Upwards of a hundred groups were established across the United States to circulate anti- Jewish hate propaganda during the 1930s.

These groups bore little resemblance to the neo- fascist groups and skinhead groups that have surfaced in the last fifteen years. On the contrary, many of them self-consciously portrayed themselves and their cause as the epitome of respectability in an avowedly Christian society.

Most infamous among these groups was the somewhat anodyne sounding Social Justice movement headed by Father Charles Coughlin. A catholic priest, Father Coughlin had not only the ears of his congregation but also of 13 or so million listeners to his nationwide radio program. Each week he used a radio studio as a pulpit from which he preached his anti- Jewish diatribes and frequently circulated his messages of Jew hatred in his tabloid Social Justice. In 1942 Father Coughlin's Archbishop clipped his wings and his overt anti-Semitic activities, at least were curtailed.

However, there were many others to replace him. Indeed some were men of the cloth such as Father Edward Lodge Curran of the Catholic Truth Society and the Protestant preacher Gerald L. K. Smith. Prominent secular anti-Semitic groups included the Silver Shirts, whose leader served 15 years for sedition, and the German - American Bund. A litany of other organised groups lingered in the shadows of these better known groups. Overall though, unorganised mob violence and persecution, no doubt influenced by the propaganda of anti- Jewish organisations, probably inflicted the most tangible injuries on the Jewish people of America.

Between 1941 and 1944 countless violent anti- semitic actions took place. Most commonly this took the form of mobs beating up solitary Jewish people, usually youths, the vandalism and destruction of Jewish property, and the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. The desecration of Jewish cemeteries and synagogues invariably included the the painting or scrawling of swastikas and anti- semitic slogans. In one incident a twelve year old boy was stripped of his shirt by a mob who painted a Star of David and 'Jude' on his chest.

Violence against Jewish people, their property, and sacred places was almost a daily occurrence in New York and Boston in 1943. Authorities were slow to act and only did so in an effective way after sections of the media exposed the situation.

For more comprehensive coverage of this matter see:
David S. Wyman, The Abandonment of the Jews, Pantheon Books,  New York, 1984, 3-15. &
Saul S. Friedman, No Haven for the Oppressed, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 17 - 36.