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Different opinions exist among historians regarding the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism contrasted with its European counterpart. In contrast to the horrors of European history, John Higham states that in the United States "no decisive event, no deep crisis, no powerful social movement, no great individual is associated primarily with, or significant chiefly because of anti-Semitism."[1] Accordingly, David A. Gerber concludes that antisemitism "has been a distinctly minor feature of the nation's historical development."[2] Historian Britt Tevis argue that, "Handlin and Higham’s ideas (especially Higham’s) remain influential, and many American Jewish historians continue to present antisemitism as largely insignificant, momentary, primarily social."[3]
The first governmental incident of anti-Jewish action came during the American Civil War, when General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Order No. 11 (1862) to expel Jews from the portions of Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi then under his control. The order was quickly rescinded by President Lincoln, but not before some Jews were forcibly removed from their homes.
From the 1870s to the 1940s, Jews were routinely discriminated against and barred from working in some fields of employment, barred from residing certain properties, not accepted as members by elite social clubs, barred from resort areas and limited by quotas in enrolling in elite colleges. Antisemitism reached its peak with the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s, antisemitic publications by Henry Ford, and incendiary radio speeches by Father Coughlin in the late 1930s.
Following World War II and the Holocaust in Europe, anti-Jewish sentiment significantly declined in the United States. However, there has been an upsurge in the number of antisemitic hate crimes in recent years. Critics of diversity, equity, and inclusion allege that it facilitates antisemitism by portraying Jews as oppressors, particularly on college campuses. Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, there has been a notable surge in antisemitism throughout the US.[4]