that Frank was a lascivious pervert that just by looking at a picture of his “bulging satyr eyes…the sensual eyes, and also the animal jaw.” When Governor Slaton commuted Frank’s sentence, Watson who had originally been one of Slaton’s most ardent supporters, now became his arch enemy. Watson claimed that Slaton’s action was nothing less than a rape and betrayal of the state. He proceeded to encourage the lynch mobs and declared that when “mobs are no longer possible, liberty will be dead.” He predicted that the next Leo Frank case would never even reach the courthouse, because “the next Jew who does what Frank did, is going to get exactly the same thing that we give to black rapists.” Shortly thereafter, The Ku Klux Klan began its activities in Georgia; and the distinguished C. Van Woodward says that while Watson didn’t actually found the organization, if any mortal man may be credited with releasing the forces of human malice, ignorance, and prejudice, which the Klan merely mobilized, that man was Tom Watson.
You might be surprised to learn that this same Tom Watson is regarded as a benevolent and enlightened leader of the Populist Movement in America which called for economic and political reforms that would help both American farmers and workers. Watson maintained that the government had a responsibility for the economic well-being of its citizens and must enact policies that will end oppression, injustice, and poverty. He also supported political reforms to eliminate corruption and make government more democratic such as its use of secret ballot in all elections; the use of initiative and referendum to make government officials more responsible to the people; and the direct election of senators. Watson even tried to break down the hostility of poor white farmers to poor blacks in his home state of Georgia.
How do you account for Tom Watson’s progressive and human political philosophy, on the one hand, and his unrelenting hostility toward Jews, on the other. Unfortunately, such a dichotomy is all too common. How many good-hearted souls do you know who are worried about the persecution of the underclass in remote corners of the world; but who are totally uninterested in the plight of oppressed Jews? How many sensitive souls respond with care and concern to the Palestinian grievances but are utterly oblivious to the legitimate grievances of Israel? How many countries are there like Nazi Germany which manifested the acme of culture and refinement in all areas of life save their attitude toward the Jews who were treated as the human scum.
The sad truth is that Tom Watson has a lot of company. He is a notorious exemplar of the innumerable humans of the world. The Tom Watsons of the world remind us that Jew hatred is the oldest and most deeply rooted malady of the human soul, and the one most resistant to therapy. That is why the ultimate test of a civilization is its attitude toward the Jews. Jews are people too; hence, if they are mistreated today, somebody else may be victim tomorrow. When Jews are treated fairly and justly all over the world, so will all other people; and the human race will have earned the blessing of God’s eternal love and solicitude.
Dr. Rabbi Alvin Kass