Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 15 A Conspicuous Race

1. 1. Walter Lippmann, despite his Jewish background, chose to ignore his Jewish identity and resisted identifying with it, typical of wealthy German Jews who considered themselves more German and American than Jewish.
2. 2. Assimilated German Jews like Lippmann looked down on Eastern European Jewish immigrants, calling them 'Orientals' and their Yiddish a 'piggish' jargon.
3. 3. Lippmann criticized Jews for their own faults, such as 'bad economic habits' and ostentatiousness, and believed they were partly responsible for anti-Semitism.
4. 4. Lippmann opposed Zionism, viewing it as a regression to tribalism and incompatible with his cosmopolitan American identity.
5. 5. In his 1922 article 'Public Opinion and the American Jew,' Lippmann argued that anti-Semitism is rooted in Jews being 'conspicuous' and that they should behave unobtrusively to avoid prejudice.
6. 6. Lippmann suggested that Harvard reduce its Jewish enrollment by raising admission standards and recruiting from wider geographic areas, rather than imposing an explicit quota.
7. 7. Lippmann publicly attacked Harvard's quota system, accusing President Lowell of abandoning Harvard's liberal tradition for the prejudices of a summer hotel.
8. 8. Lippmann denied that anti-Semitism affected him personally, claiming he never felt disqualified from anything he cared about, despite being excluded from some social clubs.
9. 9. Lippmann's rejection of his Jewish identity led him to become more cautious and guarded, and he sought refuge in his work at the World building, distancing himself from the masses and his own vulnerabilities.