Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism

by Rachel Maddow

Maloney’s terse and declarative twenty-eight-page indictment was based on almost seven thousand pages of grand jury testimony from more than 150 different witnesses. It charged the defendants with “intent to interfere with, impair, and influence the loyalty, morale, and discipline of the military and naval forces of the United States.” Germany’s propaganda scheme targeting the United States went far afield from military bases and installations, of course, but Maloney believed this was the charge that would stick. And also get the word out. Without naming or indicting them, Maloney in his court filings described how members of Congress had helped the Hitler government launder Nazi propaganda and send it, in bulk, to American soldiers, sailors, and marines as well as to the public at large.