page_title: Ernest G. Liebold
section_title: Antisemitism
hierarchical_section_title: Ernest G. Liebold / Antisemitism
caption_attribution_description: English: Article The International Jew: The World's Problem in Henry Ford's newspaper The Dearborn Independent, May 22, 1920.
context_page_description: Ernest G. Liebold was the business representative and personal secretary of Henry Ford. A fervent antisemite, he took an active part in the antisemitic campaign conducted by the industrialist's weekly newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, from 1920 to 1927. He was also put under investigation by the United States Department of War for being a suspected German spy during the First World War.
context_section_description: In 1918 Liebold purchased on Ford's behalf The Dearborn Independent, a small-town newspaper owned by Marcus Woodruff; Ford's intent was to publish a weekly magazine in which to express his own views on politics, economy, and society. Edwin G. Pipp, former editor for The Detroit News and a friend of Ford, became the newspaper's editor, and Fred L. Black was appointed business manager; Liebold was nominated general manager and, together with journalist William J. Cameron, curated "Mr. Ford's Own Page," a weekly feature devoted to Ford's thoughts. On March 31, 1920, Pipp resigned as editor, in protest over the increasingly antisemitic editorial line of the newspaper: starting in the early months of 1919, the Independent had indeed begun publishing articles condemning the 'noxious influence of the Jews,' mostly on Liebold's initiative.
  According to several Independent employees, including Pipp and Black, Liebold manipulated Henry Ford and fomented his hatred of the Jews: Pipp stated that "the door to Ford's mind was always open to anything Liebold wanted to shove in it, and during that time Mr. Ford developed a dislike for the Jews, a dislike which appeared to become stronger and more bitter as time went on... In one way and another, the feeling oozed into his system until it became a part of his living self." Fred Black asserted: "If I were to put the number one blame [for Ford's antisemitism] on anyone, I would put it on Liebold."
  The Independent contributed to the diffusion of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Russian forgery describing a fictional Jewish plan for world domination. The text was purportedly brought to the United States by a Russian army officer in 1917, and translated into English by Natalie de Bogory (personal assistant of Harris A. Houghton, an officer of the Department of War) in June 1918; Boris Brasol, a Russian expatriate, soon circulated it in American government circles, specifically diplomatic and military, in typescript form. Liebold later came into contact with Brasol, who gave him a copy of the English translation of the Protocols; Liebold immediately handed it to William Cameron, appointed editor of the Independent after Pipp's resignation, and the forgery was published in serial form starting with the June 26, 1920 issue.
  Liebold also held Nazi sympathies; in September 1938, just two months after Ford received the Grand Cross of the German Eagle, he was awarded the Order of the German Eagle, First Class, the second highest diplomatic honor of the Third Reich.
caption: First page of the May 22, 1920 issue of The Dearborn Independent
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