2025-11-01 11:10:PM <br/> Tags: #people #AmericanJewry ![[image-163.png|344x422]] # Sigmund Livingston (1872-1946) - Sigmund Livingston was an immigrant-American-Jewish leader active in the first half of the 20th century. - Livingston is most notable for founding the [[ADL]]. - Livingston graduated law school in 1894 and began his career in law. #### Organized Jewry - Livingston and the ADL - In 1894, Livingston became president of the Bloomington, IL, branch of [[B'nai B'rith]]. (Youhas 2021, 3 para. 3) - B'nai B'rith is a Jewish fraternal order, founded in 1843. - During WWI, Livingston was the head of the American Soldiers' and Sailors Welfare league (ASSW) of the [[B'nai B'rith]]. (Youhas 2021, 3 para. 2) - The ASSW raised funds for Jewish soldiers during WWI. - In 1908, Livingston was offended by jokes he perceived to be made at the expense of Jews. - Livingston subsequently created the "Publicity Committee of the Publicity Bureau within the B’nai B’rith," a precursor to the [[ADL]]. (Youhas 2021, 4 para. 5) >[!info] Leo Frank - Birth of the ADL >- #### Context: >- In 1913, Leo Frank was unanimously convicted of the murder of 13 year old Mary Phagan. >- Phagan was an employee of the Georgia pencil factory that Frank operated. >- Frank was sentenced to death. >- All of Frank's appeals and legal motions were unanimously struck down and the verdict upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, and finally the U.S. Supreme Court in 1915. >- Then, in June 1915, Georgia's governor, John Slaton, commuted Frank's sentence. > - Slaton had former professional ties to Frank's lead attorney Luther Rosser, a clear conflict of interest. >- A group of vigilantes abducted Frank from prison, and lynched him surrounded by a mob. >- Livingston, and [[B'nai B'rith]] leader, [[Adolf Kraus]], founded the [[ADL]] in 1913 in direct response to the Leo Frank case. > - The ADL was founded to defend rapist, pedophile, murderer, Leo Frank. - The ADL began public pressure campaigns against anything it perceived as antisemitism. - Early ADL tactics revolved around a network of informant-like affiliates who would report any incident of antisemitism to the ADL - This is a precursor to the future notorious ADL hallmark, the "antisemitic incidents report." - The ADL monitored theaters, newspapers, public events, etc. looking for antisemitism to combat. - In 1929, as chairman of the ADL, Livingston negotiated with the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, to remove all negative inferences toward Jews in Christian prayer books. - Livingston's Jewish associates included: [[Adolf Kraus]], [[Adolph Ochs]], [[Louis Marshall]]. - Although not explicitly, Livingston seems to have supported [[Israel Zangwill]]'s idea of the "melting pot." - Livingston mentions Zangwill positively in his 1944 book *Must Men Hate?* - Further, as chairman of the ADL, Livingston envisioned a US political climate devoid of both race and religion, a core principle of the melting pot. ---- - In Livingston's 1944 book on antisemitism, *Must Men Hate?*, he equates antisemitism to a form of deluded emotional witchcraft, wielded for personal gain, with no basis in reality. - Livingston writes, "truly here the sins of the parents pass unto the next generation as the tide of antisemitism mounts higher and higher." (Livingston 1944, 8) *Regarding supposed Christian harassment of Jews.* - Livingston writes of his dissatisfaction with Christian accounts of Jewish involvement in the Crucifixion. He calls for "explanatory curation" to be used when explaining the death of Christ. - The Jewish Livingston condemned "Christian religious education" which "teaches children many errors regarding the Friday of the Passion Week [the Crucifixion]." - Livingston whines that Christian education fills the "pliant child mind" with "hate and resentment." (Livingston 1944, 9) #### References - Livingston, Sigmund. _Must Men Hate?_ 2nd ed. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1944. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000003197144&seq=5](https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000003197144&seq=5) - Haley Youhas, _Sigmund and Hilda Livingston, 2021._ Edited by Candace Summers. Researched by Carole Straka, Candace Summers, and Haley Youhas (McLean County Museum of History, 2021), 3, 4, 5.[https://mchistory.org/assets/resources/biographies/sigmund-and-hilda-livingston-2021.pdf](https://mchistory.org/assets/resources/biographies/sigmund-and-hilda-livingston-2021.pdf) - Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “B’nai Brith to Establish Loan Fund for Jewish Immigrants in Mexico.” January 15, 1929. [https://www.jta.org/archive/bnai-brith-to-establish-loan-fund-for-jewish-immigrants-in-mexico/](https://www.jta.org/archive/bnai-brith-to-establish-loan-fund-for-jewish-immigrants-in-mexico/).