Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee Collection, Part 4

September 16, 2025

In response to the spread of organized antisemitism in the United States during the 1930s, leaders of Los Angeles' Jewish community formed a special defense organization called the Los Angeles Jewish Community Committee, later known as the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee (CRC). The CRC collection has a long history with the Urban Archives, and consists of five parts spanning the 1930s to the 1990s that document the CRC’s work. The Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles, Community Relations Committee Collection, Part 4, the last portion of the collection to be fully processed with generous community support, is now open for research in Special Collections and Archives.

Item Focus: Gerald L.K. Smith Pamphlet

by Andrea Cuellar, Student Assistant

In the CRC4 collection, you read a lot of intriguing, personal articles and/or books about relevant political figures. Rev. Jonathan Ellsworth Perkins—born and raised near Barnesville & Hendrysburg in Belmont County, Ohio—carefully constructed a book pamphlet based on personal experiences with a far-right anti-Semite named Gerald L. K. Smith. The book pamphlet, The Biggest Hypocrite in America, Gerald L. K. Smith Unmasked, touches base on Smith’s character, focusing heavily on how he treats the people he works with. Unfortunately, Perkins did not have a good experience with him; being Gerald’s acquaintance for four years, Perkins saw how cruel he was to women and his fascist dictatorship ways. This offers insight into the type of materials that are seen in CRC4, like firsthand experiences and records with political candidates, flyers, procedures, and political cartoons. What is so interesting about this collection as a whole is how much you learn about different political parties, propaganda, and not only political propaganda but religion as well; it is very informative and straightforward.

The CRC combatted antisemitism and promoted intergroup relations in Los Angeles through advocating for vulnerable individuals, building community relationships, and documenting extremist groups. During the early 1950s, with the Cold War, Soviet-Jewish emigration, and U.S. Civil Rights, the CRC continued this work under CRC Executive Directors Joseph Roos and Charles Posner. CRC part 4 contains records of other directors in the organization, as well.

This newly-opened portion of the collection presents CRC’s work in an evolving political climate. It includes significant administrative records, investigative records, publications, political and religious propaganda, and audiovisual materials. Especially notable are records from Joseph Roos’ Executive Directorship. Roos was a pioneer in community relations who embedded himself in the prewar Nazi movement in Los Angeles. Some of the records in Part 4 contain memo materials that display advocacy issues, meeting minutes, flyers, and plans of action. The Master Files Series from the Joseph Roos period contain extensive information about subversive individuals and organizations in newspapers articles, private investigative reports, pamphlets, and propaganda. It also includes records on investigated groups and individuals like Gerald L.K. Smith, the National Renaissance party, and right-wing activities more broadly.

The collection also includes political and religious propaganda from antisemitic, white supremacist, and other extremist groups collected by the CRC, and counter-narratives from anti-Nazi and pro-civil rights organizations. In some instances, CRC bought books and subscribed to newspapers and magazines from the 1950s to 1980s to collect more complete information, including titles like Atomic, The Broom, Closer Up, Common Sense, Counter Attack, Cross and the Flag, Expose, The Defender, Western Voice, and many more.

The collection also document’s the CRC’s regional structure via documents produced by its Area Councils that show how the LA CRC collaborated with regional partners on like education, housing, and hate crimes in neighborhoods. These Area Councils focused on the Eastern, Western, and Southern Area of Los Angeles, and the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.

The collection offers case studies in how communities confront hate, and provides opportunities for CSUN students to explore original material for research, projects, theses, and class assignments. Parts 1, 2, 3, and 5 of the collection are also available for research, as is the digital collection In Our Own Backyard, which drew heavily on all parts of the CRC collection.

Image Gallery

CRC administrative meeting memo from Joseph Roos, 1968

Letter explaining documents on the issue of the American Nazi Party presence in Pasadena from the Eastern Region CRC, 1976

Letter concerning a meeting with the CRC San Fernando Valley Area Council, 1967-1969

Memo to the Media about a Seminar on Soviet Jewry, 1974

Letter describing the Prison Conditions of Prisoners of Conscience from the National Conference on Soviet Jewry, 1974-1975

A pamphlet concerning the dangers of far-right extremists to Jewish people and American Democracy from a Social Action Committee at the Temple Emanuel, 1963-1965

The Cross and the Flag publication from Jack Tenney, 1951

A subscription flyer for the right-wing newspaper Thunderbolt, 1961-1963

Paul Coates article about Helen Courtios of the Keep America Committee from the Master Files, 1966

Pamphlet, "The Biggest Hypocrite in America, Gerald L.K. Smith, Unmasked," 1949

The explanatory note inside "The Biggest Hypocrite in America," 1949

Page 58 and 59, “The Biggest Hypocrite in America,” 1949

Post tagged as: urban archives, archives, los angeles