Julius Klein (September 5, 1901 – April 6, 1984) was an American

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

and

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Early life

Klein was born in Chicago in 1901. His parents were Austrian Jewish immigrants to the U.S. who relocated to Berlin during Klein's childhood. He was interned by German authorities during World War I, but escaped to France and joined the U.S. Army as a spy.

Civilian career

After serving as a spy in Germany 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 ...

, Klein began his civilian career in the 1920s as a criminal reporter for ''The State Herald'', a

Hearst Corporation Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...

newspaper in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, and initiated the first German language radio broadcasts in the United States. Klein also originated the South Pacific edition of ''The Stars and Stripes'' military newspaper, unsuccessfully ran for Congressman at Large as Republican in 1932, and for the United States Senate in 1954. He wrote the screenplay, ''Black Cargo'', during a Hollywood stint (1934–39) when Klein tried unsuccessfully to produce films on the life of General

John Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary Forc ...

.National Museum of American Jewish Military History, "Major General Julius Klein: His Life and Work," Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 1, 2012.

World War II

In 1933 Klein joined the

Illinois National Guard The Illinois National Guard comprises both Army National Guard and Air National Guard components of Illinois. As of 2013, the Illinois National Guard has approximately 13,200 members. The National Guard is the only United States military force e ...

, becoming a lieutenant colonel in 1941. He formulated the ''Combat Public Relations'' plan dealing with

psychological warfare Psychological warfare (PSYWAR), or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations (PsyOp), has been known by many other names or terms, including Military Information Support Operations ( MISO), Psy Ops, political warfare, "Hearts and Mi ...

and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...

and was also stationed in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. During this time Klein also worked as a journalist for the

Chicago Herald-Examiner The ''Chicago American'' was an American newspaper published in Chicago under various names from 1900 until its dissolution in 1975. Its afternoon publication was known as the ''Chicago American'', while its evening publication was known as the ...

, published his own periodical (The National Free Press) with his nephew Joseph Roos, and conducted domestic intelligence gathering and spy operations authorized by both Illinois governor

Henry Horner Henry Horner (November 30, 1878 – October 6, 1940) was an American politician. Horner served as the 28th Governor of Illinois, serving from January 1933 until his death in October 1940. Horner was noted as the first Jewish governor of Illinois. ...

and Colonel (later General)

George C. Marshall George Catlett Marshall Jr. (31 December 1880 – 16 October 1959) was an American army officer and statesman. He rose through the United States Army to become Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army under presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. ...

. Over the years, Klein had built a positive relationship with German Consul

Georg Gyssling Georg Gyssling (16 June 1893 – 8 January 1965) was a German consul to the United States from 1927 until 1941, since 1933 in Los Angeles. He was a member of the Nazi Party from 1931. Early life Gyssling was born in 1893 in Walzen, Upper Siles ...

, which continued up until the time that Gyssling was recalled to Germany in 1941. After the war, Klein's letter of commendation for Gyssling was one of the factors that saved Gyssling from being convicted as a Nazi war criminal.

Public service

In 1947, Julius Klein was elected the National Commander of the

Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America 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 ...

. On April 4, 1948, as National Commander of the Jewish War Veterans, Klein organized an enormous show of strength for the establishment of the

State of Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

in the form of a JWV parade down New York's

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...

. The parade influenced the United States to vote for the partition of Palestine and the State of Israel was born in May, 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Julius 1901 births 1984 deaths AJLAC members Journalists from Chicago Jewish American military personnel Illinois National Guard personnel United States Army generals United States Army generals of World War II World War I spies for the United States 20th-century American Jews American expatriates in Germany