Abstract
Antagonism toward Jews in America has been evident almost as long as Jews have lived there. In 1654, the Dutch governor, Peter Stuyvesant, singled out Jews as “deceitful” and “very repugnant” and sought to have them expelled. In the 19th century, the late historian John Higham observed, Americans united by little else — Kansas farmers, Cambridge intellectuals, and Manhattan day laborers — shared one great fantasy in common: they believed that Jews lay at the root of their problems. Over the centuries, anti-Semitism waxed and waned, often tracking closely with various social and economic crises, but it never fully disappeared, returning with a vengeance in the early 21st century after a long period of remission.