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The Jewish Threat Anti-semitic Politics Of The American Army
While the pervasive anti-Semitism of "ordinary" Germans in the first half of the twentieth century has received much attention lately, very little has been written about America's own history of anti-Semitism. In this shocking book, Joseph Bendersky argues that such racism permeated the highest ranks of the U.S. military throughout the past century, having a very real effect on policy decisions. Through ten years of research in more than thirty-five archives, the author has uncovered irrefutable evidence of an endemic and virulent anti-Semitism throughout the Army Corps from the turn of the century right up to the 1970s. These sources reveal how the "Secret Americans" (a group of officers who described themselves as true patriots and who felt silenced by Roosevelt) were convinced of the physical, intellectual, and moral inferiority of Jews and feared that their "superior" Anglo-Saxon/Nordic culture was threatened by a radical and destabilizing Jewish conspiracy. This fully developed and clearly articulated perspective had a direct effect on policy discussions and decisions, affecting such matters as immigration, refugees, military strategy, and the establishment of Israel. Secret agents scoured Europe in a desperate attempt to prove the existence of the Jewish conspiracy. General Moseley, a close friend of Eisenhower's and one of the Army's most decorated officers, demanded the sterilization of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. During the war, the Chief of the Naval Institute claimed the stream of Jewish refugees from Europe was just a money-making scheme. Even in the 1970s, retired officers were still warning against the secret forces of Judaism and their supposed manipulation of presidents and the American public (even going so far as to label Kissinger a KGB spy). Written with novelistic intensity and attention to intriguing detail, The "Jewish Threat" is the first documented examination of a functioning anti-Semitic worldview within an American institution of government and adds an entirely new dimension to the history of the U.S. Army. It forces us to revise some of our cherished notions about our country and its most revered leaders.
560 pages, Hardcover
First published October 17, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 18, 2023
Our Politically Incorrect Past
~ Ron Unz, "American Pravda: Secrets of Military Intelligence" (2019)
This is a thoroughly excellent study that ironically proves what the author sought to disprove.
Three reviews of this book:
1.) John Wear: http://www.wearswar.com/2018/12/24/ex...
2.) Kevin MacDonald, PhD: http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/benders...
3.) Ron Unz: https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pra...
[Bendersky's] subtitle is "Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army" and he makes an extremely compelling case that during the first half of the twentieth century and even afterward, the top ranks of the U.S. military and especially Military Intelligence heavily subscribed to notions that today would be universally dismissed as "anti-Semitic conspiracy theories."
Put simply, U.S. military leaders in those decades widely believed that the world faced a direct threat from organized Jewry, which had seized control of Russia and similarly sought to subvert and gain mastery over America and the rest of Western civilization.
~ Ron Unz, "American Pravda: Secrets of Military Intelligence" (2019)
This is a thoroughly excellent study that ironically proves what the author sought to disprove.
Three reviews of this book:
1.) John Wear: http://www.wearswar.com/2018/12/24/ex...
2.) Kevin MacDonald, PhD: http://www.kevinmacdonald.net/benders...
3.) Ron Unz: https://www.unz.com/runz/american-pra...
March 29, 2013
For one reason or another, several of the books I've read lately—most recently this one and Salo Aizenberg's Hatemail: Anti-Semitism on Picture Postcards—have dealt not just with antisemitism, but with American antisemitism, at least in part. And as one day before I wrote this review, I visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, a book on antisemitism in the American military establishment is perhaps particularly apt.
This book by Joseph W. Bendersky, The "Jewish Threat": Anti-Semitic Politics Of The U.S. Army, discusses, in a nutshell, how from the late nineteenth century, through the First World War, and even lingering through the 1960s, much of the officer corps of the American military viewed Jews as alien non-Americans out to destroy Christian America and irreparably tarred as Communist infiltrators. Social Darwinism abounded at the Military War College where most officers trained, and ultimately events such as the refugee crisis of the Shoah and the establishment of the State of Israel were colored by this prejudice against the Jewish people. That Bendersky backs up his research over the course of a decade with more than 100 pages of tightly-printed endnotes copiously documented from the officer corps' own records—and presented in an eminently readable, novel-like tone—only serves to bolster the truth of Bendersky's arguments. Now, my grandfather served in the Second World War as an openly Jewish officer, having trained in ROTC at MIT and ultimately being honorably discharged as a Major; however, Bendersky, rather than announce universal trouble for Jews in the military, further enhances his arguments by admitting—again, based on available evidence—that things markedly improved by World War II, and proceeded thereafter in the same vein.
That being said, where The "Jewish Threat" faces difficulty, as with Hatemail, is in Bendersky's (and Aizenberg's) overwillingness to impute antisemitic motives to regular individuals. However, this is the exception rather than the rule in The "Jewish Threat", and this truly scholarly work contributes greatly to an understanding of antisemitism in the United States. Perhaps when I get around to reading, say, Laurel Leff's Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper or Deborah E. Lipstadt's Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945, I'll get an even better, fuller view of the landscape.
This book by Joseph W. Bendersky, The "Jewish Threat": Anti-Semitic Politics Of The U.S. Army, discusses, in a nutshell, how from the late nineteenth century, through the First World War, and even lingering through the 1960s, much of the officer corps of the American military viewed Jews as alien non-Americans out to destroy Christian America and irreparably tarred as Communist infiltrators. Social Darwinism abounded at the Military War College where most officers trained, and ultimately events such as the refugee crisis of the Shoah and the establishment of the State of Israel were colored by this prejudice against the Jewish people. That Bendersky backs up his research over the course of a decade with more than 100 pages of tightly-printed endnotes copiously documented from the officer corps' own records—and presented in an eminently readable, novel-like tone—only serves to bolster the truth of Bendersky's arguments. Now, my grandfather served in the Second World War as an openly Jewish officer, having trained in ROTC at MIT and ultimately being honorably discharged as a Major; however, Bendersky, rather than announce universal trouble for Jews in the military, further enhances his arguments by admitting—again, based on available evidence—that things markedly improved by World War II, and proceeded thereafter in the same vein.
That being said, where The "Jewish Threat" faces difficulty, as with Hatemail, is in Bendersky's (and Aizenberg's) overwillingness to impute antisemitic motives to regular individuals. However, this is the exception rather than the rule in The "Jewish Threat", and this truly scholarly work contributes greatly to an understanding of antisemitism in the United States. Perhaps when I get around to reading, say, Laurel Leff's Buried by the Times: The Holocaust and America's Most Important Newspaper or Deborah E. Lipstadt's Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933-1945, I'll get an even better, fuller view of the landscape.
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June 11, 2025“Bendersky devoted ten full years of research to his book, exhaustively mining the archives of American Military Intelligence as well as the personal papers and correspondence of more than 100 senior military figures and intelligence officers. The “Jewish Threat” runs over 500 pages, including some 1350 footnotes, with the listed archival sources alone occupying seven full pages. His subtitle is “Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army” and he makes an extremely compelling case that during the first half of the twentieth century and even afterward, the top ranks of the U.S. military and especially Military Intelligence heavily subscribed to notions that today would be universally dismissed as “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”
Put simply, U.S. military leaders in those decades widely believed that the world faced a direct threat from organized Jewry, which had seized control of Russia and similarly sought to subvert and gain mastery over America and the rest of Western civilization.
In these military circles, there was an overwhelming belief that powerful Jewish elements had financed and led Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, and were organizing similar Communist movements elsewhere aimed at destroying all existing Gentile elites and imposing Jewish supremacy throughout America and the rest of the Western world. While some of these Communist leaders were “idealists,” many of the Jewish participants were cynical opportunists, seeking to use their gullible followers to destroy their ethnic rivals and thereby gain wealth and supreme power. Although Intelligence officers gradually came to doubt that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was an authentic document, most believed that the notorious work provided a reasonably accurate description of the strategic plans of the Jewish leadership for subverting America and the rest of the world and establishing Jewish rule.
Although Bendersky’s claims are certainly extraordinary ones, he provides an enormous wealth of compelling evidence to support them, quoting or summarizing thousands of declassified Intelligence files, and further supporting his case by drawing from the personal correspondence of many of the officers involved. He conclusively demonstrates that during the very same years that Henry Ford was publishing his controversial series The International Jew, similar ideas, but with a much sharper edge, were ubiquitous within our own Intelligence community. Indeed, whereas Ford mostly focused upon Jewish dishonesty, malfeasance, and corruption, our Military Intelligence professionals viewed organized Jewry as a deadly threat to American society and Western civilization in general. Hence the title of Bendersky’s book…”
-Ron Unz, “Father Charles Coughlin”
Put simply, U.S. military leaders in those decades widely believed that the world faced a direct threat from organized Jewry, which had seized control of Russia and similarly sought to subvert and gain mastery over America and the rest of Western civilization.
In these military circles, there was an overwhelming belief that powerful Jewish elements had financed and led Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, and were organizing similar Communist movements elsewhere aimed at destroying all existing Gentile elites and imposing Jewish supremacy throughout America and the rest of the Western world. While some of these Communist leaders were “idealists,” many of the Jewish participants were cynical opportunists, seeking to use their gullible followers to destroy their ethnic rivals and thereby gain wealth and supreme power. Although Intelligence officers gradually came to doubt that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion was an authentic document, most believed that the notorious work provided a reasonably accurate description of the strategic plans of the Jewish leadership for subverting America and the rest of the world and establishing Jewish rule.
Although Bendersky’s claims are certainly extraordinary ones, he provides an enormous wealth of compelling evidence to support them, quoting or summarizing thousands of declassified Intelligence files, and further supporting his case by drawing from the personal correspondence of many of the officers involved. He conclusively demonstrates that during the very same years that Henry Ford was publishing his controversial series The International Jew, similar ideas, but with a much sharper edge, were ubiquitous within our own Intelligence community. Indeed, whereas Ford mostly focused upon Jewish dishonesty, malfeasance, and corruption, our Military Intelligence professionals viewed organized Jewry as a deadly threat to American society and Western civilization in general. Hence the title of Bendersky’s book…”
-Ron Unz, “Father Charles Coughlin”
February 9, 2026
The Jewish Threat is based on extensive archival research into U.S. Army and Military Intelligence records from the early 20th century. Over a 10 year period, Bendersky examined thousands of declassified documents and personal papers from senior officers, arguing that anti-Jewish beliefs were widespread within segments of the U.S. military and intelligence establishment during that period. The book’s central thesis is that these institutions treated antisemitism not as fringe prejudice but as a serious analytical framework shaping their internal assessments and strategic tactics.
What is made evidently clear through rigorous research and quotations from private letters and declassified reports is that many military intelligence officials believed in a global conspiracy in which organized Jewish networks were behind global revolutionary movements, especially the Bolshevik Revolution, and set on global domination. While the authors claims are certainly extraordinary, he provides an enormous wealth of compelling evidence to support them, quoting or summarizing thousands of declassified Intelligence files, and further supporting his case by drawing from the personal correspondence of many of the officers involved.
Bendersky bases his case on extensive archival research in MID files, revealing that the Army created separate classifications for Jews, kept large subject files under headings such as “Jews: Race,” and interpreted Jewish organizations, from radical groups to mainstream bodies like B’nai B’rith. In these materials, Jews were frequently depicted as involved in international conspiracies tied to communism, Zionism, and finance, and the Army’s internal discourse often assumed that Jews sought to subvert the political institutions and social order attributed to Anglo‑Saxon elites.
The author shows that at the same time that Henry Ford was publishing his infamous and controversial newspaper reports, the International Jew, which depicted Jews as dishonest, disloyal, and corrupt, similar ideas were quite ubiquitous across the intelligence apparatus which viewed Global Jewry as an existential threat to America and Western Civilization. These widespread beliefs had important political consequences including but not limited the passing of the 1924 immigration act and the US governments approach to WW2 and the plight of European Jewry.
The author spends much time criticizing these leading military officers while simultaneously ignoring the evidence gleaned from the declassified Soviet Venona files which does show that many top officials in FDRs government were agents for the USSR or at a minimum fellow travelers. In any case, it is fascinating to read what many in our intelligence community thought in their own words and how that influenced policy.
What is made evidently clear through rigorous research and quotations from private letters and declassified reports is that many military intelligence officials believed in a global conspiracy in which organized Jewish networks were behind global revolutionary movements, especially the Bolshevik Revolution, and set on global domination. While the authors claims are certainly extraordinary, he provides an enormous wealth of compelling evidence to support them, quoting or summarizing thousands of declassified Intelligence files, and further supporting his case by drawing from the personal correspondence of many of the officers involved.
Bendersky bases his case on extensive archival research in MID files, revealing that the Army created separate classifications for Jews, kept large subject files under headings such as “Jews: Race,” and interpreted Jewish organizations, from radical groups to mainstream bodies like B’nai B’rith. In these materials, Jews were frequently depicted as involved in international conspiracies tied to communism, Zionism, and finance, and the Army’s internal discourse often assumed that Jews sought to subvert the political institutions and social order attributed to Anglo‑Saxon elites.
The author shows that at the same time that Henry Ford was publishing his infamous and controversial newspaper reports, the International Jew, which depicted Jews as dishonest, disloyal, and corrupt, similar ideas were quite ubiquitous across the intelligence apparatus which viewed Global Jewry as an existential threat to America and Western Civilization. These widespread beliefs had important political consequences including but not limited the passing of the 1924 immigration act and the US governments approach to WW2 and the plight of European Jewry.
The author spends much time criticizing these leading military officers while simultaneously ignoring the evidence gleaned from the declassified Soviet Venona files which does show that many top officials in FDRs government were agents for the USSR or at a minimum fellow travelers. In any case, it is fascinating to read what many in our intelligence community thought in their own words and how that influenced policy.
May 7, 2019
Comprehensive account of how senior officers subscribed to or worked with, some extraordinary views. There are a few examples of how these opinions affected operations, and these are damning.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 12, 2023
Jews traditionally have not been involved in conflict so only the mentally decapitated would create a threat in modern times. Still the book is useful because of predation by insects and the smaller organisms that infect a pure race and create lines of communication that exist temporarily in the mind before they contaminate land fostered and cared for by those who are just with their God. So to set foot on land that does not belong to you is really just a family guy situation with a bunch of men in suits nodding in agreement forgetting that shit stinks and people die.
October 14, 2023
This was an incredibly difficult read, although I would rank this up there as one of the most effective works of history I've read. Bendersky is a very effective historian who has a horrifying but effectively supported thesis statement. I audibly gasped multiple times out of sheer rage at our history.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews