William Bernard Ziff Sr. (August 1, 1898 – December 20, 1953) was an American publishing executive and author.

Early life

By 1916, Ziff was working as an artist. He would later go on to serve as an aviator in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Ziff Davis Inc.

Ziff and Bernard G. Davis founded the magazine publisher Ziff Davis Inc. in 1927. After his death, in 1953, his son, Bill Ziff Jr., succeeded him at Ziff Davis.

Political views

Being of

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

ancestry and motivated by the power of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during the 1930s, Ziff became one of the most prominent American endorsers of

Revisionist Zionism Revisionist Zionism is a form of Zionism characterized by territorial maximalism. Revisionist Zionism promoted expansionism and the establishment of a Jewish majority on both sides of the Jordan River. Developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky in the 1920s ...

. During 1935, he was persuaded by devotees of the Revisionist Zionist spokesman

Ze'ev Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky (born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky; 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940) was a Russian-born author, poet, orator, soldier, and founder of the Revisionist Zionist movement and the Jewish Self-Defense Organization in O ...

to accept the presidency of the Zionist-Revisionists of America organization although he resigned after one year, being uncomfortable with his role as a Jewish organizational official. Ziff remained active with Zionist politics and caused controversy when he authored during 1938 a criticism of British policy in the Holy Land entitled ''The Rape of Palestine.'' The

British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign an ...

declared the book "violent and offensive" and monitored Ziff thereafter.

The studied gentility of the upper-bracket Arab leaves little to be desired. Dressed in his ''Abaye'' and red ''tarbush'' he is a colorful figure. His bearing is languorous and courtly, in vivid contrast to the direct speech and often uncouth manners of the immigrant Jew. Beneath this thin stratum, the balance of the Arab population is primitive in the extreme. For the most part it can hardly be said that they have risen above the stage of barbarism. They are, on the whole, of poor physical type and of low mentality. It would be hard to pose a wider disparity of culture, instinct and mind than lies between these people and the returning Hebrew.

In March 1946, Ziff spoke at a rally of 20,000 participants in

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

protesting against Britain's recent reversal of its pro-Zionist policies in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

Personal life

On July 25, 1923, he married Denea Fischer (1902–1993); together, they had one daughter and later divorced. Ziff married Amelia Mary Morton (1903–1980) with whom he had three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziff, William B. Sr. 1898 births 1953 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews American anti-communists American magazine founders American Zionists Businesspeople from New York (state) Revisionist Zionists United States Army Air Service pilots of World War I William B. Sr.