The Force on the Front

Analyzing the Police Sympathy for the Christian Front Movement in Brooklyn from 1938-1940

Abstract

Police involvement in the Christian Front Movement in Brooklyn, NY grew unnoticed from 1938-1940, resulting in anti-semitic violence even after the police comissioner and mayor were forced to address the issue after the arrest in 1940 of 17 Christian Front Members accused of planning terrorist activities. The Christian Front was able to grow in an area like Brooklyn due to its high population of Irish-Catholics, and since the Christian Front was a religiously-based anti-semitic group led by an Irish Catholic priest, these people aligned well with the movement's beliefs. With a large Irish-Catholic police force, it is evident that the police not only had membership in the Christian Front but also those sympathetic to the movement. The stronghold of the Christian Front and the anti-semitic beliefs prevalent throughout the NYPD resulted in the creation of an environment where anti0semitic attacks could proliferate unaddressed, and where Irish Catholic nationalists could spread and impose their beliefs of anti-semitism and through their position of power in a law enforcement role.