February 20, 1939: When 20,000 Americans Cheered for Hitler
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February 20, 1939: When 20,000 Americans Cheered for Hitler
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About this listen
On February 20, 1939, over 20,000 Americans packed Madison Square Garden for a German American Bund rally celebrating Nazi ideology. A thirty-foot portrait of George Washington flanked by swastikas dominated the stage. Stormtroopers in uniforms provided security. Speakers praised Hitler while claiming to defend American values. Outside, 100,000 protesters filled the streets. Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, half-Jewish and a vocal Hitler critic, deployed 1,700 police to protect the rally, defending the Bund's First Amendment rights despite despising their ideology. The episode explores the paradox of tolerance: how democracies must protect speech even for those who would destroy free speech itself, and why the answer to extremism isn't censorship but exposure, opposition, and trust in democratic values.