I had no idea...

There was at least as much antisemitism in America 60 years ago as there was in England. My father-in-law changed his name -- just as you saw in the movie -- in order to avoid the quota that limited the number of Jews who could attend university. Many prominent Americans, including Henry Ford and Lindbergh, had openly supported Hitler before WWII. Antisemitism was also a factor in America's decision to close its borders to those fleeing the war in Europe: See the movie "Voyage of the Damned" for the most famous example.

Things have changed: it would now be illegal to restrict land ownership, tenancy, employment or a public accomodation like a hotel on the basis of race, religion or national origin.

Although anti immigrant sentiment was part of the problem for Jews in America, tragically anti-semitic behavior goes back a lot further. In fact it came over from Europe with the very first settlers who are history books tell us were fleeing religious intolerance, but truthfully were just looking to set up there own brand of it. Well into the 20th century it was still perfectly legal to have restricted clubs, restaurants, public swimming pools, and even neighborhoods. Darian Connecticut (the community mentioned in the movie where Kathy's cottage is located) was famously restricted. WASPs could buy homes there secure in the knowledge that Jews, Catholics, and especially anyone with different skin colors, would not be able to by homes in their little corner of Paradise. In the play "Auntie Mame" the title character refers to this mindset as turning someone into "an Aryan from Darian." It took rulings from the Supreme Court to overturn most of these regulations, though many anti-semitic organizations continued to find ways around it using many of the semantic euphemisms you saw in the film (ie: We're looking to hire people who fit in with the perception/type/class that our customers expect.) It's better now, but not perfect. Mel Gibson may have been ostracized for being publicly anti-semitic, but he expressed those opinions more subtly for years without anyone batting an eyelash. Another good film that might give you an idea of the strange pervasiveness of this less than great time in our past is "Liberty Heights" which is about a Jewish family in early 60's America

We've always had anti-Semitism in the USA, but clearly less than in Europe. It declined but didn't vanish after World War II, in sympathy via the holocaust. Still, quota's limiting Jews admitted into colleges and medical schools existed well into the 1960's, as did restricted (no Jews allowed) resorts and neighborhoods. Nancy Reagan wasn't Anti-Semitic, but her rich surgeon father allegedly bragged that he never operated on a Jew. Most in the USA are not anti-Jewish, but you still hear comments about all Jews being rich or controlling everything, some black activists openly attack Jews, and some (but clearly not all) that criticize Israel do so as a more "acceptable" way of attacking Jews.

I grew up in a fairly affluent area on Chicago's north shore and my family belonged to a country club (in the late '80s/early 90's) that, unfortunately, restricted Jewish membership (not outrightly, obviously, but as the title of this movie suggests, there was a sort of "agreement"). When my father became aware of this "practice," our family withdrew from the club.

It's just staggering to think that that kind of anti-semitism was still as rampant after so many years, especially considering the presence and vitality of the Jewish community in the area.

So, although sentiments are far better than even the era of this film, unfortunately some lingering mis-guided opinions remain.

Unfortunately that hopeful yet misguided mentality exists in many, including those of good intentions like yourself. The United States has had a long history of anti-Semitism, dating from colonial days through the present. Early in the 20th century there was the Leo Frank case that inspired riots in the southern part of the country that drove most of its area's Jewish residents out of the region. The Jewish immigrants to this country were ghettoized and restricted to certain neighborhoods. Before she was a President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt was a social worker on New York's Lower East Side and said from her experiences that the Jewish Ghettos there were the most poverty ridden and starvation filled areas she had ever encountered, worse even then the most horrible places in India.

As far as more recent times. During the second world war Henry Morganthau, a friend of Franklin Roosevelt and the lone Jew in his cabinet, was told point blank by FDR that he shouldn't ask for any help for the Jews of Europe and to remember that he was only there (in the cabinet) "at the sufferance of a white Protestant nation." Yes even racially there was considered to be a difference. Jews were not considered to be black, yet on the other hand they weren't quite white either. And in the time leading up to the war, there was a very influential radio host and popular public speaker, Father Charles Coughlin, a Catholic priest, who gave weekly anti-Semitic harangues. In fact in one public poll of the day that asked what people considered to the greatest threat to the nation, the answer was quite horrific. At the time of the Great Depression, the number one answer was not, poverty, unemployment, starvation or fear of a looming war. The answer was, the Jews.

On a personal basis, I remember once asking my mother how much money my father was earning when they first got married (1947) and she told me, nothing, because he was out of work. She said that in those days no company would hire a Jew, and that despite the fact that my father had a college degree from a fine school and had served in combat for almost 5 years in WWII, it took him a very long time to gain employment. When our family moved into a house in a new development in the 1960s in only a lower middle class town, I said to my mother maybe we should have moved into a house in a neighborhood only a few blocks away called Orchard Park, which was covered with beautiful old trees as the name would suggest. She told me that wasn't possible as no one in that neighborhood would sell to a Jew.

Just recently I saw a documentary about Thomas Dewey, who in the 1930s and 40s was put in charge of a government program to prosecute members of organized crime. It mentioned that almost evey attorney he hired was Jewish. His son appeared on the program and commented that this was so, not because his father had any special relationship to the Jewish community, but rather because all of the very qualified gentile lawyers around were employed at very well paying jobs at prestigious law firms, firms that did not hire Jews. And thus he said his father was able to put together a staff of unusual competance for a government program, because for the most talented Jewish lawyers, his program was a great opportunity.

In the 1980s there was a controversy about the appointment of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court when it was revealed that the deed to his home contained a clause that barred him from ever selling to a Jew. He explained that away saying he had no intention of honoring the document but that it was standard language in most deeds of the day. And only 10 years or so ago the great golfer Tom Watson resigned from the private golf club he was a member of after he found out it had denied membership to Henry Bloch, a Jewish man, who owned the most famous income tax preparation firm in the country.

I could site many more public and private instances, but I think the point has been made. In terms of corrections to prejudice, the U. S. government has instituted and imposed on businesses and institutions programs for blacks, Hispanics and women that use quotas. While Jews would not want such blatantly abusive measures imposed to remedy circumstances for themselves, it would be nice if the government seemed to care and the public at large was made aware that such prejudice still exists.

Some years ago a popular television talk show that featured audience participation conducted an interview with a man that they identified as the only Jewish president of a major U. S. corporation. When they got to the part of the show were questions were taken from the audience, one person asked the man, that as the only Jewish CEO what was he doing to see that more blacks were getting empoyment opportunities at his firm. Maybe if people realized that anti-Semitism still existed they would have asked the more logical and appropriate question, what are you doing to help Jews overcome prejudice in being hired, especially at the executive level.

And one more observation. Virtually every Western nation has elected a chief executive of Jewish heritage at one time, even Germany. Only one major power has not, the United States.

Anti-semitsim in 1947 had very little to do with Euroupean Jewish immigration - there was very little since before WWI except for the famous and successful individualsthat were able to make it out during Hitler's time like Einstein and Billy Wilder. I made sure that my kids saw this movie because 99% of the anti-semitism that is seen in the media is related to the holocaust. In some respects this seemed a little unreal and ancient history to them. I wanted them to know that a less virulent but insidious type of anti-semitism was alive in this country, and that their grandfather and his friends were turned away from a vacation house they rented because they were Jews, and their cousin found one of the Jewish exclusive convenants on the deed to her house she was buying in Connecticut, and insisted it be taken out before the close even though it was by then unenforcable. This type of "genteel" anti-semitism was unknown to them. Interestingly, within eight years of the movie's release, Connecticut, the state where the film was largely set, would have a Jewish Governor (and later Senator) Abraham Ribicoff.

Anti-semitism in 'Murica??

Alive and well, and has been so for over 100 years, probably longer.

Bess Truman, wife of much venerated President Harry Truman, refused to let a Jewish reporter in the home. Harry had to meet him outside the house for the interview.

All you need to do is spend time on Facebook and you'll find Jew-hating flourishing. We are a country of racists and bigots. And it's getting worse, not better.

You'll see references to it in other movies if you pay close attention. For instance, in the movie "Auntie Mame", Mame goes to visit the rich, snobbish parents of her nephew Patrick's betrothed (Gloria Upsen). The future in-laws brag about their property being "restricted". To get back at them, Mame purchases the property nearby and turns it into a haven for Jewish refugee children. Patrick had been orphaned at the age of 8 in 1928, so this scene was probably supposed to take place in the early 40's.

Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!