While Theodore Roosevelt* was police commissioner of New York City, an anti-Semitic preacher from Berlin, Hermann Ahlwardt, visited New York to preach a crusade against the Jews. The New York Jewish community was much excited, and pleaded with Roosevelt to prevent Ahlwardt from speaking and, at a minimum, refuse to give him police protection.
"This is impossible," said Roosevelt, "and if possible would be undesirable because it would make him a martyr. The proper thing to do is to make him ridiculous."
Accordingly, Roosevelt sent an entirely Jewish contingent to the event, and Ahlwardt made his harangue under the protection of some 40 police officers, every one of them a Jew.
西奧多.羅斯福*任紐約市警務署長時,柏林一個仇恨猶太人的傳道者,名叫赫爾曼.艾爾沃特,赴紐約宣揚反猶太運動。紐約猶太人很激憤,請羅斯福禁止艾爾沃特演講,至少也不派警察保護他。
羅斯福說:「這不可以,而即使可以,也很不智,因為只會使他贏得同情。正確做法,是使他顯得荒唐可笑。」
羅斯福於是派遣一隊純猶太人警察到傳道會場。艾爾沃特大放厥詞的時候,周圍有約四十個警察護衞,每一個都是猶太人。
*這個羅斯福,後來成為美國第二十六任總統。第二次世界大戰期間,領導美國的富蘭克林.羅斯福(Franklin Roosevelt)是他姪兒。