The Anti-Nazi Law
In the 1930s, New Jersey passed the most sweeping hate speech law in American history.
In the 1930s, there were Nazis in America. In the summer of 1934, residents of Griggstown, New Jersey watched with alarm as tents emblazoned with swastikas were erected on the banks of the Delaware and Raritan Canal. Two hundred boys ranging in age from eight to sixteen, dressed in khaki shirts, black rubber-soled shoes, and brown stockings rolled below the knees, conducted military-style drills before swastika flags that were four feet long. These exercises were part of a youth summer camp called Wille und Macht (Will and Might), sponsored by the Friends of the New Germany, the largest Nazi organization in America, with more than ten thousand members.
Camp Wille und Macht opened shortly after the Friends of the New Germany held a massive rally attended by twenty thousand people in New York's Madison Square Garden. Nazi storm troopers stood at attention atop a red-draped platform. On each side of the stage were black columns decorated with the German eagle bearing the swastika. The Nazis wore swastika armbands and uniforms consisting of military trousers, Sam Browne belts, high boots, and white shirts. Seven hundred policemen patrolled the Garden, attempting to rein in rowdy counterprotesters including the Young Communists' League and the "Anti-Nazi Minute Men."
The presence of Nazis in the United States led to widespread calls for hate speech laws. It set off an intense dialogue around the question: Does the First Amendment provide freedom of speech to those who would, if in power, destroy freedom?
During the 1930s, more than eight hundred fascist groups gained a toehold in the United States during the national crisis of the Great Depression. With names like the Silver Shirts, the Citizens Protective League, and the Patriotic Sons of America, the fascist groups, with their promises of hope and prosperity, appealed to thousands of disaffected and impoverished Americans. Some of the groups were native in origin, while some of them, such as the Friends of the New Germany, were Nazi organizations funded by Berlin.
All the groups were relentless in their scapegoating of minorities, especially Jews. In the 1930s, antisemitism was more virulent than at any point in American history. More than three hundred publications in the United States spewed Hitler's racial theories. Jews were routinely blamed for the nation's financial woes. Some called the New Deal a "Jewish plot." Father Charles Coughlin, known as the "Radio Priest," commanded thirty million listeners at the height of his popularity in the mid-1930s. Coughlin also published a magazine called Social Justice, which was known to print copy verbatim from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Although the fascists never posed a threat to the nation's security, they had an ominous presence. In New York and New Jersey, Nazis affiliated with the Friends of the New Germany held rallies and marched in the streets chanting "Heil Hitler." They distributed antisemitic literature and showed Nazi propaganda films from Germany. Everywhere they went, they were met with violence; they were pelted with eggs, and hecklers cut off their speeches. Several towns in New York and northern New Jersey prohibited the Nazis from assembling. By the end of 1934, the Friends of the New Germany had been banned in several municipalities in New Jersey.
Just days after Camp Wille und Macht was discovered, two members of the New Jersey Assembly introduced a bill that was intended to stop the violent breaches of the peace that took place wherever the Nazis gathered and distributed their propaganda. Under the "anti-Nazi" bill, any person who created, distributed, or circulated a "book, speech, article, statement, circular or pamphlet" which "in any way … incites, counsels, promotes, or advocates hatred, violence, or hostility against any group or groups of persons … by reason of race, color, religion, creed, or manner of worship" could be punished with a fine or a jail sentence ranging from ninety days to three years and a fine from $200 to $5,000. The bill did not mention Nazis specifically, but there is no question that it was aimed at the Nazis. The bill banned organizations that had bylaws advocating racial or religious hatred and made it a crime to print, possess, broadcast, or display a photograph or sign that could incite such hatred. It was forbidden under the law to make any statement "in the presence of two or more persons" inciting "race hatred." Even true statements could be punished if they promoted hatred or hostility against any group of persons in the state by reason of race or religion. The bill was the most sweeping proposal for a hate speech law in American history to that time.
Excerpted from Hate Speech: The Legal and Cultural History of an American Dilemma by Samantha Barbas, courtesy of the University of California Press. Copyright © 2026.