Jew” for several years. Although Marshall pressed for an immediate cam-
paign against Ford, the AJC deferred to Schiff. In one of the last letters of
his life, the banker counseled caution. “If we get into a controversy we shall
light a fire, which no one can foretell how it will become extinguished, and
I would strongly advise therefore that no notice be taken of [the Dearborn
Independent] and the attack will soon be forgotten.” The attack was not
soon forgotten, but only after Schiff’s death did the committee reverse its
stand and undertake to fight Ford publicly.^17
The names of Kuhn, Loeb and Schiff figured prominently in anti-Semitic
attacks. After the war the myth of the powerful and rapacious international
Jewish banker as propagated by the Protocols was joined to the new charge
that Schiff had financed the Bolshevik revolution. In the Dearborn Indepen-
dent, Schiff, along with the Warburgs, Bernard Baruch, and the Roths-
childs, was accused of international machinations to control the world’s
economy. Describing one of the subplots of the larger Jewish design, the
paper also blasted him for his alleged connection with the Bolsheviks.^18
While Ford ran an American crusade, French sources in the 1920s spread
similar accusations. On Schiff in particular they picked up the Bolshevik
connection, claiming that Schiff had bankrolled the Communists to the
tune of $12 million. The same charges were regurgitated in the 1930s in a
vast array of anti-Semitic tracts, some of which confused Schiff’s participa-
tion in the dissemination of revolutionary propaganda among Russian pris-
oners (1905) with the November revolution of 1917. Decades after World
War II the two themes still resonated. Pat Robertson rehashed them in The
New World Order (1991), but this time the sum allegedly given by Schiff to
the Bolsheviks was set at $20 million in gold!^19
In ConclusionOnce Schiff passed his seventy-second birthday, his health steadily wors-
ened. Nevertheless, he did not permit his ailments to overshadow his busi-
ness and commercial interests or even his recreation. Always an avid
walker, he still hiked for several hours at a time in Bar Harbor during Au-
gust 1919, his last summer in Maine. The next thirteen months saw a rapid
physical deterioration. The doctors said that the hikes had overtaxed him,
but he attributed his cardiovascular problems at least in part to the depress-
ing state of world affairs. Despite his frailty he tried to keep to a normal
routine as long as possible. Even friends and associates were unaware of
how serious his ailments were. On Yom Kippur, September 22, 1920, he
was too weak to attend services, but he fasted the entire day. Three days
later he died at home.^20
New York City paid its final tribute to Schiff, the first to die of the inner
The End of an Era 245