Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 8, 2015

Grandfather Taught Him Not To Ignore Anti-Semitism

Tom Schweich

Published February 27, 2015.

Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich, a Republican candidate for governor, died on Thursday in an apparent suicide after he went public with allegations that rivals in the GOP planned to mount an anti-Semitic whisper campaign about his Jewish heritage.

The suicide came minutes after he called the Associated Press to accuse John Hancock, the head of the Missouri Republican Party. of making anti-Semitic comments about him.

Schweich was a churchgoing Episcopalian but his grandfather was Jewish.

Hancock later denied making anti-Semitic remarks about Schweich, but admitted that he believed Schweich was Jewish because of his last name.

Until recently, I mistakenly believed that Tom Schweich was Jewish, but it was simply a part of what I believed to be his biography no different than the fact that he was from St. Louis and had graduated from Harvard Law School, Hancock said in a statement to the states Republican committee.

Political columnist Tony Messenger wrote in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Schweich had disclosed the existence of the anti-Semitic whisper campaign a few days ago.

Schweich told the columnist his grandfather was Jewish, and that he was very proud of his connection to the Jewish faith.

Read the rest here:
Missouri Republican Candidate Commits Suicide Amid Jewish Ancestry 'Whisper Campaign'

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month
Tags: