More than 1,700 police — a record number for a mass meeting — were on hand tonight at the Madison Square Garden and vicinity to preserve order at a Washington’s Birthday “Americanism” rally called by the German-American Bund. Acting Mayor Newbold Morris this afternoon appealed to anti-Nazi elements to refrain from demonstrating at the Garden. Jewish organizations and newspapers urged Jews not to gather in the neighborhood. Some radical organizations, including the Socialist Workers Party, rallied their members to the Garden for picketing demonstrations.
By late afternoon the area for blocks around the Garden had been cordoned off by police. At 6 p.m. radio stations broadcast Mr. Morris’s appeal, which said: “Public order can best be protected by the police force of our city under the capable direction of Commissioner Valentine. The best way to show your support of our democratic institutions is to shun this assemblage as one would a pestilence.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
