Q: How did you feel about the Des Moines speech?
AML: Well, I was very distressed about it because he mentioned the Jews and
said he felt the Jews were responsible for getting us into the war. Which I
guess they were, which one can certainly understand. But I didn't want him to
mention the Jews, because I felt he would be called anti-Semitic, which he was.
I was very upset by his mentioning the Jews. And he never got over that label.
And he didn't feel that way at all, he wasn't anti-Semitic and in fact his best
friend was Harry Guggenheim. I mean, he just wasn't, but anything was used to
tear him down.
I was against his making that speech. And he said, "But why? It's perfectly
true, isn't it?" I said, "Yes, but it's like lighting a match next to a heap
of excelsior. That's what you're doing." And which it turned out to be.
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