The Liberty Lobby
and Holocaust Denial

by A. H.

A student essay from Dr. Elliot Neaman's History 210 class (historical methods - spring 1998)

To the six million Jews that had their lives stripped of them during the Third Reich’s rule in Germany and throughout World War II, it seems odd that there are people that can deny the Holocaust ever happened. It is insulting to the lives lost and the fortunate ones that survived. Holocaust denial is real and prevalent in today’s society. It stems down from the well educated to the ignorant supremacist groups that claim the Holocaust never took place.

Although there are many different factors to Holocaust denial, this essay will focus on a more current issue that concerns the deniers. The Liberty Lobby and their associated publishing groups have pointed out various conspiracy theories about the Jewish-American community and particularly the Anti-Defamation League. These publishing companies and their authors have brought forth ideas about the Jewish-American community as manipulative and guilty of cohercing the American public of untruths concerning the Holocaust and other civil rights that are promoted by the Jewish-American Anti-Defamation League. These so-called lobbying groups of American patriotism claim that the Anti-Defamation League, (also referred to as the ADL), have sabotaged the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and are denying the "revisionists" their right to freedom of speech. These publication groups also make claims that the ADL is secretly conspiring against America by bribing the American government with financial assets. These claims in order to influence American communities and take over institutions such as schools, churches, federal agencies, etc., and implement ways of sensitivity training, (otherwise known as brainwashing), in order for Americans to believe that the Holocaust has taken place.

In the first argument to be presented, the Liberty Lobby has taken a strong stance against the ADL for manipulating American institutions and ultimately stripping the Liberty Lobby’s right to freedom of speech. The Liberty Lobby also claims that the ADL is responsible for the financial support of many American institutions in order to absolve patriotism from society. The Liberty Lobby claims that this is done by the ADL’s influence over industries like film, schools, and governments. The Liberty Lobby has taken such a strong stance behind this freedom of speech issue because of the Liberty Lobby’s attempt to reach audiences on college campuses with their antisemitism beliefs (Lipstadt). The ADL has taken a great position in the opposing side of the argument by doing all they can to expose the Liberty Lobby and its associates for their racist and fascist values.

The Noontide Press has published a novel titled Beyond Jamestown, which they use to claim that the Jewish-American community is brainwashing society through means of sensitivity training, much like the Guyana Jamestown cult leader of the 1970’s, James Warren Jones. This novel presents their argument through various situations that the author claims to have experienced. They too hold the ADL responsible for the supposed brainwashing of American society.

However, these arguments of the Holocaust Deniers are disputable. It can be proven that these deniers are not only fabricating evidence to prove their claim that the Holocaust never happened, but that these groups are anti-Semitic. The arguments that the ADL and other Jewish-American groups are brainwashing the American public into feeling sorry for the Jewish community. It will also be proven to be another false accusation that is driven by racists groups like the Liberty Lobby and the Noontide Press. The ADL is not a manipulating group of Jewish activism. Instead, they are a civil and human rights group to help rid the world of racism and Aryan supremacy. The ADL is not responsible for the first amendment, but for not allowing the Denier groups to manipulate the American public by to using the amendment in the Holocaust deniers favor. It is quite obvious that these groups are not responsible for promoting American patriotism, but rather for the hate in American institutions like schools, newspapers, and any other source of media that will help advance their repugnant cause. The Liberty Lobby and all other groups or persons associated with the cause of denying the Holocaust are not promoting American patriotism by attacking such Jewish-American groups like the ADL. Anti-Semitic groups, such as the Liberty Lobby and the Noontide Press, are responsible for promoting fascist views by manipulating society into believing that the Holocaust and the mistreatment of Jewish people never happened. Instead, the deniers believe the ADL is using conspiracy theory to brainwash society into feeling guilty and sorrowful for the Jewish community.

The central argument of the Deniers is to purposely attack the Anti-Defamation League as the leader in brainwashing society for support in the so-called conspiracy theories of unjustly forbidding the first amendment to various points of view. The Liberty Lobby is notorious for accusing the ADL for denying the Lobby’s right to America’s first amendment. "…I talked about the erosion of our constitutional rights, perhaps best exemplified by the suit between Liberty Lobby and the Anti-Defamation League involving the invasion by ADL of Liberty Lobby’s First Amendment freedom of speech to communicate with the American people (Liberty Lobby, 25)." At the time of this lawsuit, the Liberty Lobby was naming the ADL as an enemy of the American people and falsely accused them of defying American "patriotism" (Liberty Lobby, 5). In Conspiracy Against Freedom, a published documentation of the Liberty Lobby, they claim the ADL is behind the conspiracy of the public being denied the access to the "truth" about the ADL, the Jewish -American community, and most importantly the Holocaust.

"The ADL had used its heavy guns for years. As far back as the 1920’ it had officially attempted to stop the publication–and, that failing, any public mention- of various books which presented sociological, historical, or biological views or theories which did not serve the ADL’s ideological purposes. The ADL was very open in its appeals and threats in the early days, stating unashamedly that it wished to prevent the circulation of certain books or the appearance of certain speakers on the public platform or even at private gatherings. Those books, and the ideas of those speakers, the reader must understand, were not the products of irresponsible lunatics nor of religious fanatics shrieking obscene insults against their fellow citizens or advocating that they be burned at the stake. The books and speeches the ADL tried to suppress were thoughtful, serious, logical expressions of ideas, facts, and theories, which the ADL found objectionable and probably unanswerable. Certainly those persons the ADL was trying to silence presented more logical argument and evidence for their points of view than did the ADL, which has almost never troubled itself to present a factual and reasoned attack on any of its opponents, much less an argument against its opponents’ ideas." (32).

The Liberty Lobby is very open towards its obvious disapproval of the Anti-Defamation League. They also claim the ADL is able to support their message and prevent freedom of speech because of the money and influence the ADL "cooked up" and served in motion pictures and on television. This claim suggests that the ADL has portrayed Jews as being helpless and oppressed throughout time, especially during the Holocaust. Obviously the Liberty Lobby claims this portrayal of the international and American Jew in Hollywood is fake. The Lobby claims this is "force-fed" gluts of propaganda given to the American people in order to be manipulated by the ADL (Liberty Lobby, 32). In fact, a known Holocaust Denier, Michael Hoffman, has fabricated the claim that Steven Spielberg is guilty of falsifying the Talmud in his movie Schindler’s List. He refers to this in his website, The Campaign for Radical Truth. In this debate, he claims that Speilberg, like many of the past Jewish-Americans in Hollywood, is a cunning and deceptive propagandist whom has revealed the fact of the Talmud’s racism to his audience. The Liberty Lobby also say in their documentation Conspiracy Against Freedom, that the ADL is a group that operates in the interest of Jews only, and whose methods and philosophy are "alien" to American democracy, especially that pertaining to the freedom of speech (4).

Besides attacking the ADL for preventing opposing views through freedom of speech, Holocaust Deniers also believe the ADL and other Jewish civil rights groups are brainwashing the American public with thoughts that are in-line with their interest organizations-- groups the deniers feel are un-American. The Noontide Press, a notable Holocaust Denial organization, published a book titled Beyond Jamestown. The author, Ed Dieckmann, Jr. claims that the same technique of brainwashing used by the Guyana Jamestown cult leader of the 1970’s is very similar in the ways in which the ADL and other Jewish interest groups are brainwashing America. Dieckmann claims that the ADL and other Jewish-American organizations use sensitivity training in our public institutions like government agencies, schools, and industrial sectors. By using the same definition as the Church League of America, Dieckmann agrees with their definition of sensitivity training.

"In answer to the question, "What is Sensitivity Training?" they describe it as: ‘A form of instruction given small groups of persons by a trained leader who uses his power of persuasion to induce individuals to abandon "self" and personal privacy of body and thought and to submerge themselves into this group. This Homogenized group then becomes an entity subject to the direction of the leaders.’ And if that direction be death by murder or suicide? It would be difficult to find, anywhere, a definition that more exactly fits the People’s Temple of Jim Jones." (Dieckmann, 28)

This definition of sensitivity training Dieckmann claims as being brainwashing. He uses the following quote from the American Jewish Committee that supposedly is discussing about non-Jews and how they plan to corrupt those non-Jews by mans of brainwashing (Dieckmann, 32).

" ‘We must obtain more complete knowledge about the way people think and behave and the methods of modifying their thoughts and behavior in specific directions.’ If the word "people" in the above quotation of the American Jewish Committee you substitute either Gentiles, non-Jews, or Christians, you will understand why this chapter has to have the same title as Alfred M. Lilienthal’s magnificent study of Zionist power, which the Institute for Historical Review rightly calls "the comprehensive work on Israel and its extraordinary control over American affairs." (Dieckmann, 32)

Dieckmann also believes that the ADL promotion of inter-cultural education is part of this sensitivity training. On pages 36-37 in his book, Dieckmann gives examples of teachers that were forced to do disdainful acts of malevolence on a retreat backed by the ADL and many other Jewish-American civil rights groups.

"… in a move unknown by most Americans and forgotten by many who might have been puzzled by it at the time, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, backed by the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish Congress, launched the first workshop in the U.S., at Columbia University, in what it chose to call ‘intercultural education.’ Here, in the Fall of 1941, nearly four months before the United States, as World Zionism was determined, would enter World War II, the Zionist focus was already upon life after that war, as the ADL admitted in its bulletin October 1949." (Dieckmann, 36)

By comparing this educational "brainwashing" to the cultic brainwashing of Jim Jones, Dieckmann is making dramatic accusations against the ADL and its allies. He claims that the brainwashing of the ADL is condemning American patriotism-- much like the 913 Jim Jones followers that ended up committing mass suicide.

"And then Dr. Jones said something that at first puzzled me, but today, after all that has happened since, puzzles me no longer. ‘It also appears that Americans are inordinately susceptible to such conditioning.’ Thanks in large part, Dr. Jones might have added but could not, to the Zionist Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and its program of mind-bending ‘democratic group discussion,’ introduced in 1941 well before the United States entered World War II." (Dieckmann, 73)

Dieckmann obviously holds the view that the cult leader of Jamestown is comparable to an American civil rights group like the ADL. He also implies that the ADL was not very concerned with the Holocaust or World War II, but with what was to happen in the future.

The deniers have claimed that the ADL is one of the number one reasons Americans are ignorant of the conspiracy theories the Jewish communities are using in order to diminish American patriotism and believe in the truth of the Holocaust. However, the ADL has provided many counterattacks against the Liberty Lobby, the Noontide Press, and all of their supporters and associates. The ADL claims they are not the international Zionist group of Israel as the deniers have claimed, but instead see their mission as a means "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens (ADL online)."

The ADL also has many claims against the Liberty Lobby for being a notorious group interested in promoting racism and anti-Semitic views. In fact, the ADL claims that the founder of the Liberty Lobby, Willis Carto is "perhaps the most influential professional anti-Semite in the United States (ADL online)."

"In 1955, Carto announced that he was organizing ‘a lobby for patriotism’ which eventually became known as Liberty Lobby–presently the most influential right-wing propaganda organization in the United States. Previously, Carto has founded Western Destiny [sic] (also defunct), a magazine which during the 1960’s produced racist, Nazi-tinged articles; and Noontide Press which continues to publish and offer for sale anti-Jewish and pro-Nazi books." (ADL online)

Deborah Lipstadt, author of Denying the Holocaust, The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, also holds these views on Carto, founder of the Liberty Lobby.

"Willis Carto’s political vision is encapsulated by three things: contempt and revulsion for Jews, a belief in the need for an absolutist government that would protect the ‘racial heritage’ of the United States, and a conviction that there exists a conspiracy designed to bring dire harm to the Western world." (Lipstadt, 145)

Lipstadt also sheds light onto the Liberty Lobby’s claim against the ADL conspiring to deny the first amendment to any group with opposing views. On page 14, Lipstadt claims the ADL has stood against the Liberty Lobby for more than twenty years because they have propagated antisemitism and racism in the United States. The author goes on to refer to a lawsuit the Lobby filed against the Wall Street Journal for calling the Lobby antisemites. Lipstadt claims the District Court for the Washington D.C. ruled against the Lobby and "concluded to imagine a case in which the evidence of antisemitism was ‘more compelling.’

The ADL also attacks Carto on their homepage as being a racist. They claim, "A racist as well as an anti-Semite, Carto complained during the 1950’s that ‘only a few American are concerned about the inevitable niggerfication of America.’ The ADL also acknowledges Carto’s hatred for Jews in this excerpt from the late columnist Drew Pearson.

"If Satan himself, with all of his superhuman genius and diabolical ingenuity at his command, had tried to create a permanent disintegration and force for the destruction of the nations, he could have done no better than to invent the Jews. …In a subsequent memo, Carto elaborated on these beliefs: Who is using who? Who is calling the shots? History supplies the answer to this. History tells us plainly who our Enemy is. Our Enemy today is the same Enemy of 50 years ago and before–and that was before Communism. The Communist are ‘using’ the Jews we are told… [W]ho was ‘using’ the Jew 50 years ago–100 or 1,000 years ago. History supplies the answer. The Jews came first and remain Public Enemy No. 1." (ADL online)

The ADL also says that Carto openly stated in 1979 that the Holocaust was an "atrocity propaganda" and that the motivation of those who promote the Holocaust were "Zionist predators" that tried to make the Western world feel guilty about something Carto claims never happened (ADL online). ADL online also states that Liberty Lobby distributes its publications to target audiences like the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, and various skinhead gangs.

Lipstadt also claims that "According to a former editor of the Liberty Lobby, Carto’s antisemitic activities were too extreme even for Welch, a known antisemite, who personally fired him (144)." The ADL and Holocaust supporters obviously see the Liberty Lobby as a group that was founded on racism and cultural hatred, therefore making any propaganda the Lobby makes public, false. The John Birch Society was not the only group that found Carto and his Liberty Lobby with distorted political philosophies and theories.

"In 1981 William F. Buckley described the Liberty Lobby as ‘a hotbed of antisemitism’ centered around the ‘mysterious’ Carto, who regularly poisons the wells of political discourse.’ The conservative weekly Human Events condemned the Liberty Lobby as an organization that exploited racist and antisemitic sentiments and Carto as someone who has long maintained sympathy for Hitler’s Germany. Buckley’s National Review, which accused Carto of always having ‘his eyes on Jewry,’ warned that it was not only Carto’s antisemitism that was dangerous but his philosophy of pure power, which was alien and fundamentally hostile to the American tradition." (Lipstadt, 145)

Lipstadt also refers to the hatred of Jews Carto publicly expressed. On page 146, Lipstadt also claims that during World War II, Carto felt the Jew’s influence on America was the reason for the west not to see the benefits of allaying with Hitler. In the 1960’s Carto was notorious for participating in many political groups that were allies of right-wing American values.

"The United Republican for America, which was designed to win control of the Republican Party, conducted a direct mail campaign for G. Gordon Liddy’s race in New York. He also helped found Youth for Wallace, which, after supporting George Wallace’s presidential aspirations, became the National Youth Alliance (NYA). Officially the goals of the NYA were to oppose drugs, black power, the left-wing Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and American involvement in foreign wars." (Lipstadt 148-149)

The ADL was also under attack by Dieckmann for supposedly brainwashing the American public into feeling guilty and responsible for the Holocaust. However, the ADL says that they support intercultural education as an international concept that can help fight racism and discrimination (ADL online). The ADL has set-up a program called, A World of Difference, where the ADL institute works in elementary and high schools, on college campuses and in neighborhoods, in private industry and public agencies, all over the globe (ADL online). Its goal is to help people find a way to conquer discrimination and prepare students and adults for the future (ADL online). The ADL does fell they are trying to brainwash anybody, especially Americans. In fact, the ADL’s World of Difference program was invited by the German government to "come over and help fight racial violence that was sweeping its country (ADL online)." ADL online also claims they work with members of Congress in support of the domestic anti-terrorism. The League is responsible for organizing educational, political, and legal means to fight terrorism (ADL online).

The deniers have been able to twist around information in order to make the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish-American community seem as though they are taking advantage of American patriotism and tradition. The consistent charges on the ADL are invalid to the claimed conspiracy theory of brainwashing the deniers are using to promote racism. For instance, the validity of the Liberty Lobby is nothing more than mere racist hatred and holds no educational value to the reader.

The Liberty Lobby claims that the ADL is responsible for preventing freedom of speech to groups that do not comply with the Jewish community. However, this claim is invalid because America is a democratic country where, all groups are welcome to voice their opinions. The ADL is not entirely responsible for the U.S. Constitution as the Liberty Lobby claims.

"To call rejection of the ad censorship was to ignore the fact that, unlike the government, whose actions are limited by the First Amendment, these papers do not have a monopoly of force. If the government denies someone the right to publish, they have no other option to publish in this country. But if a paper rejects someone’s column, ad, or letter, there are always other publications. The First Amendment does not guarantee access to private publication. It is designed to serve as a shield to protect individuals and institutions from government interference in their affairs. It is not a sword by which every person who makes an outlandish statement or notorious claim can invoke a Constitutional right to be published." (Lipstadt, 191)

It is obvious that Lipstadt is showing how the Holocaust denier claim of the first amendment not being available to them is invalid. It is not the ADL who runs this country, but the elected officials who Americans vote in. The first amendment is not supposed to allow groups that promote racism and hatred. Lipstadt is right when she referred to the statement of the first amendment not being a "sword by which every person who makes an outlandish statement or notorious claim can invoke a Constitutional right to be published" (191). The Liberty Lobby has done just that–made outlandish claims on the ADL and tried to use the Constitution as a means of protection for promoting racist propaganda–none of which American patriotism was founded on. However, it is unlikely that even groups like the Liberty Lobby or the Noontide Press will be forbidden their right to the first amendment because these groups have many books, websites, journals, etc. still in circulation today.

Earlier in this paper, Lipstadt is referred to for an example of a lawsuit the Liberty Lobby brought against the Wall Street Journal. Examining this quote again can help to clarify the ADL and other Jewish interest groups are not behind a hidden conspiracy to keep these groups out of America’s public.

"The Wall street Journal and ADL the are not alone in their assessment. When Carto and the Liberty Lobby sued the Wall Street Journal for calling them antisemites, the District Court for the District of Colombia ruled against them and concluded that it would be difficult to imagine a case in which the evidence of antisemitism was "more compelling." (Lipstadt 145)

The Liberty Lobby really takes an extremist point of view when they accuse the ADL as being the main reason for prevention of freedom of speech. This extremist point of view from the Liberty Lobby and its founder has been pointed out as being so far the right-wing that even conservative journals and other right-wing organizations feel the Lobby exploit racism and promote hate propaganda (Lipstadt, 144-145). Also, in the Liberty Lobby’s published book, Conspiracy Against Freedom, when it refers to specific examples of the ADL "prohibiting" the Lobby from freedom of speech, it does not refer to any specific dates or provide valid time periods when this took place (Dieckmann, 5). The authors and publishers of this text also have what Barzun and Graff refer to as a subjective point of view in their fifth edition of The Modern Researcher (174). The Liberty Lobby has already established an antisemitic bias towards the ADL and any other Jewish civil rights group. From an educated stance at the information the Liberty Lobby is providing their text with cannot be valid. The Liberty Lobby is obviously voicing their hatred for the ADL in their text, so it can not be regarded to hold the whole truth of the ongoing debates between the ADL and the Liberty Lobby. When any text is published with a bias, such as Conspiracy Against Freedom, it is certain that there will be applicable truths lost about the opposing party (Barzun & Graff, 186-187).

It has also been noticeable that the Liberty Lobby tries to play on the Jew versus the non-Jew presence in America. In their text, they referred to Jews trying to conspire against Gentiles and other non-Jews by a means of brainwashing (32). Nowhere in the quote they used from the American Jewish Committee or in the appendix for this quote, does the committee state or imply they are conspiring against non-Jews in order to brainwash them (32). In fact in the appendix that is footnoted states that the American Jewish Committee is about informing Christians of Jewish religious values and rituals so antisemitism can be prevented.

"In the 40’s, the necessity for reconstruction and the rehabilitation of Jews abroad, the need for liberalized immigration into this country, the necessity for understanding and supporting the United Nations, particularly with respect to the inclusion of human rights concept in its charter, the struggle over Israel and its ultimate creation, were all reflected in AJC’s, [American Jewish Committee], expanded program of domestic education, as well as in its on-the-spot activities in countries abroad." (Dieckmann, 160)

This quote therefore was distorted from Dieckmann and interpreted to reader as being a ploy for the American Jewish Committee, an associate of the ADL, for brainwashing purposes. Dieckmann has clearly crossed the line when interpreting a quote he claims the AJC has stated, but provides no evidence in the Appendix or text as to when and where this quote came from. By using this quote, Dieckmann has brought up circumstantial evidence of the American Jewish Committee and has tried to incorporate it into substantial prove of a Jewish civil rights group plotting to brainwash America.

As quoted earlier in this paper, Dieckmann accuses the ADL of brainwashing America under what is referred to as "intercultural education" (36). Dieckmann and his associates believe that intercultural education is a result of sensitivity training, the training they claim the ADL has been historically pushing on American institutions since 1941 (36). Dieckmann, however well of a writer, is not a good reference for historical matters. On the back cover of his text, the Noontide Press claims that Dieckmann graduated from San Diego State University with distinctions in English. In the same context the Noontide press states he has published many articles in various Holocaust denier publications such as The American Mercury and The Mark Twain Journal. His claim to knowledge of sensitivity training is his refusal to teach it as a training officer at the Parole Academy with the California Department of Corrections. The Noontide Press goes on to state Dieckmann refused to teach this because he recognized it as "identical to the self-criticism of communist regimes," that are like "the current efforts to use sensitivity training to push the Holocaust myth (Dieckmann, backcover)." The historical validity of Dieckmann’s convictions is too inexperienced to question his knowledge of sensitivity training as a means of brainwashing. In fact, the Noontide Press, his own publishers, suggested that Dieckmann’s experience with the "brainwashing" training he refused to teach be based on his own assumptions. Nowhere in the text or appendix of the book is Dieckmann able to significantly prove his theory of sensitivity training as a means of the ADL or any other Jewish civil rights group, as a means of brainwashing the American public.

Through many hours of research, it is still hard to define any other reason for Holocaust denial than pure hatred and racism. It seems like the Deniers really try to come across to the public as educated and accomplished. However, time and time again no Denier has come up with a real historical fact or theory to prove their point. These Deniers rather base their facts or knowledge on circumstantial evidence that is usually the result of another failed Denier. It is difficult to find any Holocaust denial information that has not been published by a group or person that has been exposed as expressing their ideas as racist, or provided any historical facts that can not be considerably disputed.

The reason the idea for Holocaust deniers promoting conspiracy theories about civil rights groups like the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish rights groups is because of what these Holocaust denier ideas promote. The main purpose behind Holocaust deniers making accusations against organizations like the ADL is to promote racism and spread hate propaganda. The Deniers would like to see programs like the ADL's A World of Difference Institute fail because of the positive influence it has on bringing an understanding of various cultures. Any organization, like the ADL is open to Holocaust Deniers sarcasm and criticism because like all racist groups, they are obsessed with the want for America–a country built by minorities and immigrants, turn into Hitler’s vision of an Aryan nation. The deniers would like to reach as many people possible and force their ideas of hate through discriminatory propaganda. The more publicity they receive, the easier it is for them to ruin the truth of American History. This topic adds to our knowledge of the truth of the Nazi genocide because it proves the extreme length Deniers will go to in order for the public to believe the Holocaust never happened. Here, they went as far as trying to convince the public into believing Jewish civil rights groups is brainwashing America and conspiring to fill the world with distorted Jewish views. However, the evidence presented in this paper can expose the public to the real conspiring group–the Holocaust Deniers.

The topics presented here provide the audience with an objective point of view about the Holocaust Denier's claims against the ADL and their associates. After providing reliable and astute evidence, it is clear that the evidence provided by the Deniers is invalid to their accusations and is based on nothing but circumstanical evidence and personal opinion. Any group that can be noted as associating with known racist or hate propaganda and then ask the public to take their views seriously–even when presenting the most unreal and extremist thoughts-- can not expect to receive any kind of educational reverence or authority. To the six million that died during the Holocaust, this accusation against the ADL and Jewish civil rights groups is pure disgrace.

Bibliography