“American Radical: The Life and Times of IF Stone” - Democracy Now
Eventually, he parts company with Stern, I think mainly over the Spanish Civil War, because the New York Post was the only paper in New York that supported the Republican government in Spain that opposed Franco. And that mattered because there was a strong—unlike—the Nazis didn’t have a big cheering section in New York City. Mussolini had certain elements of the Italian American community. But basically, fascism was not usually popular in the United States. But in Spain, Franco had the Catholic Church on his side. And so, Stern’s papers, which were supporting the Republican government, were boycotted. The Tablet , the Catholic Church paper in New York in Brooklyn, advocated a boycott of the New York Post in those days. So it cost him a huge amount. And although he kept his position for many years, eventually Stern gave in, changed his mind, published an apology to the Church, stopped speaking up about Spain. And over that and various other causes,