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76-558: The name of the foundation derives from a famous incident on May 15, 1923 when writer Upton Sinclair spoke to approximately 3,000 striking longshoremen at Liberty Hill in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California . In a piece of street theater designed to highlight ongoing suppression of freedom of speech by the LAPD , Sinclair began his address by reading the Bill of Rights . Within moments, he

152-501: A libel lawsuit in response. During the trial, the editor of Ford's "Own Page", William Cameron, testified that Ford had nothing to do with the editorials even though they were under his byline. Cameron testified that he never discussed the content of the pages with Ford, or sent them to Ford for his approval. Friends and business associates said they warned Ford about the contents of the Independent and that Ford probably never read

228-548: A Ford family intimate, remarked that 'I don't think Mr. Cameron ever wrote anything for publication without Mr. Ford's approval.' The trial prompted the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to begin a concerted effort to oppose the Independent . An ADL-led coalition of Jewish groups led the charge, and raised objections to Ford's writings in the Detroit press. The ADL also organized a boycott of Ford products, which

304-582: A Socialist candidate for Congress. The colony burned down under suspicious circumstances within a year. In 1913–1914, Sinclair made three trips to the coal fields of Colorado, which led him to write King Coal and caused him to begin work on the larger, more historical The Coal War . In 1914, Sinclair helped organize demonstrations in New York City against Rockefeller at the Standard Oil offices. The demonstrations touched off more actions by

380-433: A candy bar and, finding it not as good as it once had been, said "The Jews have taken hold of it. They've cheapened it to make more money". In 1915, Ford blamed Jews for instigating World War I, saying "I know who caused the war: German-Jewish bankers." In 1925, Ford said "What I oppose most is the international Jewish money power that is met in every war. That is what I oppose – a power that has no country and that can order

456-438: A day consisting only of brown rice, fresh fruit and celery, topped with powdered milk and salt, and pineapple juice to drink. Fiction Autobiographical Non-fiction Drama As editor The Dearborn Independent The Dearborn Independent , also known as The Ford International Weekly , was a weekly newspaper established in 1901, and published by Henry Ford from 1919 through 1927. At its height during

532-651: A house. In 1911, Sinclair was arrested for playing tennis on the Sabbath and spent eighteen hours in the New Castle County prison in lieu of paying a fine. Earlier in 1911, Sinclair invited Harry Kemp , the "Vagabond Poet", to camp on the couple's land in Arden. Meta soon became enamored of Kemp, and in late August she left Sinclair for the poet. Sinclair, unable to obtain a divorce in New York, traveled to

608-462: A love affair with Anna Noyes during his marriage to Meta. He wrote a novel about the affair called Love's Progress , a sequel to Love's Pilgrimage . It was never published. His wife later had a love affair with John Armistead Collier, a theology student from Memphis; they had a son together named Ben. In 1910, the Sinclairs moved to the single-tax village of Arden, Delaware , where they built

684-470: A man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." He used this line in speeches and the book about his campaign for governor as a way to explain why the editors and publishers of the major newspapers in California would not treat seriously his proposals for old age pensions and other progressive reforms. Many of his novels can be read as historical works. Writing during

760-475: A muck-raking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the "free press" in the United States. Four years after publication of The Brass Check , the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence". He is also well remembered for the quote: "It is difficult to get

836-422: A non-profit organization is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Upton Sinclair Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. (September 20, 1878 – November 25, 1968) was an American author, muckraker , and political activist, and the 1934 Democratic Party nominee for governor of California . He wrote nearly 100 books and other works in several genres. Sinclair's work was well known and popular in

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912-598: A novel, renting a small cabin for three months and then moving to a farmhouse where he was reintroduced to his future first wife, Meta Fuller (1880–1964). A childhood friend descended from one of the First Families of Virginia , she was three years younger than he and aspired to be more than a housewife, so Sinclair instructed her in what to read and learn. Though each had warned the other against it, on October 18, 1900, they married. The couple having used abstinence as their main form of contraception, Meta became pregnant

988-617: A nursing home on November 25, 1968, a year after his wife. He is buried next to Willis in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Sinclair devoted his writing career to documenting and criticizing the social and economic conditions of the early 20th century in both fiction and nonfiction. He exposed his view of the injustices of capitalism and the overwhelming effects of poverty among the working class. He also edited collections of fiction and nonfiction. His novel based on

1064-610: A political exposé that addressed conditions in the plants, as well as the lives of poor immigrants. When it was published two years later, it became a bestseller. In the spring of 1905, Sinclair issued a call for the formation of a new organization, a group to be called the Intercollegiate Socialist Society . With the income from The Jungle , Sinclair founded the utopian—but non-Jewish white only— Helicon Home Colony in Englewood, New Jersey . He ran as

1140-786: A set of four bound volumes, cumulatively titled The International Jew, the World's Foremost Problem . Steven Watts wrote that Adolf Hitler "revered" Ford. He quotes Hitler as saying, "I shall do my best to put his theories into practice in Germany", and says that Hitler modeled the Volkswagen , the people's car, on the Model T. Several themes from the Dearborn Independent articles appear in Mein Kampf . Hitler even quoted

1216-465: A statement titled "The Peril of Racial Prejudice" denounced antisemitism as un-American and condemned the Independent for its antisemitic campaign. It was signed by more than one hundred prominent citizens of "Gentile birth and Christian faith", including President Woodrow Wilson , former president William Howard Taft , William Jennings Bryan , Clarence Darrow , Nicholas Murray Butler , Robert Frost , Samuel Seabury , Ida Tarbell , Paul Cravath and

1292-509: Is called the international Jew: German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all those countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme ... here the Jew is a threat". Ford felt that Jews, in their role as financiers, contributed nothing of value to society. He believed that Jewish businesses focused solely on price, and cheapened their products. Ford once bit into

1368-412: Is hysterical, unbalanced, and untruthful. Three-fourths of the things he said were absolute falsehoods. For some of the remainder there was only a basis of truth." After reading The Jungle, Roosevelt agreed with some of Sinclair's conclusions, but was opposed to legislation that he considered " socialist ." He said, "Radical action must be taken to do away with the efforts of arrogant and selfish greed on

1444-408: Is portrayed as holding in the confidence of world leaders, and not simply witnessing events, but often propelling them. As a sophisticated socialite who mingles easily with people from all cultures and socioeconomic classes, Budd has been characterized as the antithesis of the stereotyped " Ugly American ". Sinclair placed Budd within the important political events in the United States and Europe in

1520-728: The American Civil Liberties Union . Wanting to pursue politics, he twice ran unsuccessfully for the United States Congress on the Socialist Party ticket: in 1920 for the House of Representatives and in 1922 for the Senate . He was the party candidate for governor of California in 1926 , winning nearly 46,000 votes, and in 1930 , winning nearly 50,000 votes. During this period, Sinclair

1596-484: The Brass Check , "American Journalism is a class institution, serving the rich and spurning the poor." This bias, Sinclair felt, had profound implications for American democracy: The social body to which we belong is at this moment passing through one of the greatest crises of its history .... What if the nerves upon which we depend for knowledge of this social body should give us false reports of its condition? This

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1672-870: The California gubernatorial election as a Democrat . Sinclair's platform, known as the End Poverty in California movement (EPIC), galvanized the support of the Democratic Party, and Sinclair gained its nomination. Gaining 879,000 votes made this his most successful run for office, but incumbent Governor Frank Merriam defeated him by a sizable margin, gaining 1,138,000 votes. Hollywood studio bosses unanimously opposed Sinclair. They pressured their employees to assist and vote for Merriam's campaign, and made false propaganda films attacking Sinclair, giving him no opportunity to respond. The negative campaign tactics used against Sinclair are briefly depicted in

1748-526: The City College of New York five days before his 14th birthday, on September 15, 1892. He wrote jokes, dime novels , and magazine articles in boys' weekly and pulp magazines to pay for his tuition. With that income, he was able to move his parents to an apartment when he was seventeen years old. He graduated from City College in June 1897. He subsequently studied law at Columbia University , but he

1824-490: The Dearborn Independent in Mein Kampf and Henry Ford was the only American that Hitler specifically named: "Every year they [the Jews] manage to become increasingly the controlling masters of the labor power of a people of 120,000,000 souls; one great man, Ford, to their exasperation still holds out independently there even now." On February 1, 1924, Ford received Kurt Lüdecke , a representative of Hitler, at his home. Lüdecke

1900-617: The Dearborn Independent . The first major antisemitic article about Jews was published on June 19, 1920. There were major repetitions on August 28, then again in February, March, and November 1921. The essay "Anti-Semitism- Will it Appear in the U.S.?" quoted Louis Brandeis , a Justice of the Supreme Court , who advocated for Jewish civil rights and said, "Organize, organize, organize, until every Jew must stand up and be counted." Louis Marshall noticed that The Cause of World Unrest

1976-543: The Independent in April 1920 in disgust with the planned antisemitic articles, which began in May. He later claimed that a major influence on the paper's antisemitism came from Boris Brasol , a White Russian émigré lawyer, writer, and conspiracy theorist. Ford did not write the articles. He expressed his opinions verbally to his executive secretary, Ernest Liebold, and to William J. Cameron, who replaced Pipp as editor. Cameron had

2052-922: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and the Mother Earth group, a loose association of anarchists and IWW members, in Rockefeller's hometown of Tarrytown. The Sinclairs moved to Pasadena, California in 1916 and lived there for nearly four decades. During his years with his second wife, Mary Craig, Sinclair wrote or produced several films. Recruited by Charlie Chaplin , Sinclair and Mary Craig produced Eisenstein's ¡Qué viva México! in 1930–32. Aside from his political and social writings, Sinclair took an interest in occult phenomena and experimented with telepathy . His book Mental Radio (1930) included accounts of his wife Mary's telepathic experiences and ability. William McDougall read

2128-695: The Progressive Era , Sinclair describes the world of the industrialized United States from both the working man's and the industrialist's points of view. Novels such as King Coal (1917), The Coal War (published posthumously), Oil! (1927), and The Flivver King (1937) describe the working conditions of the coal, oil, and auto industries at the time. The Flivver King describes the rise of Henry Ford , his "wage reform" and his company's Sociological Department, to his decline into antisemitism as publisher of The Dearborn Independent . King Coal confronts John D. Rockefeller Jr. , and his role in

2204-458: The meatpacking industry in Chicago , The Jungle, was first published in serial form in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason , from February 25, 1905, to November 4, 1905. It was published as a book by Doubleday in 1906. Sinclair had spent about six months investigating the Chicago meatpacking industry for Appeal to Reason , the work which inspired his novel. He intended to "set forth

2280-596: The 1914 Ludlow Massacre in the coal fields of Colorado. Sinclair was an outspoken socialist and ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a nominee from the Socialist Party . He was also the Democratic Party candidate for governor of California during the Great Depression , running under the banner of the End Poverty in California campaign, but was defeated in the 1934 election . Sinclair

2356-412: The 2020 American biographical drama film Mank . Upton Sinclair later stated that there was a "campaign of lying" against him during the campaign which was "ordered by the biggest businessmen in California and paid for with millions of dollars" that was carried out by newspapers, politicians, advertisers, and the film industry. Sinclair's plan to end poverty quickly became a controversial issue under

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2432-487: The Democratic Party and expelled him, along with socialists who supported his California campaign. The expulsions destroyed the Socialist party in California. At the same time, American and Soviet communists disassociated themselves from him, considering him a capitalist. In later writings, such as his anti-alcohol book The Cup of Fury , Sinclair scathingly censured communism. Science-fiction author Robert A. Heinlein

2508-533: The Elders of Zion , which was discredited by The Times of London as a forgery during the Independent ' s publishing run. The American Jewish Historical Society described the ideas presented in the magazine as " anti-immigrant , anti-labor, anti-liquor, and antisemitic ". In February 1921, the New York World published an interview with Ford in which he said: "The only statement I care to make about

2584-572: The German Eagle , the highest medal Nazi Germany could bestow on a foreigner. James D. Mooney , vice-president of overseas operations for General Motors , received a similar medal, the Merit Cross of the German Eagle, First Class. There was much negative press about the Dearborn Independent within Jewish communities, but there was non-Jewish negative press as well. There are many accounts of Jewish organizations coming together to fight

2660-467: The Lanny Budd series were published in 2016. The Lanny Budd series includes: Sinclair was keenly interested in health and nutrition. He experimented with various diets, and with fasting. He wrote about this in his book, The Fasting Cure (1911), another bestseller. He believed that periodic fasting was important for health, saying, "I had taken several fasts of ten or twelve days' duration, with

2736-551: The Netherlands for a migratory divorce . An Amsterdam court declared their marriage annulled May 24, 1912 on the basis of adultery by Meta. Sinclair declared before the court that they were both living in Hilversum, The Netherlands, Meta being temporarily in New York. In 1913, Sinclair married Mary Craig Kimbrough (1882–1961), a woman from an elite Greenwood, Mississippi , family who had written articles on Winnie Davis ,

2812-628: The Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on." During this period, Ford emerged as "a respected spokesman for right-wing extremism and religious prejudice", reaching around 700,000 readers through his newspaper. During the Weimar Republic in the early 1920s, the Protocols was reprinted and published in Germany, along with anti-Jewish articles first published by The Dearborn Independent and reprinted in translation in Germany as

2888-660: The articles (he claimed he only read the headlines). Further court testimony alleged that Ford knew about the contents of the Independent in advance of publication. Investigative journalist Max Wallace noted that "whatever credibility this absurd claim [Cameron's denial] may have had was soon undermined when James M. Miller, a former Dearborn Independent employee, swore under oath that Ford had told him he intended to expose Sapiro." Michael Barkun observed: That Cameron would have continued to publish such controversial material without Ford's explicit instructions seemed unthinkable to those who knew both men. Mrs. Stanley Ruddiman,

2964-467: The book and wrote an introduction to it, which led him to establish the parapsychology department at Duke University . Sinclair broke with the Socialist Party in 1917 and supported the First World War effort. By the 1920s, however, he had returned to the party. In the 1920s, the Sinclairs moved to Monrovia, California , (near Los Angeles ), where Sinclair founded the state's chapter of

3040-877: The breaking of human hearts by a system which exploits the labor of men and women for profit". The novel featured Jurgis Rudkus, a Lithuanian immigrant who works in a meat factory in Chicago, his teenaged wife Ona Lukoszaite, and their extended family. Sinclair portrays their mistreatment by Rudkus' employers and the wealthier elements of society. His descriptions of the unsanitary and inhumane conditions that workers suffered served to shock and galvanize readers. Jack London called Sinclair's book "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery ". Domestic and foreign purchases of American meat fell by half. Sinclair wrote in Cosmopolitan in October 1906 about The Jungle : "I aimed at

3116-541: The daughter of Confederate States of America President Jefferson Davis . They met when she attended one of his lectures about The Jungle . In 1914 he moved to Croton-on-Hudson, New York , joining the local community of prominent socialists. In the 1920s, the couple moved to California. They remained married until her death in 1961. Later that same year, Sinclair married his third wife, Mary Elizabeth Willis (1882–1967). They moved to Buckeye, Arizona , before returning east to Bound Brook, New Jersey , where Sinclair died in

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3192-592: The first half of the 20th century, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1943. In 1906, Sinclair acquired particular fame for his classic muck-raking novel, The Jungle , which exposed labor and sanitary conditions in the U.S. meatpacking industry , causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act . In 1919, he published The Brass Check ,

3268-544: The first half of the 20th century. An actual company named the Budd Company manufactured arms during World War II, founded by Edward G. Budd in 1912. The novels were bestsellers upon publication and were published in translation, appearing in 21 countries. The third book in the series, Dragon's Teeth (1942), won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1943. Out of print and nearly forgotten for years, ebook editions of

3344-476: The following year. Despite Meta's several attempts to terminate the pregnancy, the child, David, was born on December 1, 1901. Meta and her family tried to convince Sinclair to give up writing and get "a job that would support his family." Sinclair was opposed to sex outside of marriage and viewed it as necessary only for reproduction. He told his first wife Meta that only the birth of a child gave marriage "dignity and meaning". Despite his beliefs, Sinclair had

3420-531: The headquarters of the National Social Party. Many issues of the Independent commented extensively upon The Protocols of the Elders of Zion . The first mention of the Protocols appears in the issue of July 10, 1920, the seventh installment of its "International Jew" series. Also, in 1920–21 the Independent carried a series of articles expanding on the themes of financial control by Jews, entitled: The newspaper published The Protocols of

3496-518: The hundreds of letters addressed to Ford in July 1927 were from Jews, and almost without exception they praised the Industrialist." While most of the major national Jewish and non-Jewish newspapers accepted Ford's apology, many local Jewish papers rejected it. In January 1937, a Ford statement to The Detroit Jewish Chronicle disavowed "any connection whatsoever with the publication in Germany of

3572-547: The label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them. In April 1900, Sinclair went to Lake Massawippi in Quebec to work on

3648-481: The late 1600s and early 1700s. As a child, Sinclair slept either on sofas or cross-ways on his parents' bed. When his father was out for the night, he would sleep in the bed with his mother. His mother's family was very affluent: her parents were very prosperous in Baltimore, and her sister married a millionaire. Sinclair had wealthy maternal grandparents with whom he often stayed. This gave him insight into how both

3724-416: The main responsibility for expanding these opinions into article form. Liebold was responsible for collecting more material to support the articles. One of the articles, "Jewish Power and America's Money Famine", asserted that the power exercised by Jews over the nation's supply of money was insidious, depriving farmers and others outside the banking coterie of money when they needed it most. The article asked

3800-479: The mid-1920s it claimed a circulation of between 700,000 and 900,000. If true, this would make it second only to The New York Times in terms of national readership. Those numbers were largely due to a quota system for promotion imposed on Ford dealers. Lawsuits regarding antisemitic material published in the paper caused Ford to close it, and the last issue was published in December 1927. The publication's title

3876-640: The part of the capitalist." Bertolt Brecht 's play, Saint Joan of the Stockyards , transporting Joan of Arc to the environment of the Chicago stockyards, is clearly inspired by "The Jungle". In The Brass Check (1919), Sinclair made a systematic and incriminating critique of the severe limitations of the " free press " in the United States. Among the topics covered is the use of yellow journalism techniques created by William Randolph Hearst . Sinclair called The Brass Check "the most important and most dangerous book I have ever written." According to

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3952-492: The presidents of Williams, Oberlin, and Dartmouth colleges as well as Princeton, Cornell, and Syracuse universities. However, this did not stop the Dearborn Independent from their negative press regarding Jews. While they explicitly condemned pogroms and violence against Jews, Ford's articles blamed the Jews for provoking incidents of mass violence. San Francisco lawyer and Jewish farm cooperative organizer Aaron Sapiro filed

4028-575: The pressure of numerous migrants to California fleeing the Dust Bowl . Conservatives considered his proposal an attempted communist takeover of their state and quickly opposed him, using propaganda to portray Sinclair as a staunch communist. Sinclair had been a member of the Socialist Party from 1902 to 1934, when he became a Democrat, though always considering himself a socialist in spirit. The Socialist party in California and nationwide refused to allow its members to be active in any other party including

4104-464: The public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." The novel brought public lobbying for Congressional legislation and government regulation of the industry, including passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act . At the time, President Theodore Roosevelt characterized Sinclair as a "crackpot", writing to William Allen White , "I have an utter contempt for him. He

4180-612: The question: "Where is the American gold supply? ... It may be in the United States but it does not belong to the United States." It concluded that Jews controlled the gold supply and, hence, American money. Another article, "Jewish Idea Molded Federal Reserve System", was a reflection of Ford's distrust of the Federal Reserve System and its proponent, Paul Warburg . Ford believed the Federal Reserve system

4256-405: The result of a complete making over of my health". Sinclair favored a raw food diet of predominantly vegetables and nuts. For long periods of time, he was a complete vegetarian, but he also experimented with eating meat. His attitude to these matters was fully explained in the chapter, "The Use of Meat", in the above-mentioned book. In the last years of his life, Sinclair strictly ate three meals

4332-578: The rich and the poor lived during the late 19th century. Living in two social settings affected him and greatly influenced his books. Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. was from a highly respected family in the South, but the family was financially ruined by the Civil War , the end of slavery causing disruptions of the labor system during the Reconstruction era , and an extended agricultural depression. As he

4408-487: The spirit of change, not charity, with the belief that real progress happens in communities. The foundation also funds local Los Angeles organizations dedicated to environmental justice , such as East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice. It has also provided funding for out-of-state organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law . This article related to

4484-548: The then popular Aimee Semple McPherson , who vehemently opposed socialism and what she perceived as Sinclair's modernism . Sinclair's line from this book "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it" has become well known and was for example quoted by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth . Of his gubernatorial bid, Sinclair remarked in 1951: The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take

4560-436: The young men of all countries out to death." Ford ensured that everyone who worked for any of his companies accepted his views, and made sure not to hire a single Jew in office jobs, although he hired them for physical labor. So began the articles with themes of a worldwide conspiracy by Jewish super-capitalists, that the Jews invented the stock market and gold standard just to corrupt the world and other peoples. Pipp left

4636-507: Was a pamphlet he published in 1934 as a preface to running for office in the state of California. In the book he outlined his plans to run as a Democrat instead of a Socialist, and imagines his climb to the Democratic nomination, and then subsequent victory by a margin of 100,000 votes. Between 1940 and 1953, Sinclair wrote a series of 11 novels featuring a central character named Lanny Budd. The son of an American arms manufacturer, Budd

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4712-504: Was advertised on the back of one issue of the Independent , so he wrote a personal letter to the publisher, Major George Haven Putnam, condemning him for his intolerance. Marshall said that Putnam was using Jews as his scapegoat. Eventually Putnam apologized for his advertisement and for publishing the book. The Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America published a resolution condemning Ford's propaganda and beliefs. In January 1921,

4788-632: Was also active in radical politics in Los Angeles. For instance, in 1923, to support the challenged free speech rights of Industrial Workers of the World , Sinclair spoke at a rally during the San Pedro Maritime Strike , in a neighborhood now known as Liberty Hill. He began to read from the Bill of Rights and was promptly arrested, along with hundreds of others, by the LAPD . The arresting officer proclaimed: "We'll have none of that Constitution stuff". In 1934, Sinclair ran in

4864-448: Was arrested. The foundation presents an annual award in the name of activist and writer Upton Sinclair to "a person of unwavering idealism and vision, whose work illustrates an abiding commitment to social justice and equality." The Upton Sinclair Award is given to "a person like Sinclair, whose lifelong crusade for equality and justice inspires us even today." In addition, Liberty Hill presents its Founders Award to individuals who embody

4940-502: Was born in Baltimore , Maryland, to Upton Beall Sinclair Sr. and Priscilla Harden Sinclair. His father was a liquor salesman whose alcoholism shadowed his son's childhood. Priscilla Harden Sinclair was a strict Episcopalian who disliked alcohol, tea, and coffee. Both of Upton Sinclair's parents were of British ancestry . His paternal grandparents were Scottish , and all of his ancestors emigrated to America from Great Britain during

5016-500: Was deeply involved in Sinclair's campaign, although he attempted to move away from the stance later in his life. In the 21st century, Sinclair is considered an early American democratic socialist . After his loss to Merriam, Sinclair abandoned EPIC and politics to return to writing. In 1935, he published I, Candidate for Governor: And How I Got Licked , in which he described the techniques employed by Merriam's supporters, including

5092-623: Was derived from the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan . In 1918, Ford's closest aide and private secretary, Ernest G. Liebold , purchased the Independent from Marcus Woodruff, who had been running it at a loss. The initial staff of the newspaper included E. G. Pipp , previously managing editor of the Detroit News , writers William J. Cameron (also formerly of the News ) and Marcus Woodruff, and Fred Black as business manager. The paper

5168-482: Was growing up, Upton's family moved frequently, as his father was not successful in his career. He developed a love for reading when he was five years old. He read every book his mother owned for a deeper understanding of the world. He did not start school until he was 10 years old. He was deficient in math and worked hard to catch up quickly because of his embarrassment. In 1888, the Sinclair family moved to Queens , New York City, where his father sold shoes. Upton entered

5244-640: Was introduced to Ford by Siegfried Wagner (son of the famous composer Richard Wagner ) and his wife Winifred , both Nazi sympathizers and antisemites. Lüdecke asked Ford for a contribution to the Nazi cause, though this is denied by the Ford Motor Company . In July 1938, prior to the outbreak of war, the German consul at Cleveland gave Ford, on his 75th birthday, the award of the Grand Cross of

5320-485: Was more interested in writing. He learned several languages, including Spanish, German, and French. He paid the one-time enrollment fee to be able to learn a variety of subjects. He would sign up for a class and then later drop it. He again supported himself through college by writing boys' adventure stories and jokes. He also sold ideas to cartoonists. Using stenographers , he wrote up to 8,000 words of pulp fiction per day. His only complaint about his educational experience

5396-573: Was printed on a used press purchased by Ford and installed in Ford's tractor plant in The Rouge . Publication under Ford was inaugurated in January 1919. The paper initially attracted notoriety in June 1919 with coverage of the libel lawsuit between Henry Ford and the Chicago Tribune , when stories written by Pipp and Cameron were picked up nationally. Henry Ford , a self-proclaimed pacifist who opposed World War I , believed that Jews were responsible for starting wars in order to profit from them: "International financiers are behind all war. They are what

5472-426: Was published without Ford's final approval. This series of antisemitic articles in the Dearborn Independent was published for a total of 91 weeks. The articles pinned cultural developments such as jazz, immoral books, flashy jewelry, and alcohol consumption on the Jews and Jewish influence. Partially attributable to his antisemitic beliefs, Hitler was a fan of Ford, and Hitler had a full-length portrait of Henry Ford at

5548-429: Was secretive and insidious. These articles gave rise to claims of antisemitism against Ford, and in 1929 he signed a statement apologizing for the articles. While Henry Ford owned The Dearborn Independent , none of its content was directly written by him, including the "International Jew" series. However, the views expressed in the "International Jew" reflected Ford's own antisemitic views, especially because nothing

5624-415: Was supported not only by Jews, but also by several liberal Christian groups. In December 1927, Ford gave in and abolished the paper. News reports at the time quoted him as saying he was shocked by the paper's content and unaware of its nature. Ford also wrote a public letter to ADL president Sigmund Livingston recanting his antisemitic views. Ford's 1927 apology was generally well-received: "Four-Fifths of

5700-399: Was taught to "avoid the subject of sex." Sinclair was to report to Moir monthly regarding his abstinence. Despite their close relationship, Sinclair identified as agnostic. Sinclair considered himself a poet and dedicated his time to writing poetry. In 1904, Sinclair spent seven weeks in disguise, working undercover in Chicago's meatpacking plants to research his novel The Jungle (1906),

5776-808: Was that it failed to educate him about socialism. After leaving Columbia without a degree, he wrote four books in the next four years; they were commercially unsuccessful though critically well-received: King Midas (1901), Prince Hagen (1902), The Journal of Arthur Stirling (1903), and a Civil War novel, Manassas (1904). Sinclair did not get on with his mother when he became older because of her strict rules and refusal to allow him independence. Sinclair later told his son, David, that around Sinclair's 16th year, he decided not to have anything to do with his mother, staying away from her for 35 years because an argument would start if they met. Upton became close with Reverend William Wilmerding Moir. Moir specialized in sexual abstinence and taught his beliefs to Sinclair. He

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