To the editor: Law professor James Q. Whitman’s article, while technically correct about the Nazis copying racist laws at the time in the U.S., misses the real point: Why did intelligent persons in power profess such ideas and codify them into despicable laws that classified races into sub-standard positions? (“When the Nazis wrote the Nuremberg laws, they looked to racist American statutes,” Opinion, Feb. 22) We must look to the trend setters of the day, including Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh, who professed a deep hatred of Jews and non-whites and supported their beliefs with the “science” of eugenics. Hitler was greatly influenced by Lindbergh, Ford and eugenics, and his “Mein Kampf” was replete with their ideas.
Ford later recanted his beliefs; Lindbergh never did, going to his grave in 1974 as a white supremacist and reputed Nazi sympathizer. The damage done by Ford and Lindbergh was immeasurable and irreversible.
We should not forget those who enabled the dissemination of these horrific and tragic ideas and teach our children accordingly.
David Ross, Beverly Hills
Poster Comment:
Can't help but wonbder what brought n this little hissyfit.