The zeppelin, a swastika on its tail, lifted up and out of Lakehurst at 11:25 p.m., fighting its way skyward through the raindrops. It quickly flew over Lakewood, over the Stanley Hotel, over some of the golf courses Louis had so loved. Within an hour it was over the Statue of Liberty. It moved uptown along the Hudson, its searchlights trained on the skyscrapers below. It floated over the Garment center, over the Hippodrome, over the pier where he'd disembarked, over Madison Square Garden and Jack Dempsey's and Jacobs Beach. Before reaching Yankee Stadium, as the Upper West Side blended into Harlem, it took a sharp right, grazing the tip of Central Park, then disappeared into the clouds as it headed northeast toward the Atlantic. Its journey to Germany would take fifty hours, enough time for Max Schmeling to imagine many things. But no one could have conjured up the stupendous reception awaiting him there.

* To some British reporters, the violence in Harlem only proved the wisdom of the color line. "Schmeling has done boxing a service," wrote Geoffrey Simpson of the To some British reporters, the violence in Harlem only proved the wisdom of the color line. "Schmeling has done boxing a service," wrote Geoffrey Simpson of the Daily Mail. Daily Mail. "He has post-dated to the distant future the prospect of a coloured heavyweight ruling the ring." Given the "outrageous" scenes in Harlem, "He has post-dated to the distant future the prospect of a coloured heavyweight ruling the ring." Given the "outrageous" scenes in Harlem, Boxing Boxing agreed. No sport, it said, "should be made the means of national uprising and revolt." agreed. No sport, it said, "should be made the means of national uprising and revolt."* The two, a reporter for the The two, a reporter for the Rand Daily Mail Rand Daily Mail complained, "talked at a rate at which only American broadcast commentators can talk, and in Johannesburg it sounded just as if an auction sale were being held in the ring.... No amount of dial manipulation could make the description intelligible." complained, "talked at a rate at which only American broadcast commentators can talk, and in Johannesburg it sounded just as if an auction sale were being held in the ring.... No amount of dial manipulation could make the description intelligible."

Climbing Back

TO S SCHMELING, riding aboard the Hindenburg Hindenburg was as thrilling as beating Louis. He couldn't sleep, so busy was he staring out the window. When the dirigible passed over Doorn, the residence of the former kaiser, Wilhelm II, it dipped several times, and Schmeling could see him waving his hat. Around four on the afternoon of June 26, it flew over Cologne. And when it approached Frankfurt, five fighter planes formed an escort. Below were ten thousand people, many of whom had waited for hours in the heat, humidity, and tumult as vendors sold Max Schmeling Almonds and Anny Ondra Fruit Drops. Among those in the crowd were Schmeling's mother and wife, who had arrived that morning from Berlin on a plane Goebbels had supplied-Ondra's first flight ever. was as thrilling as beating Louis. He couldn't sleep, so busy was he staring out the window. When the dirigible passed over Doorn, the residence of the former kaiser, Wilhelm II, it dipped several times, and Schmeling could see him waving his hat. Around four on the afternoon of June 26, it flew over Cologne. And when it approached Frankfurt, five fighter planes formed an escort. Below were ten thousand people, many of whom had waited for hours in the heat, humidity, and tumult as vendors sold Max Schmeling Almonds and Anny Ondra Fruit Drops. Among those in the crowd were Schmeling's mother and wife, who had arrived that morning from Berlin on a plane Goebbels had supplied-Ondra's first flight ever.

Around ten minutes past five, the giant silver-gray zeppelin floated silently into view over Frankfurt. Someone stood at the cockpit window and waved. It had to be Max! After doing a "lap of honor" around the city, the dirigible landed. Schmeling, fittingly, was let out first, before the zeppelin was even moved to its hangar, where the mere mortals would disembark. "It seemed as if a hurricane were let loose," one paper reported. "The crowd waved, rejoiced, and cried out their congratulations to him from afar and wanted to rush to him." A band of Brown Shirts played, but the music was drowned out by the exuberant fans. Schmeling greeted his wife and his mother. He and Ondra received flowers galore, including an enormous bouquet of carnations from a blond girl representing the Bund deutscher Madel. Another bouquet came from the City of Frankfurt, presented to "the greatest spokesman for Germany."

There were speeches from Nazi and municipal officials, which were broadcast throughout the country. Schmeling, too, said a few words. Then, as the crowd surged toward him, chanting his name, and hundreds reached out to shake his hand, he walked arm in arm with his mother and his wife to the parking lot. There, they hopped into an open car and headed through the teeming streets to the old city hall, where tens of thousands more had gathered, and where throngs surrounded his limousine. Three small girls brought him additional bouquets before he went inside to inscribe his name into the "Golden Book of the City of Frankfurt." Outside, people chanted "We want to see our Schmeling! Where is Max?" He then went out to the balcony to greet them, and gave them a Hitler salute. "Frankfurt couldn't have been more excited had Goethe come down from Mount Olympus," a French newspaper reported.

Then it was back to the airport, and the next leg of his triumphant tour: Berlin. En route, as Hitler's personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffman, recorded the scene, Schmeling recounted his recent exploits to his admirers. He also talked to two of Nazi Germany's most important sports editors, Herbert Obscherningkat of the 12 Uhr-Blatt 12 Uhr-Blatt and Heinz Siska of the and Heinz Siska of the Angriff. Angriff. Shortly after the fight, Walter Winchell had expressed the hope that Schmeling would bring a positive message about America back to Germany. "Even those of us who bet against Schmeling admire his courage and realize that the best man won," Winchell told his radio audience. "And some of us hope that when he arrives in Germany Thursday by way of the Zep that he will tell them all of the great sportsmanship displayed by Americans, who love a fair fight." Instead, with a candor and venom he had rarely revealed in the United States, Schmeling unloaded on the American press. Shortly after the fight, Walter Winchell had expressed the hope that Schmeling would bring a positive message about America back to Germany. "Even those of us who bet against Schmeling admire his courage and realize that the best man won," Winchell told his radio audience. "And some of us hope that when he arrives in Germany Thursday by way of the Zep that he will tell them all of the great sportsmanship displayed by Americans, who love a fair fight." Instead, with a candor and venom he had rarely revealed in the United States, Schmeling unloaded on the American press.* They had made him seem contemptible, like a criminal, he complained, referring to the comparisons to the Lindbergh kidnapper. All the talk of Louis's superiority hurt the gate, he went on; whites didn't want to see one of their own "clobbered by a mulatto." But the Americans were pleased by the outcome, he said; Louis's success had made blacks brazen, leading them to ambush and throw rocks at cars, and his loss had subdued them. He described the enthusiastic letters he'd received from the South, and criticized the "loudmouthed manner" of Americans who considered a Louis victory inevitable. By putting uppity American blacks in their place, Siska wrote, Schmeling had bestowed a great gift on unappreciative white America. "And [Schmeling] says that he alone would never have had the power, had he not known how much support he had in his homeland," Siska continued. "He was allowed to speak with the Fuhrer and his ministers, and from that moment on his will to victory was without limit." They had made him seem contemptible, like a criminal, he complained, referring to the comparisons to the Lindbergh kidnapper. All the talk of Louis's superiority hurt the gate, he went on; whites didn't want to see one of their own "clobbered by a mulatto." But the Americans were pleased by the outcome, he said; Louis's success had made blacks brazen, leading them to ambush and throw rocks at cars, and his loss had subdued them. He described the enthusiastic letters he'd received from the South, and criticized the "loudmouthed manner" of Americans who considered a Louis victory inevitable. By putting uppity American blacks in their place, Siska wrote, Schmeling had bestowed a great gift on unappreciative white America. "And [Schmeling] says that he alone would never have had the power, had he not known how much support he had in his homeland," Siska continued. "He was allowed to speak with the Fuhrer and his ministers, and from that moment on his will to victory was without limit."

Streetcar service to Berlin's Tempelhof Airport was increased to accommodate the anticipated crowds. Many people were already in place by two in the afternoon, even though Schmeling wasn't due before nine. Between musical selections, an announcer updated Schmeling's progress above the Reich: Frankfurt, then Erfurt, Dessau, Beelitz. Hundreds of people streamed across the field when Schmeling finally landed. Greeting him were an honor guard of two hundred amateur boxers in blue tights, along with state secretary Walter Funk; someone representing sports minister Tschammer und Osten; one of Hitler's adjutants; and other assorted Nazi functionaries. Luft Hansa had brought a special "lighting car" with huge spotlights so that people could see more clearly what was unfolding. Schmeling and Ondra were presented with a long cake, plus free passes to the Olympics. There were more speeches and several thunderous "Heil!"s. "Heil!"s. A ladder truck, normally used to board planes, was brought out so that everyone could see the happy couple, and Schmeling was lifted and carried off the field. A ladder truck, normally used to board planes, was brought out so that everyone could see the happy couple, and Schmeling was lifted and carried off the field.

When he reached his home, he discovered a triumphal arch outside, reading "Welcome, Max." Storm Troopers (the Sturm Abteilung, Sturm Abteilung, or SA) had decorated the house with a swastika and a Reich eagle, and had hung a banner containing a poem: or SA) had decorated the house with a swastika and a Reich eagle, and had hung a banner containing a poem: Lieber Max, sei Willkommen, Louis haste Mass genommen.

Glucklich biste wieder da, Heil und Sieg Dir, die SADear Max, welcome home, You really gave Louis a thrashing.

Happily, you're back again, Hail and victory to you, the SA Inside, the house looked like a flower store and gift shop, stacked with everything from marzipan boxing gloves to letters from children. Ondra had had to buy extra laundry baskets to accommodate all of the communiques. Schmeling dined with Goebbels that night. The next afternoon, accompanied by his mother and his wife, he met with Hitler in the Reich's chancellory. In formal fashion, Hitler thanked Schmeling on behalf of the German people and, over cake, pressed for details about the fight. He lamented that he could not see the film, and when he was told that it was in customs, he arranged to have it fetched. When it arrived, they sat down and watched: Hitler "gave a running commentary and every time I landed a punch he slapped his thigh with delight," Schmeling later wrote. "Goebbels, listen-this isn't going to be used as part of the Wochenschau Wochenschau [weekly newsreel]!" Hitler decreed. "This film is going to be shown as a main feature. Throughout the entire Reich!" "Dramatic and thrilling," Goebbels wrote in his diary. "The last round is quite wonderful. He really knocks out the Negro." The gloves Schmeling wore in the Louis fight would soon hang at the Roxy-Bar, Schmeling's favorite hangout in Berlin, alongside the pair he'd used against Young Stribling in 1931 and Jack Sharkey the following year. (The right glove in the newest pair was softer because of the great workout it had endured.) [weekly newsreel]!" Hitler decreed. "This film is going to be shown as a main feature. Throughout the entire Reich!" "Dramatic and thrilling," Goebbels wrote in his diary. "The last round is quite wonderful. He really knocks out the Negro." The gloves Schmeling wore in the Louis fight would soon hang at the Roxy-Bar, Schmeling's favorite hangout in Berlin, alongside the pair he'd used against Young Stribling in 1931 and Jack Sharkey the following year. (The right glove in the newest pair was softer because of the great workout it had endured.) Four days after his return, Schmeling's festive homecoming was rudely interrupted when lightning struck the thatched roof of his country home in Bad-Saarow, forcing the Schmelings to flee outside. The fire spread quickly, and Schmeling went back in to salvage whatever he could. Most of his boxing mementos were lost, but, as the German papers duly noted, Schmeling managed to save a bust of Hitler given him by the Fuhrer himself. Schmeling told one reporter that it was the first object he retrieved. (In a postwar interview Schmeling dismissed the bust as "the most worthless kitsch" and insisted it had been saved mistakenly by the son of the sculptor who'd made it.) Out of sadness for the Schmelings, Goebbels canceled a garden party scheduled for that day.

Schmeling's victory had broadened the potential market for the fight films. In countries where, as the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times put it, "a white man must not be beaten"-India, Australia, much of colonial Africa-"the pictures would have been barred instantly" had Louis won. Now they could be shown there. Of course by far the biggest newly opened market was Germany itself. But what Germans would view was not the straight, unadulterated footage shown elsewhere, including in Vienna, where local Nazis disrupted screenings with cries of "Heil Hitler!" "Heil Germany!" and "Heil Schmeling!" Instead, they would view it as Goebbels wanted them to, cut and pasted and repackaged. put it, "a white man must not be beaten"-India, Australia, much of colonial Africa-"the pictures would have been barred instantly" had Louis won. Now they could be shown there. Of course by far the biggest newly opened market was Germany itself. But what Germans would view was not the straight, unadulterated footage shown elsewhere, including in Vienna, where local Nazis disrupted screenings with cries of "Heil Hitler!" "Heil Germany!" and "Heil Schmeling!" Instead, they would view it as Goebbels wanted them to, cut and pasted and repackaged. Max Schmelings Sieg-ein deutscher Sieg, Max Schmelings Sieg-ein deutscher Sieg, it was to be called. "Max Schmeling's Victory: A German Victory." it was to be called. "Max Schmeling's Victory: A German Victory."

In early July, ads for the film began appearing in mass-circulation newspapers and magazines. "A Film That Concerns All Germans," read one. A record number of prints were produced, and theater owners were promised a historic document as well as one of the biggest hits ever to hit the screens. Striking yellow posters for it popped up all over Berlin. The hype proved quite unnecessary; demand was enormous, and besides, with clips omitted from the weekly newsreels, it was the only way to see the fight. The premiere was set for Dresden on July 8. The next day it would open at forty-seven theaters in Berlin alone, and soon it would play throughout Germany.

The film began with a cultural oddity, as various Jewish names-Mike Jacobs among them-appeared in the credits. Nor was there any way to hide Joe Jacobs. (To assure themselves that there were no more Jews involved than was strictly necessary, the Nazis made Hellmis prove that he and his wife were pure Aryans before letting him narrate. This Hellmis did with birth and baptismal certificates dating back to his great-grandparents.) The earliest scenes were from Louis's training camp. Elevating Louis, at least as a boxer, would make his fall all the more dramatic, and this the film set out to do. "Long before the fight he was in excellent form," Hellmis declared. "In the last year alone he clobbered the world's five best in a few rounds." Then the scene switched to Napanoch, and a shot of Schmeling exercising. "In every one of his movements there speaks a concentrated energy," said Hellmis, "a will that shall be heard in the following weeks." Hellmis himself then appeared, at his microphone, and Germans could see the man so many had merely heard: roundish, fair-haired, utterly serious. "Max Schmeling's fight against Joe Louis became the most difficult of his long, successful career," he declared. "His victory was more than merely the success of a German athlete. It became a German victory." Really, he suggested, it was a victory for whites worldwide, who greeted the outcome "with genuine joy and admiration."

"Everything, but everything, spoke for [Louis]: his unusual, racially-conditioned gift for boxing, his youth, his unheard-of punching power, and his super-human toughness," Hellmis went on. "He [Max] alone never lost courage. He believed in his ability and his power. And when, finally, in the twelfth round the opponent lay annihilated on the canvas, then Schmeling won the warm and honest sympathy of the Americans. This German had accomplished what no one believed possible! The most dramatic fight in the history of the sport of boxing, which you will now see, is... a wonderful document attesting to the ability of a will as hard as Krupp steel to accomplish everything."

Then came the fight, beginning with Louis's stumbling entrance into the ring. From Schmeling's first blow, Hellmis said, Louis could tell that this was no ordinary adversary. This man was tough, and needed to be, for the black man was incredibly strong, incredibly dangerous. "Fighting is rough in American rings," Hellmis explained. "The rules aren't as strict as in Europe. Holding is allowed, as are punches to the kidney." By the fourth round, Schmeling's strategy-taking all those left jabs in order to get over his right-had emerged. Schmeling fired one at "the wooly head of the Negro." "There, a smash! And again! He's wobbling, he's wobbling, he's wobbling! The page has turned!" The moment was repeated in slow motion. Louis was down. Already, Schmeling was master of the ring.

Not surprisingly, the film made no mention of Schmeling's late punch after the fifth round. The demoralized Louis began fouling Schmeling, and Schmeling retaliated with a mighty punch. "That was for the low blow, Joe!" Hellmis exclaimed. By the twelfth, the incredibly tough "nature boy from Alabama" was tottering, staggering, completely shattered. Then, in slow motion, came his final, fateful low blow. "A boxer has to be able to control his punches," Hellmis scolded. "That won't turn out well, Joe Louis! You'll pay for that!" The masses in Yankee Stadium stood on their seats as Schmeling put Louis away. "Max! More, more, more still! More Max! The right! Once again! There he lies! Out! Out! Out! Out! Out!" The film ended with Balogh's announcement and the German national anthem.

Schmelings Sieg was a crude effort, with none of the gorgeous images or production values of more sophisticated Nazi productions like Leni Riefenstahl's. But it swept the country, giving Germans everywhere a chance to celebrate all over again. In Dresden, every show in two theaters sold out, in part because Schmeling himself appeared at each. At the denouement, the local newspaper related, audience members clapped and screamed "as if they hadn't known about the outcome of the fight before"; when Schmeling appeared, the "applause wouldn't end." "Maxe! Maxe! Maxe!" the crowd outside, using the familiar form of "Max," chanted whenever Schmeling emerged. Late into the night, mobs lingered outside Schmeling's hotel, hoping for a glimpse of him. One fan made it into Schmeling's bathroom. was a crude effort, with none of the gorgeous images or production values of more sophisticated Nazi productions like Leni Riefenstahl's. But it swept the country, giving Germans everywhere a chance to celebrate all over again. In Dresden, every show in two theaters sold out, in part because Schmeling himself appeared at each. At the denouement, the local newspaper related, audience members clapped and screamed "as if they hadn't known about the outcome of the fight before"; when Schmeling appeared, the "applause wouldn't end." "Maxe! Maxe! Maxe!" the crowd outside, using the familiar form of "Max," chanted whenever Schmeling emerged. Late into the night, mobs lingered outside Schmeling's hotel, hoping for a glimpse of him. One fan made it into Schmeling's bathroom.

The night after the Dresden premiere, the crowds outside the Titania-Palast in Berlin were "downright life-threatening." Searchlights shot up into the sky; admittance was by invitation only, and but for the Fuhrer, the panjandrums of the Reich were all there: Goring, Goebbels, Hess. When Schmeling entered, Ondra on his arm, he nearly brought down the house. "Hollywood scarcely could have outdone the scene," Gayle Talbot of the Associated Press was to recall. Bellowing and raving on the soundtrack "like an off-key calliope," he wrote, Hellmis worked the audience into a terrific lather-so much so, in fact, that it was hard to hear him over the din. "By the time the knockout finally came some of the more excitable Nazi youths were trying to get at Louis personally." The lights then went up and a smiling Schmeling appeared on the stage. The audience stood and screamed for five minutes. Schmeling took numerous curtain calls, and the police had to escort him to his car. He and Ondra then dined with Hans Hinkel, Goebbels's protege in the Nazi propaganda ministry. With the film opening all over town the next day, one German paper theorized that Schmeling's punches would soon leave all of Berlin "joy-groggy."

In fact, all Germany would soon be just that. A 1,200-seat cinema in Bremen sold out for the local premiere, and two additional theaters were soon showing it. In Leipzig, "the audience was literally shivering out of excitement." Its run in Bochum was extended after it broke an all-time attendance record. In Regensburg the audience applauded during the film, something Germans rarely did. Breslau, Danzig, Karlsruhe, Chemnitz, Halle, Ludwigshafen, Erfurt, Saarbrucken, Augsburg, Stettin, Gorlitz: everywhere, the reports were the same. More than three million Germans saw Schmelings Sieg Schmelings Sieg in its first four weeks. It was still playing in Berlin in late July, when the Americans arrived for the Olympics. By one account, Schmeling had paid only $20,000 for the German rights to the film but within two years had earned $165,000 from it. in its first four weeks. It was still playing in Berlin in late July, when the Americans arrived for the Olympics. By one account, Schmeling had paid only $20,000 for the German rights to the film but within two years had earned $165,000 from it.*

Schmeling's popularity at home had reached unimaginable heights. Goring invited him to go hunting. Relations with Hitler remained cordial; when Gallico went to Schmeling's house in Berlin to interview his old friend for a story about the Louis fight for the Saturday Evening Post, Saturday Evening Post, he noticed that a large inscribed photograph of the Fuhrer dominated one room, while the remnants of the mammoth floral arrangement- "decorated with red, swastika-ed ribbons"-that Hitler had sent Ondra after the fight were nearby. "It must have taken three men to lift it," Gallico wrote. And Schmeling wrote the introduction to a book called he noticed that a large inscribed photograph of the Fuhrer dominated one room, while the remnants of the mammoth floral arrangement- "decorated with red, swastika-ed ribbons"-that Hitler had sent Ondra after the fight were nearby. "It must have taken three men to lift it," Gallico wrote. And Schmeling wrote the introduction to a book called Deutscher Faustkampf nicht prizefight: Boxen als Rassenproblem Deutscher Faustkampf nicht prizefight: Boxen als Rassenproblem [German Fistfight not Prizefight: Boxing as Race Problem]. In it the author, Ludwig Haymann, posited that Schmeling's style-scientific, precise, sophisticated-perfectly exemplified the German temperament. The book was a racist and anti-Semitic tract, stating that Louis had grasped for the heavyweight crown with a disdainful sneer and that Jews, drawn to boxing not by its sporting element but by pure greed, had degraded German concepts of heroism and idealism. Schmeling praised Hitler's appreciation of boxing and wished Haymann's book the success he said it deserved. [German Fistfight not Prizefight: Boxing as Race Problem]. In it the author, Ludwig Haymann, posited that Schmeling's style-scientific, precise, sophisticated-perfectly exemplified the German temperament. The book was a racist and anti-Semitic tract, stating that Louis had grasped for the heavyweight crown with a disdainful sneer and that Jews, drawn to boxing not by its sporting element but by pure greed, had degraded German concepts of heroism and idealism. Schmeling praised Hitler's appreciation of boxing and wished Haymann's book the success he said it deserved.

Schmeling later maintained that, politically speaking at least, all was not well for him at this time. A few days after his return to Germany, he said he had been offered a "dagger of honor" and the title of "Honorary Commander of the SA," and as someone who disdained politics, he hadn't known what to do. He said he called Hitler's personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffman, and begged off. But anyone in the Nazi hierarchy surely would have realized that allying Schmeling so explicitly with Hitler was professionally counterproductive, even suicidal, abroad; surely it was the work of an unsophisticated, overzealous underling. In any case, by July 1936 it's hard to see how such a gesture even mattered. Whatever his official status, Schmeling was thoroughly enmeshed with the Nazis, and he was perceived as such on both sides of the Atlantic. That he retained a Jewish manager in the United States may or may not have been an irritant in Berlin, but it was clearly tolerated by those who mattered. Hitler was so proud of Schmeling, Walter Winchell wisecracked, that he was thinking of naming a concentration camp after Joe Jacobs. Only with Goebbels had relations soured; it seemed he'd been in a theater the same night as Schmeling once and had been irked afterward when Schmeling, and not he, had been besieged for autographs.

Schmeling was never the man his most intemperate critics claimed. He was never "Nazi Max," the man who had supposedly worn a storm trooper uniform during the early days of the regime, whose picture in a brown shirt had been widely displayed in Germany. Nor does anything support the hearty canard-the details of which vary-that Schmeling or Machon carried Nazi flags or uniforms with them when they came to the United States. But Schmeling's dogged insistence that he was a sportsman rather than a politician made him more useful to the Nazis, not less. It allowed him to do business with Jews in New York, then hobnob with Nazis in Berlin and Berchtesgaden. The Nazis had Schmeling precisely where they wanted him, and while Schmeling always kept his own counsel, he was, to all appearances, content to be there. He had the best of both worlds: he was making enormous amounts of money, was poised to regain the heavyweight crown, and had the approbation of his people and his government. There is no evidence, in anything he said or did at the time, to suggest that he ever agonized over anything. Every athletic hero encountered parasitic "champion chasers," wrote Pegler, but Schmeling was the first "to discover among the cooties in the seams of his shirt a ruler of a world power." "The spectacle of the front-running chancellor chasing after a winner, whom he had previously disavowed, and yelling 'Atta boy, champ, I was with you all the time,' is the cheapest display of ki-yi sportsmanship in all the history of sports," Pegler went on-as pathetic as making a model Aryan out of someone who once told Pegler he could well be part Mongolian.

The hostility American Jews felt toward Schmeling before the fight only intensified upon seeing the Nazis embrace him afterward. "When he went back to Germany and tossed himself (figuratively speaking) on Hitler's manly (?) chest he was through over here," wrote Doc Daugherty of the Daily Worker. Daily Worker.* Giant photographs of Schmeling and Anny Ondra hobnobbing with Hitler popped up throughout New York's garment district. "It would seem that Schmeling made a mistake in posing for the picture men," Davis Walsh wrote. "It coupled him with Hitler's regime, formally and for the first time." In early July, the Giant photographs of Schmeling and Anny Ondra hobnobbing with Hitler popped up throughout New York's garment district. "It would seem that Schmeling made a mistake in posing for the picture men," Davis Walsh wrote. "It coupled him with Hitler's regime, formally and for the first time." In early July, the Angriff Angriff declared that only his fellow blacks wanted to see Louis fight Schmeling again; for everyone else, a Braddock-Schmeling fight for the title was all that mattered. In reality, a rematch against Louis was the only Schmeling fight many American boxing fans, especially in New York, would now pay to see. declared that only his fellow blacks wanted to see Louis fight Schmeling again; for everyone else, a Braddock-Schmeling fight for the title was all that mattered. In reality, a rematch against Louis was the only Schmeling fight many American boxing fans, especially in New York, would now pay to see.

ON S SUNDAY, JUNE 21, two days after the fight, a group of newsmen stood outside Michigan Central Station in Detroit awaiting the train carrying Joe Louis back from New York. "One nice thing about Joe," a photographer there said. "He'll always give a guy a fair break on a shot." That meant that he would always alight from the same car, so they could pre-focus their Speed Graphics at the standard twelve feet. 21, two days after the fight, a group of newsmen stood outside Michigan Central Station in Detroit awaiting the train carrying Joe Louis back from New York. "One nice thing about Joe," a photographer there said. "He'll always give a guy a fair break on a shot." That meant that he would always alight from the same car, so they could pre-focus their Speed Graphics at the standard twelve feet.

But this time a different Joe Louis emerged-"hiding behind everything except a set of false whiskers"-and at a different spot, for the train had slowed down to let him jump off early. Though the day was sunny, he wore a gray topcoat with a turned-up collar that covered much of his face; a straw hat and big blue sunglasses obscured the rest. When he spotted the photographers, he turned away and began running across the tracks. They scrambled in pursuit, trying to salvage a "steal shot"-the kind of picture one usually took of someone entering a jail. One of Louis's handlers threatened to destroy their cameras and waved his hat in front of their lenses. Louis dived into a cab, and for a split second one could see why he'd suddenly grown so shy: the left side of his face was far too big.

Louis had made himself scarce in New York before leaving. His only appearance was at Mike Jacobs's office, where he said he had no plans to watch the fight films. "I saw the fight," he explained. Louis canceled his appearance at the Negro League game in Newark, passing up a plaque calling him "the most outstanding athlete in the country." Instead, he got himself a drawing room on the Red Arrow, leaving-fleeing, was more like it-New York at five in the afternoon. Less than twenty hours after the knockout, he was heading home to Detroit, and to his mother. The fashion in which Louis slithered out of town could not have been more different from his triumphant arrival but five weeks earlier. "No angels sang as he sat there in the locked compartment, no trumpets lashed the air with shrill effrontery," one sportswriter observed. "Trumpets are not for idols with the cracked clay still sticking to their feet." The Detroit Tribune, Detroit Tribune, the local black weekly, welcomed Louis home with an open letter. "Detroit and its people still believe in you," stated the message, which was signed by, among others, a congressman and a former governor of Michigan. "We believe your greatest victories are yet to come." For the next couple of days, Louis remained secluded in Roxborough's apartment. It was there, presumably, that he read a letter from Walter White, urging him to keep a stiff upper lip amid the abuse and second-guessing. "What happened last Friday night does not in the slightest change the attitude of some of us toward you," White wrote. "The next time you fight Schmeling or anyone else I venture to predict that they will never be able to hit you with rights, or lefts either for that matter." "I wanted him to know that not all of us were like the rats who desert a sinking ship," the NAACP leader explained to Roxborough and Black. White himself confessed four days after the fight that his entire family remained "literally ill over the beating Joe took." the local black weekly, welcomed Louis home with an open letter. "Detroit and its people still believe in you," stated the message, which was signed by, among others, a congressman and a former governor of Michigan. "We believe your greatest victories are yet to come." For the next couple of days, Louis remained secluded in Roxborough's apartment. It was there, presumably, that he read a letter from Walter White, urging him to keep a stiff upper lip amid the abuse and second-guessing. "What happened last Friday night does not in the slightest change the attitude of some of us toward you," White wrote. "The next time you fight Schmeling or anyone else I venture to predict that they will never be able to hit you with rights, or lefts either for that matter." "I wanted him to know that not all of us were like the rats who desert a sinking ship," the NAACP leader explained to Roxborough and Black. White himself confessed four days after the fight that his entire family remained "literally ill over the beating Joe took."

Someone suggested that the Democrats gathering in Philadelphia pass a resolution extending the sympathy of the convention to Mr. and Mrs. Joe Louis of Chicago. Actually, condolences to all of black America would have been more apt.

Some black commentators were calm and philosophical about Louis's loss. "Joe is human and is just a kid yet," a black paper in South Carolina said. Others were practical: now that everyone wanted a crack at Louis, he'd make more money. Some were actually grateful to white America for sparing bruised black feelings more than they'd expected. But all this begged a bigger question: What in heaven's name had happened to Joe?

Few black fans believed that the outcome was as simple as the best man winning; there had to be some other explanation. The Trinidadian calypso duet "Louis-Schmeling Fight" by the Lion and Atilla with Gerald Clark and His Caribbean Serenaders, one of a mounting number of Louis songs, captured the prevailing suspicion.

The Lion sings: The fight between Schmeling and Joe Louis [Lou-ee]

Is an epoch in boxing history.

The critics said the Bomber lost the fight that night Because he couldn't stop Maxie's smashing right Though his disappointment he has now faced, He has been defeated but not disgraced.

To which Atilla replies: I do appreciate your song, But on the night of the fight, well, something was wrong, It wasn't the same Bomber that we saw Smashing Baer and Carnera on the floor.

I wouldn't say it was dope or conspiracy, But the whole thing looked extremely funny to me.

There were some sober, traditional explanations for Louis's collapse. One was that he'd grown cocky and incorrigible, just as Roxborough and Black had belatedly conceded. Or he'd succumbed to a "maelstrom of flattery" from so-called friends. Or the city of Detroit was to blame, for its wild parties, close to which Louis's Lincoln could invariably be found at all hours of the night. Or Lakewood was responsible; its salt air, its heat, its friendly people, and its "Coney Island trimmings" had fatally weakened Louis. The black nationalist Marcus Garvey blamed Louis's selfishness and narrow-mindedness: while Schmeling felt responsible for all of Germany, to Louis it was all about himself and how much money he would make. "We wish Joe well, but we hope he has learnt a lesson from the fight, that when a white man enters the ring in a premium bout with a black man, he realizes that he has in his hands the destiny of the white race," Garvey wrote.

For many, Marva was the prime culprit. Within hours of the knockout, her life "would not have been worth two cents in the Avenue," the New York correspondent for one black paper reported. "Too much Mrs.," a black actor suggested. A colleague agreed. "He should have married sooner," he said. "He would have had more time to recover." Marva had driven a wedge between him and Blackburn. Or Louis had seen too much of her, and too recently and too intimately, maybe even spilling his seed with her the night before the fight. While Schmeling's wife was safely out of the way in Germany, Louis's was in Harlem, tempting the natural appetites of a youthful groom at the very moment when he needed his entire reservoir of physical and mental energy. Or, conversely, Louis had argued bitterly with Marva after finding a letter from one of her old suitors. Or Marva should have stuck around Lakewood longer, keeping her husband from attending wild parties on the New Jersey shore or hanging out with all the pretty visitors. One black newspaper saw Marva as a tragic figure, set upon by her husband's entourage, fans, and jealous women alike. Polls taken after Jesse Owens's spectacular showing in Berlin six weeks after Louis's debacle revealed that while Louis remained the more popular of the two, Jesse's wife out-pointed Marva.

Some of the second-guessers charged that Louis slept too much. Some said Louis simply had an off day. After all, didn't Babe Ruth sometimes spend an afternoon popping out to the infield? Some saw the hand of God, either beneficent (He was saving Louis for bigger things) or vengeful (He was offended by Louis's quasi-religious status). But by one estimate, only one black in a thousand considered the fight legitimate; the rest saw something darker. Convinced it was fixed, many refused to pay off their bets. In dispute was only how the conspiracy was carried out, by whom, and how high up it went. Louis hadn't been Louis at all, but a double. Or he'd been given the evil eye by a "professional jinxer." Or he'd been a pawn in an anti-Semitic plot to bankrupt the many Jews who'd bet on him. Or Schmeling had double-crossed him on that purported deal to prolong the fight films. Or Blackburn had to pay off his debt to the underworld figure who'd helped him beat his murder rap. But in intensity, popularity, variety, and ingenuity, rumors that Louis had been "doped" dwarfed all the others.

To those inclined to believe it, the evidence was everywhere: that Louis had come into the ring late; that his hair had been disheveled; that he'd had a funny stare in his eyes; that he'd blinked so often; that he'd seemed agitated; that his color had been terrible; that he had suddenly and inexplicably forgotten how to box. How Louis had been administered the dope was more problematic-whether by injection, or on trick bandages, or in his food or water, or on his mouthpiece or the towels with which he'd been rubbed down. Maybe some "slickster" had dropped a "deadening pill" into Louis's broth. Or Schmeling had put chloroform on his gloves, making Louis sleepy when they passed under his nose, or had had a "daze producing chemical" smuggled in from Germany, or had put something extra, like an iron bolt or lead, into his gloves. In Danville, Illinois, a young Bobby Short heard one of his mother's friends, a maid in a local department store, speculate that someone had put dope in Louis's orange juice, or his milk, or his oatmeal. Some blamed lax security at Louis's hotel, and asked why he'd stayed on the Upper West Side rather than in more friendly and reliable Harlem. Gamblers could have been behind everything; anyone betting heavily on Schmeling, after all, had made himself a small fortune. The Nazis, too, could have been responsible, or Joe Jacobs, clever as he was. Or maybe it was Mike Jacobs, for Louis was actually a bigger draw as a threat to the crown than as champion. Most theories shared one feature: Louis himself was blameless. For him to be complicit was more than even the most deranged conspiracy-monger could contemplate.

Within hours of the knockout, rumors spread that Louis was seriously ill or dead. Once again, switchboards were flooded. There were reports that seventeen doctors were trying to stop the blood from hemorrhaging in Louis's head; that Blackburn was in jail; that a doctor had confessed to fashioning some potion that had sapped Louis's strength, and had subsequently committed suicide. Street-corner agitators accused the white media of suppressing the truth. Coverage in the black press was intense, with the nation's two most powerful black papers on opposite sides of the issue: while the Pittsburgh Courier Pittsburgh Courier became the house organ of the Louis camp, insisting nothing untoward had happened, the became the house organ of the Louis camp, insisting nothing untoward had happened, the Chicago Defender Chicago Defender fanned the flames, accusing Louis's team of an overconfidence and arrogance that allowed people already out to exploit or hurt Louis to pull off their nefarious deeds. fanned the flames, accusing Louis's team of an overconfidence and arrogance that allowed people already out to exploit or hurt Louis to pull off their nefarious deeds.

To refute all suspicions, the Courier's Courier's city editor retraced Louis's movements for the thirty-one and a half hours between the weigh-in and the opening bell, meticulously reconstructing Louis's naps, meals, and walks, along with what he insisted was his short and entirely platonic interlude with Marva. On the eve of the fight, he had Louis back in his hotel room by eight p.m. and in bed by nine-thirty, with a bodyguard alongside him in a twin bed, two state troopers in the next room, Blackburn and a third officer in another, and two more poised outside their door. Louis's food was "specially prepared by a friend," and he drank only "specially prepared bottled spring water" from Lakewood, even in the ring; so tightly corked had it been, in fact, that someone had to get a can opener from the dressing room. (Blackburn had a quicker rejoinder to all such talk. "What kind of dope was used that required twelve rounds before it's effective?" he asked.) Louis himself tried to lay the rumors to rest. "There was nothing wrong in my fight with Schmeling but his right hand," he wired the city editor retraced Louis's movements for the thirty-one and a half hours between the weigh-in and the opening bell, meticulously reconstructing Louis's naps, meals, and walks, along with what he insisted was his short and entirely platonic interlude with Marva. On the eve of the fight, he had Louis back in his hotel room by eight p.m. and in bed by nine-thirty, with a bodyguard alongside him in a twin bed, two state troopers in the next room, Blackburn and a third officer in another, and two more poised outside their door. Louis's food was "specially prepared by a friend," and he drank only "specially prepared bottled spring water" from Lakewood, even in the ring; so tightly corked had it been, in fact, that someone had to get a can opener from the dressing room. (Blackburn had a quicker rejoinder to all such talk. "What kind of dope was used that required twelve rounds before it's effective?" he asked.) Louis himself tried to lay the rumors to rest. "There was nothing wrong in my fight with Schmeling but his right hand," he wired the Kansas City Call, Kansas City Call, which reprinted the telegram on its front page. "Mr. Schmeling is a fine gentleman and a clean sportsman and I don't like to hear my people takin' credit away from him by sayin' I was doped," he told reporters. Such statements, while clearly sugarcoating Louis's feelings about Schmeling, impressed Ed Sullivan. "The town is gabbing about Joe Louis.... Not so much about the lacing he took from Schmeling, but rather about the Detroit youngster's refusal to cook up any phony alibis," he wrote. which reprinted the telegram on its front page. "Mr. Schmeling is a fine gentleman and a clean sportsman and I don't like to hear my people takin' credit away from him by sayin' I was doped," he told reporters. Such statements, while clearly sugarcoating Louis's feelings about Schmeling, impressed Ed Sullivan. "The town is gabbing about Joe Louis.... Not so much about the lacing he took from Schmeling, but rather about the Detroit youngster's refusal to cook up any phony alibis," he wrote.

White writers generally ridiculed the rumors, which, they hastened to point out, arose after every controversial fight. Only Collyer s Eye Collyer s Eye-whose jaundiced view of boxing was under ordinary circumstances probably closer to the mark than the see-no-evil stance of the mainstream press- suspected something sinister. "The mere fact that those back of the 'Black Bomber' are known mobsters and racketeers... who also control the picture rights... gave some credence or insistence to the hunt for the gentleman of color concealed in the metaphorical woodpile," it said. Some black commentators quickly tired of the whole topic. "One thing I'm not going to write about is Joe Louis," the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., declared in the Amsterdam News Amsterdam News a few days after the fight. "In my office there is an unwritten and unposted sign calling upon all who enter to refrain from discussing last Friday's debacle. The sooner it is forgotten, the better for all of us." Gradually, the focus turned from what had befallen Louis to how he would pick himself up and whether the loss would rob him of his confidence and ferocity or would, instead, give him the only things-wisdom, seasoning, humility-he didn't have already. a few days after the fight. "In my office there is an unwritten and unposted sign calling upon all who enter to refrain from discussing last Friday's debacle. The sooner it is forgotten, the better for all of us." Gradually, the focus turned from what had befallen Louis to how he would pick himself up and whether the loss would rob him of his confidence and ferocity or would, instead, give him the only things-wisdom, seasoning, humility-he didn't have already.

Jack Dempsey was among those who believed that Louis had become irreparably damaged goods. "Joe Louis will be licked by every bum in the country," he said. "The Negro is all right in his place, but the prize ring is no place for him," he said in Greensboro, North Carolina. Braddock, too, wrote Louis off. "Young or old, two hundred right hands on the kisser does something bad to you," he said. Many felt that Louis now had the "Indian Sign"-a kind of hex or voodoo-on him. But others predicted he would be back, and how. "We think he will become a far greater fighter than ever, now that he has had his lessons, but he needed that," said Damon Runyon. "He needed it to get him back to the schoolroom and his teachers."

In the black community, there were some signs of disillusionment. Plans to star Louis in a motion picture to be shown in black theaters were dropped. "Negroes are now defiling the name of Louis and even accusing him of 'selling out,'" the Atlanta Daily World Atlanta Daily World reported. Roi Ottley wrote of a new expression on the streets-"Don't be a Joe Louis"-and claimed the black public was deserting him for Jesse Owens. But votes of confidence were far more common. "I have nothing but pity and sympathy for Joe's next rival," wrote Ed Harris of the reported. Roi Ottley wrote of a new expression on the streets-"Don't be a Joe Louis"-and claimed the black public was deserting him for Jesse Owens. But votes of confidence were far more common. "I have nothing but pity and sympathy for Joe's next rival," wrote Ed Harris of the Philadelphia Tribune. Philadelphia Tribune. "He's going to get the hell beat out of him." "Joe Louis is not through! My boy, Joe, will come through with flying colors," Louis Armstrong declared. "Joe Louis We Are with You," the makers of Murray's Superior Hairdressing Pomade declared in advertisements in the black press. There were open letters to Louis, along with a new batch of encouraging poems. But perhaps the greatest expression of loyalty to Louis was disdain for Jack Johnson. Introduced before twenty-five thousand fans at a Negro League doubleheader in the Polo Grounds that fall, "the thunder of boos that followed must have rattled the very graves of Johnson's ancestors," wrote Roi Ottley in the "He's going to get the hell beat out of him." "Joe Louis is not through! My boy, Joe, will come through with flying colors," Louis Armstrong declared. "Joe Louis We Are with You," the makers of Murray's Superior Hairdressing Pomade declared in advertisements in the black press. There were open letters to Louis, along with a new batch of encouraging poems. But perhaps the greatest expression of loyalty to Louis was disdain for Jack Johnson. Introduced before twenty-five thousand fans at a Negro League doubleheader in the Polo Grounds that fall, "the thunder of boos that followed must have rattled the very graves of Johnson's ancestors," wrote Roi Ottley in the Amsterdam News. Amsterdam News. "Jack Johnson played Joe Louis cheaply- and Harlem played him cheaply." "Jack Johnson played Joe Louis cheaply- and Harlem played him cheaply."

The day after the fight, Mike Jacobs announced that Louis would return to New York in August, against an opponent still to be determined. Some, Schmeling among them, thought this too quick; Louis should take six months off after such a beating. But Louis's handlers didn't want him to have too much time to brood. When Louis came back to New York only two weeks after the fight, he was already in good cheer. "Guess I got a bit swell-headed, before and during the fight with Schmeling," he said. "The swelling's gone down considerable now."

But Louis's magnetism was undiminished. With the press of fans along West Forty-ninth Street he had difficulty entering Mike Jacobs's office. Even the boatload of black athletes heading for Olympic glory in Berlin did not dim Louis's luster. They were mostly college kids, after all, difficult for the black masses to embrace. And they were in track and field, a sport that held little appeal in black America, at least next to boxing. "A carload of Jesse Owenses, Ralph Metcalfes, Cornelius Johnsons and others could not attract as much attention as Joe Louis's chauffeur," the Afro-American Afro-American observed. Two weeks later, Jacobs announced Louis's next opponent: Jack Sharkey. Sharkey, who had lost the heavyweight crown three years earlier, was one of those fighters attempting a comeback to cash in on the renewed popularity Louis had brought to boxing. But he'd been only modestly successful, making him the perfect rival for a man on the rebound. Louis needed a knockout or his star would set. observed. Two weeks later, Jacobs announced Louis's next opponent: Jack Sharkey. Sharkey, who had lost the heavyweight crown three years earlier, was one of those fighters attempting a comeback to cash in on the renewed popularity Louis had brought to boxing. But he'd been only modestly successful, making him the perfect rival for a man on the rebound. Louis needed a knockout or his star would set.

But Louis's next bout was no longer the biggest fight in the offing anymore. In late July, Madison Square Garden and Mike Jacobs agreed to team up for a Braddock-Schmeling showdown in September. It was a historic agreement, ending the Garden's seventeen-year-long monopoly on heavyweight championship fights. With a boycott of Schmeling looming, though, Jacobs chose not to be involved, yielding his control for half the profits.

Under normal circumstances, staging a championship fight on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, would be suicidal. That the Garden would have even considered that possibility for the Braddock-Schmeling bout confirmed the feeling that with Schmeling involved, the Jews would stay away anyway. Braddock's manager, Joe Gould, nixed the proposed date (his Jewish mother objected, he explained), and the fight was moved to September 24. With Germany consumed by the Olympics, no one there was giving boxing much thought, but the Volkischer Beobachter Volkischer Beobachter took note. "After a long, difficult, and unprecedentedly successful resurgence," it said, Schmeling would soon "attempt to regain for Germany the world championship lost years ago because of an unjust decision against Jack Sharkey." took note. "After a long, difficult, and unprecedentedly successful resurgence," it said, Schmeling would soon "attempt to regain for Germany the world championship lost years ago because of an unjust decision against Jack Sharkey."

A small crowd was only one of the problems Schmeling faced. In late July the boxing commission revoked Joe Jacobs's license, for his repeated failure to produce his contract with Schmeling. The speculation was either that no such contract existed, or that it gave Jacobs such a pittance that he was too embarrassed to make it public. Managers generally got one-third of a boxer's winnings, but according to one report, Jacobs collected half that, and only because Mike Jacobs had leaned on Schmeling. Yussel's problem wasn't his religion, it was said, but that he was dealing with someone whose credo was "Pfennig uber Alles." "Max Schmeling's business conferences these days are 100 per cent Aryan," wrote Dan Parker. During one meeting with Mike Jacobs, Parker claimed, Schmeling literally pushed Yussel away and ordered him to wait outside.

Schmeling planned to begin training in Napanoch in early August. Until then, he remained in Germany, enjoying his fame. On July 29 he visited the Olympic Village, where he was stormed by athletes, coaches, and officials. A dozen soldiers rescued him from his admirers "only with the greatest difficulty," reported Box-Sport. Box-Sport. At one point, he rushed over to Jesse Owens and grasped his hands. "I've heard lots about you!" he said. (Schmeling must have been shocked to learn that Owens had bet on him in the Louis fight.) Owens and his black teammates grew incensed at how the Nazis paraded Schmeling around that day; it was another reminder of how Louis's shadow hung over all the black Olympians. "Inwardly, many of us were trying to atone for Joe's loss," he later said. Even when Owens won the 100-meter dash, Schmeling remained the center of attention; groups of Hitler Youth hounded him for autographs, forcing him to jump over a hedge and flee to the parking lot. The dean of British boxing writers, Trevor Wignall of the At one point, he rushed over to Jesse Owens and grasped his hands. "I've heard lots about you!" he said. (Schmeling must have been shocked to learn that Owens had bet on him in the Louis fight.) Owens and his black teammates grew incensed at how the Nazis paraded Schmeling around that day; it was another reminder of how Louis's shadow hung over all the black Olympians. "Inwardly, many of us were trying to atone for Joe's loss," he later said. Even when Owens won the 100-meter dash, Schmeling remained the center of attention; groups of Hitler Youth hounded him for autographs, forcing him to jump over a hedge and flee to the parking lot. The dean of British boxing writers, Trevor Wignall of the Daily Express, Daily Express, spotted Schmeling in one of the "exalted pews," inaccessible to the press. "In rank and importance he did not seem to be much below Hitler and Goering," he wrote. spotted Schmeling in one of the "exalted pews," inaccessible to the press. "In rank and importance he did not seem to be much below Hitler and Goering," he wrote.* But before long Schmeling was again aboard the But before long Schmeling was again aboard the Hindenburg, Hindenburg, this time heading toward America. Ondra would soon follow, and after the fight the two planned to go to Hollywood-he as the new heavyweight champion, she as the film star America was about to discover. The day after he arrived, Schmeling visited Louis in Pompton Lakes, where he was training for the Sharkey fight. It was their first encounter since the knockout. "How you, Max?" Louis greeted him. "How was the zeppelin thing?" this time heading toward America. Ondra would soon follow, and after the fight the two planned to go to Hollywood-he as the new heavyweight champion, she as the film star America was about to discover. The day after he arrived, Schmeling visited Louis in Pompton Lakes, where he was training for the Sharkey fight. It was their first encounter since the knockout. "How you, Max?" Louis greeted him. "How was the zeppelin thing?"

Louis's latest camp was as much reform school as training headquarters. Gone were the crowds, the jazz bands, the hawkers, the hangers-on. So was the golf. The signs outside read NO TRESPASSING NO TRESPASSING rather than rather than JOE LOUIS BOXES TODAY JOE LOUIS BOXES TODAY. "A tractable Joe Louis has replaced the spoiled child of Lakewood," the Courier Courier reported. "Jack Blackburn again has the upper hand and Louis is his willing pupil. The hero worshippers can't tell him how good he is, but Jack can and does tell him how 'lousy' he is." Roxbor-ough was satisfied. "Now you are watching the real Joe Louis, the Joe Louis he was before Lakewood," he said. Or, as Blackburn put it, "Chappie heah got believin' all you newspapah boys say 'bout him-that he ain't human.... Mr. Schmeling learned him something." Even Louis's sleep had been restricted: no more than ten hours a day. Under the new regime there was nothing for Joe to do but talk about the upcoming fight, eat, spar, jab the bags, skip rope, and do roadwork and calisthenics. Louis's handlers now kept his toothbrush, hairbrush, and towels under lock and key. reported. "Jack Blackburn again has the upper hand and Louis is his willing pupil. The hero worshippers can't tell him how good he is, but Jack can and does tell him how 'lousy' he is." Roxbor-ough was satisfied. "Now you are watching the real Joe Louis, the Joe Louis he was before Lakewood," he said. Or, as Blackburn put it, "Chappie heah got believin' all you newspapah boys say 'bout him-that he ain't human.... Mr. Schmeling learned him something." Even Louis's sleep had been restricted: no more than ten hours a day. Under the new regime there was nothing for Joe to do but talk about the upcoming fight, eat, spar, jab the bags, skip rope, and do roadwork and calisthenics. Louis's handlers now kept his toothbrush, hairbrush, and towels under lock and key.

Sparring partners were to give it all they had, or be fired. But reports quickly surfaced that Louis wasn't throwing his right with the same abandon, that his punches lacked their old sting and pep, that his sparring partners were tagging him, that he was sulking. "He has tried to cram ten years of boxing lessons into ten days of intensive training," one reporter wrote. John Kieran of The New York Times of The New York Times thought Louis's stupidity was now his greatest asset; since he didn't "go in for thinking on an extensive scale," he wouldn't dwell on what Schmeling had done to him. Louis was a three-to-one favorite, but blacks remained apprehensive. There was very little betting on him, and ticket sales were modest. In the racially stark thinking of the time, Sharkey was thought to have a strange power over black fighters; he'd beaten Harry Wills, whom Jack Dempsey had ducked. Jack Johnson, for one, was going with Sharkey: "After they are through teaching him how to avoid a right he will be a sucker for something else," he said. The fight generated little buzz. To Jimmy Powers of the thought Louis's stupidity was now his greatest asset; since he didn't "go in for thinking on an extensive scale," he wouldn't dwell on what Schmeling had done to him. Louis was a three-to-one favorite, but blacks remained apprehensive. There was very little betting on him, and ticket sales were modest. In the racially stark thinking of the time, Sharkey was thought to have a strange power over black fighters; he'd beaten Harry Wills, whom Jack Dempsey had ducked. Jack Johnson, for one, was going with Sharkey: "After they are through teaching him how to avoid a right he will be a sucker for something else," he said. The fight generated little buzz. To Jimmy Powers of the Daily News, Daily News, the principals were "a washed up old man and an overballyhooed colored boy." the principals were "a washed up old man and an overballyhooed colored boy."

As the Louis-Sharkey fight approached, the Braddock-Schmeling fight receded. On August 12 Braddock, who was already in training, notified the commission that he'd hurt himself. The diagnosis varied: arthritis in various places; an injured pinkie (or left arm); a growth between two of his fingers. Whatever it was, it required surgery, or at least delay. Coming from the indestructible "Cinderella Man," it all seemed dubious; everyone assumed Braddock was trying to get out of the fight, angling for a more lucrative match with Louis, and hadn't known he was hurt until Joe Gould told him so. So on the afternoon of August 18, the New York boxing commission had two orders of business. At noon, Louis and Sharkey weighed in at the Hippodrome for their fight that night. Then, at the State Building downtown, seven doctors inspected Braddock's hand, and promptly divided over whether he needed surgery. A "burlesque," the News News called the proceedings. called the proceedings.

Yankee Stadium that night reflected Louis's sharply diminished stature. Fewer than thirty thousand people showed up, a third of what Louis and Baer had drawn less than a year earlier. Black fans were conspicuously absent, as was Marva. When Schmeling, who was there to watch, stepped into the ring, he received pleasant applause, if only a perfunctory greeting from Louis. Balogh's introduction had been stripped of superlatives; now Louis was simply Sharkey's "very capable opponent." But Louis still had faith in himself. When Roxborough warned him that he'd be asking Henry Ford for his old job back if he lost, Louis told him not to worry-the fight wouldn't go three rounds.

"Schmeling was the luckiest man in the world," Blackburn said shortly before the bell. "You'll see." "And everyone saw," Vidmer wrote in the Herald Tribune. Herald Tribune. "They saw [Louis] look like the brown bomber again and not a man who was pawing about helplessly, hopelessly in a fog.... They saw Joe Louis leave no doubts as he pounded away with sledge-hammer hooks when there was time and lightning thrusts when there was only a brief opening. And they saw him keep diligently at work until he had completed his job." Sharkey was down twice in the second round. In the third, a right sent him over the lower rope. He was up at eight, when a right and a left to the jaw put him away for good. "Joe's mad at Schmeling, but Sharkey paid for it," Blackburn said afterward. The few black fans on hand let out "one long sustained guttural chant of victory," one that reflected both their renewed hope in Louis and, perhaps, their shame over ever having doubted him. To Al Monroe, it wasn't the old Louis, but the real one; for whatever reason, "they" were letting Louis be Louis again. "Youth must be served," Sharkey said afterward. "Louis will find that out. He'll be thirty-four some day." He predicted that Louis would easily beat Schmeling the next time around. Louis couldn't wait. "I want Max Schmeling next," he kept saying. As for Schmeling, he said Louis was "alright," but that Sharkey had fought a "stupid" fight. Louis had made some new mistakes he hadn't noticed before, Schmeling added. "I could beat him every time I fought him." "They saw [Louis] look like the brown bomber again and not a man who was pawing about helplessly, hopelessly in a fog.... They saw Joe Louis leave no doubts as he pounded away with sledge-hammer hooks when there was time and lightning thrusts when there was only a brief opening. And they saw him keep diligently at work until he had completed his job." Sharkey was down twice in the second round. In the third, a right sent him over the lower rope. He was up at eight, when a right and a left to the jaw put him away for good. "Joe's mad at Schmeling, but Sharkey paid for it," Blackburn said afterward. The few black fans on hand let out "one long sustained guttural chant of victory," one that reflected both their renewed hope in Louis and, perhaps, their shame over ever having doubted him. To Al Monroe, it wasn't the old Louis, but the real one; for whatever reason, "they" were letting Louis be Louis again. "Youth must be served," Sharkey said afterward. "Louis will find that out. He'll be thirty-four some day." He predicted that Louis would easily beat Schmeling the next time around. Louis couldn't wait. "I want Max Schmeling next," he kept saying. As for Schmeling, he said Louis was "alright," but that Sharkey had fought a "stupid" fight. Louis had made some new mistakes he hadn't noticed before, Schmeling added. "I could beat him every time I fought him."

Harlem was magically transformed. "Not fifteen minutes before," wrote Ralph Matthews of the Baltimore Afro-American, Baltimore Afro-American, "Harlem was as quiet as a convent at twilight.... Harlem was an apprehensive mother at the bedside of a dying child; Harlem was a huddled family in a cellar retreat waiting for an air attack by a squadron of bombing planes. Harlem was meek, trembling, and silent, and then-Joe knocked Sharkey out and Harlem became a seething inferno of uncontrolled joy." Calls went out again for another crop of white hopes. "Harlem was as quiet as a convent at twilight.... Harlem was an apprehensive mother at the bedside of a dying child; Harlem was a huddled family in a cellar retreat waiting for an air attack by a squadron of bombing planes. Harlem was meek, trembling, and silent, and then-Joe knocked Sharkey out and Harlem became a seething inferno of uncontrolled joy." Calls went out again for another crop of white hopes.*

On August 21, the boxing commission officially postponed the Braddock-Schmeling fight until June 1937. That would give Braddock's hand, or whatever ailed him, plenty of time to heal. "I hope the twenty-one doctors can keep him alive until next summer," Schmeling said sourly. Parker thought Schmeling wouldn't get a chance even then. "By next June, some convenient excuse for sidetracking him will have been found and, if Louis stands up, he will get the shot," he predicted. Mike Jacobs offered Schmeling $300,000 to fight Louis again before that. It was, he said, the fight the public, black and white, wanted. But Schmeling wasn't buying. What he most wanted-"dreadfully and gnawingly," Gallico wrote-was to be the first man ever to regain the crown. He'd fight Louis again, but only for twice what Jacobs was offering.

A day before a triumphant Jesse Owens returned from Berlin on the Queen Mary, Queen Mary, Schmeling left angrily for Germany on the Schmeling left angrily for Germany on the Bremen. Bremen. Once more, there were protesters: a number of leftists, dressed in evening wear, had managed to board undetected and had occupied the cabin deck, some chaining themselves to the rail. "A Red Mob in Dinner Jackets," one Berlin newspaper called them. Schmeling steered clear of the scuffling. The German papers blamed the "men in the background" Once more, there were protesters: a number of leftists, dressed in evening wear, had managed to board undetected and had occupied the cabin deck, some chaining themselves to the rail. "A Red Mob in Dinner Jackets," one Berlin newspaper called them. Schmeling steered clear of the scuffling. The German papers blamed the "men in the background" (Hintermanner), (Hintermanner), that is, the Jews, for Schmeling's fate, though Braddock, too, took his lumps. Even the black press felt sorry for Schmeling. Blacks knew all about runarounds, after all. But any pity evaporated two weeks later, when Schmeling's account of the Louis fight, as told to Gallico, appeared in the that is, the Jews, for Schmeling's fate, though Braddock, too, took his lumps. Even the black press felt sorry for Schmeling. Blacks knew all about runarounds, after all. But any pity evaporated two weeks later, when Schmeling's account of the Louis fight, as told to Gallico, appeared in the Saturday Evening Post. Saturday Evening Post. In it he reiterated his charge that Louis had fouled him on orders from his handlers; it was, he said, Louis's only way to win. Louis said the accusation was bunk, and his circle was indignant, too. On September 17, Louis, Roxborough, and Black sued Schmeling, Gal-lico, and the magazine. In it he reiterated his charge that Louis had fouled him on orders from his handlers; it was, he said, Louis's only way to win. Louis said the accusation was bunk, and his circle was indignant, too. On September 17, Louis, Roxborough, and Black sued Schmeling, Gal-lico, and the magazine.

The Post Post called Gallico Schmeling's "best friend among writers," and that was certainly true. For years he had essentially been Schmeling's mouthpiece; when he wasn't writing stories under Schmeling's name, he was advising or defending him or cheering him on. Shortly after he'd arrived in America, Schmeling had even asked Gallico to manage him. When questions arose about Schmeling's politics, intelligence, or character, Gallico always vouched for him. But now, Schmeling insisted he had never told Gallico any of the incriminating things Gallico had him saying. "Maxie stepped out from under again, putting all the blame on his ghost writer with the moth-eaten gag: 'I was misquoted,'" Parker wrote. Louis soon opted not to pursue the lawsuit. As one black paper later said, he "wanted a revenge that money could not buy." called Gallico Schmeling's "best friend among writers," and that was certainly true. For years he had essentially been Schmeling's mouthpiece; when he wasn't writing stories under Schmeling's name, he was advising or defending him or cheering him on. Shortly after he'd arrived in America, Schmeling had even asked Gallico to manage him. When questions arose about Schmeling's politics, intelligence, or character, Gallico always vouched for him. But now, Schmeling insisted he had never told Gallico any of the incriminating things Gallico had him saying. "Maxie stepped out from under again, putting all the blame on his ghost writer with the moth-eaten gag: 'I was misquoted,'" Parker wrote. Louis soon opted not to pursue the lawsuit. As one black paper later said, he "wanted a revenge that money could not buy."

On September 23 Louis brought his comeback to Philadelphia. His opponent, Al Ettore, had beaten Braddock five years earlier, but Louis faced greater peril from an exploding flashbulb at the weigh-in than from anything Ettore threw at him in the five rounds he managed to last. But Ettore was a local white boy, and the scene in Philadelphia offered more evidence of how raw the issue of race remained. "I suppose there were close to 500,000 Ettore fans along the sides after the fight and 499,000 spat into each passing car carrying Negro occupants," one black reporter wrote. On October 9, Louis knocked out Jorge Brescia of Argentina in three rounds in the Hippodrome. A lull followed that fight, during which the Afro-American Afro-American ran an alarming banner headline: ran an alarming banner headline: JOE LOUIS UNDER KNIFE JOE LOUIS UNDER KNIFE. (It turned out he had been circumcised.) He recovered quickly enough to stage an exhibition in New Orleans; the 7,200 fans on hand gave him a reception unlike anything the city had seen in years.

As Louis honed his skills, the scheme to bypass Schmeling intensified. As early as September, Damon Runyon reported plans to stage a Braddock-Louis fight in Atlantic City in February, four months before the scheduled Braddock-Schmeling fight. It would be a strange animal: a "no decision" contest, winnable only by knockout, with no title ostensibly at stake, though that of course was not how the world would view it. Dan Parker saw through the fog. "Now, one presumes, the plan is for Joe Louis to meet Braddock, win the title from him ... and then fight Max Schmeling in a return bout next June, in which his chances of wiping out the one blot on his career will be greatly improved," he wrote. By November, these plans were taking shape. They promised a windfall for Braddock, far more than he'd make fighting Schmeling. Louis would earn far less, but also collect far more: a chance to be de facto champion, and far sooner and easier than many people, particularly blacks, had ever anticipated.

For Schmeling, though, it was a raw deal. "I don't believe it," he sputtered. "It can't be true." The Nazi press once again denounced the Drahtzieher, Drahtzieher, and also went after Louis. Schmeling made plans to travel to the United States to defend his rights. His insistence on representing himself fed yet more rumors that he had finally, and officially, fired Jacobs. Of course, it couldn't have been true, and wasn't. "Schmeling's only defense is Joe Jacobs," wrote Walter Stewart of the and also went after Louis. Schmeling made plans to travel to the United States to defend his rights. His insistence on representing himself fed yet more rumors that he had finally, and officially, fired Jacobs. Of course, it couldn't have been true, and wasn't. "Schmeling's only defense is Joe Jacobs," wrote Walter Stewart of the World-Telegram; World-Telegram; keeping him around "does not completely clean the slate in Jewish eyes," he said, "but it helps." When he arrived in New York on December 10, Schmeling insisted the talk of dropping Jacobs was all a misunderstanding. More important than that, though, was stopping the Atlantic City fight. "Such things cannot be!" he protested. "What is the heavyweight championship? Is it a joke? Is it stuff like wrestling?" keeping him around "does not completely clean the slate in Jewish eyes," he said, "but it helps." When he arrived in New York on December 10, Schmeling insisted the talk of dropping Jacobs was all a misunderstanding. More important than that, though, was stopping the Atlantic City fight. "Such things cannot be!" he protested. "What is the heavyweight championship? Is it a joke? Is it stuff like wrestling?"

Schmeling's pleas for fairness stuck in the craws even of those who agreed with him. "Imagine Promoter Mike Jacobs or Manager Yussel Jacobs going before one of Hitler's crackpot commissions and demanding their rights!" Parker wrote. Besides, Schmeling was a past master at runarounds himself. Even so, on December 12 the New York boxing commission killed the Atlantic City fight, ordering Braddock to fight Schmeling at the Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City on June 3, 1937. Five years after he lost it, then, Schmeling was now a giant step closer to regaining the crown; most people thought he would. "The heavyweight champion of the world a Nazi!" Joe Williams wrote in wonder, and horror.*

The commission's action was predictably assailed in some quarters. The boxing authorities had "goose-stepped with Schmeling," the Amsterdam News Amsterdam News complained; the complained; the Daily Worker Daily Worker said the "superannuated geezers" were doing everything they could to deny Louis a title shot. The Nazis now labored to move the Braddock-Schmeling fight to Berlin. The maneuver came with Schmeling's connivance, earning him more charges of disloyalty and treachery, but it also came to naught. In Nazi eyes Schmeling's mission to New York was already a great victory: it was a rebuff to the said the "superannuated geezers" were doing everything they could to deny Louis a title shot. The Nazis now labored to move the Braddock-Schmeling fight to Berlin. The maneuver came with Schmeling's connivance, earning him more charges of disloyalty and treachery, but it also came to naught. In Nazi eyes Schmeling's mission to New York was already a great victory: it was a rebuff to the Weltjudentum Weltjudentum-world Jewry-which had tried to deny him his rights. But Schmeling could not get too complacent. Two Jews, Mike Jacobs and Joe Gould, still had several months to figure out how to yank him out of-and get Louis into-the heavyweight championship picture.

Louis's final fight of 1936 took place on December 14, against Eddie Simms in Cleveland. This time, the action lasted all of twenty-six seconds. "I'm sorry it had to be like that," Louis told Simms afterward. "But you know how it is-either me or you." As short as it was, it earned the notice of the NAACP. "What a superb job Joe, Jack and you have done on the matter of a right hand," Walter White wrote Roxborough. "If our friend, Schmeling, read this story of the superb defenses against a right which Joe now has I am sure he would have no great enthusiasm about coming back to America to fight Joe."

It also caught the eye of another of Louis's tireless champions, the Daily Worker. Daily Worker. By sending the strongest possible signal that Louis was indeed back, it declared, the Simms fight "knocked one more nail in the coffin" of a Schmeling-Braddock bout. But any move to sideline the German only postponed the inevitable. "Whether you like Hitler or the Nazis or Germans or spinach," Grantland Rice wrote, "the fact remains there can be no recognized heavyweight champion of the world who hasn't beaten Schmeling." By sending the strongest possible signal that Louis was indeed back, it declared, the Simms fight "knocked one more nail in the coffin" of a Schmeling-Braddock bout. But any move to sideline the German only postponed the inevitable. "Whether you like Hitler or the Nazis or Germans or spinach," Grantland Rice wrote, "the fact remains there can be no recognized heavyweight champion of the world who hasn't beaten Schmeling."

* So did a newspaper in Munich, which ran a cartoon showing three reporters, fat and with large noses, standing beside a ring, with a prostrate black man inside. "Schmeling Knocks Out Jewish Horror Press," it was titled. So did a newspaper in Munich, which ran a cartoon showing three reporters, fat and with large noses, standing beside a ring, with a prostrate black man inside. "Schmeling Knocks Out Jewish Horror Press," it was titled.* Schmelings Sieg Schmelings Sieg was confined to Germany, but unadulterated fight films showed to large audiences elsewhere. "An atmosphere of tension spread, infecting everyone present," was confined to Germany, but unadulterated fight films showed to large audiences elsewhere. "An atmosphere of tension spread, infecting everyone present," Box-Sport Box-Sport reported from Basel. "Every landed punch was met with an 'ouch,' an 'ooh,' or an 'ah.' And at the end, such applause and rejoicing broke out as have probably never greeted an image projected on the screen." In Paris, the films were "the biggest box office attraction of the season." Among those viewing it in London was George Bernard Shaw. reported from Basel. "Every landed punch was met with an 'ouch,' an 'ooh,' or an 'ah.' And at the end, such applause and rejoicing broke out as have probably never greeted an image projected on the screen." In Paris, the films were "the biggest box office attraction of the season." Among those viewing it in London was George Bernard Shaw.* In the In the Worker's Worker's short-staffed sports section, Daugherty was one of the many pseudonyms of the sportswriter Charley Dexter, whose original name was Lou Levinson. short-staffed sports section, Daugherty was one of the many pseudonyms of the sportswriter Charley Dexter, whose original name was Lou Levinson.* With the Olympics safely secured, there was no more need for public-relations niceties on racial matters. The With the Olympics safely secured, there was no more need for public-relations niceties on racial matters. The Angriff was Angriff was soon praising lynching as "popular justice to expiate racial disgrace" and an element in "the healthy racial defenses of the largest state of Teutonic origin." Another paper printed a photograph of Jesse Owens and Bill Robinson dancing. "The white audience is cheering, but none of them would share a table with these niggers," it said. But here, too, the attitude of ordinary Germans was more benign. Covering the black Olympians for the soon praising lynching as "popular justice to expiate racial disgrace" and an element in "the healthy racial defenses of the largest state of Teutonic origin." Another paper printed a photograph of Jesse Owens and Bill Robinson dancing. "The white audience is cheering, but none of them would share a table with these niggers," it said. But here, too, the attitude of ordinary Germans was more benign. Covering the black Olympians for the Amsterdam News, Amsterdam News, William C. Chase described Germans of all ages staring at them. "The people expected to see us eat with our fingers instead of silverware," he wrote. Some Germans knew only four English words: "Jesse," "Owens," "Joe," and "Louis." "I met a number of Germans who admire Louis," wrote Chase, "and think he is the greatest fighter of all times." At one point Louis was receiving a dozen fan letters a day from Germany. William C. Chase described Germans of all ages staring at them. "The people expected to see us eat with our fingers instead of silverware," he wrote. Some Germans knew only four English words: "Jesse," "Owens," "Joe," and "Louis." "I met a number of Germans who admire Louis," wrote Chase, "and think he is the greatest fighter of all times." At one point Louis was receiving a dozen fan letters a day from Germany.* Around this time the Around this time the Daily Worker, Daily Worker, which had previously published sports news only on Sundays, launched a daily sports section, which, given its interest in the man, could have been called the "Joe Louis Section." In Communist eyes, professional sports was yet another way for capitalists and their journalistic handmaidens to distract the public from more serious matters. But given the way he was upsetting the established order, the which had previously published sports news only on Sundays, launched a daily sports section, which, given its interest in the man, could have been called the "Joe Louis Section." In Communist eyes, professional sports was yet another way for capitalists and their journalistic handmaidens to distract the public from more serious matters. But given the way he was upsetting the established order, the Worker Worker argued, Louis was an example of how this bread-and-circuses strategy could backfire, creating a "nice little Frankenstein monster that's going to eventually sock [capitalism] out of existence." Like the Nazis, the American Communists concluded that some professional sports were simply too popular to ignore, and in fact could be turned to their advantage; both groups followed the Sharkey fight and were pleased with the result. To the argued, Louis was an example of how this bread-and-circuses strategy could backfire, creating a "nice little Frankenstein monster that's going to eventually sock [capitalism] out of existence." Like the Nazis, the American Communists concluded that some professional sports were simply too popular to ignore, and in fact could be turned to their advantage; both groups followed the Sharkey fight and were pleased with the result. To the Worker, Worker, it meant Louis was back; to the it meant Louis was back; to the Angriff, Angriff, it proved that Louis was no pushover and, therefore, showed how great Schmeling's victory over him had been. it proved that Louis was no pushover and, therefore, showed how great Schmeling's victory over him had been.* Perhaps the commission had suddenly sided with Schmeling simply as a matter of fairness. Or maybe Schmeling had discovered, or rediscovered, a friend. A few weeks earlier in London, at the Walter NeuselBen Foord fight, he had run into James A. Farley, the former New York boxing commissioner. Farley, now chairman of the Democratic Party, postmaster general, and close friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt, had tangled with Schmeling years earlier, but had grown to like him. According to the Perhaps the commission had suddenly sided with Schmeling simply as a matter of fairness. Or maybe Schmeling had discovered, or rediscovered, a friend. A few weeks earlier in London, at the Walter NeuselBen Foord fight, he had run into James A. Farley, the former New York boxing commissioner. Farley, now chairman of the Democratic Party, postmaster general, and close friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt, had tangled with Schmeling years earlier, but had grown to like him. According to the Volkischer Beobachter, Volkischer Beobachter, Farley had pledged to help him with his difficulties in New York. It would not be the last time. Farley had pledged to help him with his difficulties in New York. It would not be the last time.

A German Commodity

IT WAS, SOMEONE LATER SAID, "an unprecedented event in the annals of Detroit night life." On the evening of December 31,1936, Joe Louis, dressed in white tie and tails, presided over the official opening of the Brown Bomber's Chicken Shack. Louis had sunk $10,000 into the place, not so much as an investment as to provide his pals with a place to hang out. While hundreds watched enviously from outside, Detroit's black elite, dressed in formal wear and fur wraps (some of which Louis himself supplied), toasted the new establishment, the new year, and their newly rehabilitated host. The chicken ran out-and so, too, did Louis, to join his mother in church, as he did every New Year's Eve.

The new year opened with the boxing world in a fix. Braddock was the champion, but no one gave him much of a chance to beat either Louis or Schmeling. The only questions were who would beat him first, whether racial or international politics would help make that choice, and whether the two challengers would fight each other again before it happened. Fleischer saw an epochal era in the offing, one in which black boxers would surge forward. Mike Jacobs agreed that it would be a big year for Louis; he talked of having him fight once a month, enough to make him the first boxer ever to earn a million dollars before he won the title, which Jacobs had scheduled for September. Louis promised to be, as Jacobs put it, "the greatest money-making athlete the world has ever seen."

Al Monroe of the Defender Defender remained convinced that Louis would not get a shot in 1937, or at any other time: since Louis was too honest to cut them in on the deal, the "Nordic" boxing powers had decided that a title shot wasn't worth the dangers. In an article titled "Joe Louis Should Never Be Champion" in remained convinced that Louis would not get a shot in 1937, or at any other time: since Louis was too honest to cut them in on the deal, the "Nordic" boxing powers had decided that a title shot wasn't worth the dangers. In an article titled "Joe Louis Should Never Be Champion" in The Commentator, The Commentator, a popular radio announcer, John B. Kennedy, urged that for the sake of domestic harmony and the "tranquil progress" of Louis's own people, the color line should be maintained. Walter White promptly countered that America had come "a long, long way" from the Jack Johnson era, and that Louis was no Johnson. He urged the magazine to publish something called "Joe Louis a popular radio announcer, John B. Kennedy, urged that for the sake of domestic harmony and the "tranquil progress" of Louis's own people, the color line should be maintained. Walter White promptly countered that America had come "a long, long way" from the Jack Johnson era, and that Louis was no Johnson. He urged the magazine to publish something called "Joe Louis Should Should Be Champion," offering, to no avail, to write it himself. The Be Champion," offering, to no avail, to write it himself. The Daily Worker Daily Worker was even angrier, claiming that the article was permeated with "the stench of the old slave market" and consisted of "underhanded lynch incitement masking itself as 'friendly advice' to the Negro people." was even angrier, claiming that the article was permeated with "the stench of the old slave market" and consisted of "underhanded lynch incitement masking itself as 'friendly advice' to the Negro people."

Shortly before Louis's next scheduled fight, against Bob Pastor on January 29, Bob Considine encountered Mike Jacobs nibbling with his store teeth on a pencil stub while jotting down some big numbers on the back of a bill. Uncle Mike was totaling up the take from Louis's fights since Schmeling beat him. "That bust on the chin Max gave Louis is going to be worth two million dollars before Joe gets back the reputation he had before the Schmeling fight," Jacobs said. "And the funny part of it all, he's still got another crack at Schmeling waiting for him, and you can just guess how high that one would go. All things considered, it was a great break for Joe." And for the fight game, too, he added.

While Louis was fighting his way back, Pastor, a graduate of New York University, was fighting his way backward: for ten rounds that night at Madison Square Garden, he followed his manager's advice not to stand still. The result was one of the most infuriating bouts in history. Pastor, Parker wrote, had beaten "all records for retreating since Napoleon set the standard at Moscow." But simply for having lasted, it was a moral victory for him, and a setback for Louis, even though he got the decision. For the first time, he heard catcalls. The criticism only intensified in the papers, which said Louis was too bewildered or too dumb to adjust to Pastor's dodge. Maybe, Fleischer admitted, Jack Johnson had been right about Louis after all. But black sportswriters charged that had Pastor been fighting a white man, the referee would have tossed him out of the ring. "The legend of 'American sportsmanship' proved to be just a myth as they applauded the rank cowardice of the white man," Roi Ottley wrote.

In Kansas City three weeks later, Louis had a rematch with Natie Brown, the fighter he'd beaten two years earlier, before all those sports-writers in Detroit. This time, too, it was a historic event: local officials had authorized mixed bouts only six months earlier. Fans, black and white and from all walks of life, greeted Louis when he arrived. "Thank God! I've seen him at last," one bent old man murmured afterward. One section of ringside seats, along with part of the balcony, was set aside for blacks. The anticlimactic fight lasted four rounds. Traveling in the Pullman car Alf Landon had used late in his presidential campaign, Louis then embarked on a monthlong barnstorming tour through Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and California. In Wichita, plans called for Louis's car to stop at some undisclosed location just short of town, to keep fans from descending upon it. In Houston, admiring blacks lined the tracks for blocks as the train pulled in. At the local arena, the 2,500 ringside seats were reserved for whites; blacks, who made up more than half the crowd, were confined to the bleachers and had to use a special entrance. The tour ended in California, where Louis insisted he'd learned his lesson well. "They say I can't take a punch to the jaw," he said. "Well, I'm not supposed to take one." By one estimate, in three weeks of barnstorming Louis had played before 150,000 people.

Jack Johnson continued to haunt, and taunt, Louis. Bill Corum caught up with him one day at Hubert's Museum and Flea Circus on Forty-second Street, west of Broadway, where he had become part of the freak show, selling memories "at a penny a throw." "What about Joe Louis?" he was asked. "Just another fighter," replied Johnson, who was to keep a photograph of the 1936 fight-it showed Louis approaching Schmeling with a left, leaving his chin conspicuously exposed to the German's cocked right-conveniently within reach. On those frequent occasions when fight arguments arose, John Lardner wrote, "the brown wizard of Galveston reaches for the photograph and shows you why Joe Louis will never be a Jack Johnson." "People claim I'm jealous, but that picture tells different," Johnson told him. "I ain't jealous. I just state facts." Even at age fifty-two, Johnson told another writer, he'd have bet "a hundred dollars to five" he could have cornered Pastor within three rounds. Johnson paid a high price for his opinions: in Harlem once, he stood in the center of the ring for five minutes as a jeering crowd refused to let him speak. Half of Louis's mail was about Johnson, mostly admonitions from elderly southern blacks not to follow his bad example. For three consecutive months, the Defender Defender asked readers which of the two boxers was greater with prizes promised for the pithiest answers. Among nearly forty thousand voters, Louis won by better than five to one. "His clean living and high-minded morals were perhaps his greatest asset," the paper explained. asked readers which of the two boxers was greater with prizes promised for the pithiest answers. Among nearly forty thousand voters, Louis won by better than five to one. "His clean living and high-minded morals were perhaps his greatest asset," the paper explained.

SHORTLY AFTER H HITLER CAME TO POWER in 1933, someone who signed his name "Patriotic American" wrote a letter to the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, an ad hoc group set up to boycott German goods in the hopes of strangling the Nazi regime. He urged a campaign against the Schmeling-Baer fight. "Think: practically all of the money Mr. Schmel-ling in 1933, someone who signed his name "Patriotic American" wrote a letter to the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League, an ad hoc group set up to boycott German goods in the hopes of strangling the Nazi regime. He urged a campaign against the Schmeling-Baer fight. "Think: practically all of the money Mr. Schmel-ling [sic] [sic] will earn he will take back to Germany-HIS VATERLAND-to help continue [Hitler's] barbaric abominations," the man wrote. The suggestion had been ignored; the letter had been filed under "Cranks." But four years had passed. The lot of German Jews had grown increasingly desperate, and Schmeling seemed about to recapture the heavyweight crown. "Patriotic American" was about to be vindicated. will earn he will take back to Germany-HIS VATERLAND-to help continue [Hitler's] barbaric abominations," the man wrote. The suggestion had been ignored; the letter had been filed under "Cranks." But four years had passed. The lot of German Jews had grown increasingly desperate, and Schmeling seemed about to recapture the heavyweight crown. "Patriotic American" was about to be vindicated.

In late December 1936, the league decided to add Schmeling to its list of verboten German goods. This boycott, unlike the one surrounding the Louis fight, would not be a surreptitious campaign of chain letters between Jewish clothing manufacturers, but open and conspicuous, complete with advertisements, circulars, and pickets. It would also be far more broadly based. The league had consciously kept the word "Jewish" out of its name, and along with a Jew like David Stern (owner of the New York Post) New York Post) and quasi Jews like Mayor La Guardia, its directors included prominent Gentiles such as the editor and publisher Oswald Garrison Villard and the Methodist bishop of New York. and quasi Jews like Mayor La Guardia, its directors included prominent Gentiles such as the editor and publisher Oswald Garrison Villard and the Methodist bishop of New York.

On January 8, Davis Walsh of the Hearst wire service broke the news of a boycott that would "make all others seem pale and pointless by contrast." All events at the Hippodrome and Madison Square Garden would henceforth be shunned, he wrote, until the Schmeling-Braddock fight was called off. Hitler was preparing for war, a league official explained; depriving him of money and raw materials was the only way to stop him. He predicted that a victorious Schmeling would become head of "Hitler's Youth Movement" and that "another surge of hysteria of nationalism" would ensue. If the fight were moved elsewhere in America, so, too, would the protests; the Jewish War Veterans, which had chapters everywhere and had previously opposed Schmeling's fights against Baer and Hamas, would see to that. On January 9, the league asked the state boxing commission to withdraw its support for the fight. Its protest, it stressed, was not against Schmeling himself, but the government "which he willingly or unwillingly represents." Asked why the group had not boycotted Schmeling when he fought Louis, a league organizer admitted that its leaders thought Louis would win, and that the chance to humiliate Hitler was worth enriching him a bit.

The boycott generated a storm of criticism from writers and fans alike. They called the move immature and silly and said it betrayed the same intolerance the protesters were trying to combat. Anyone unhappy about the fight could stay home, the Herald Tribune Herald Tribune editorialized. Some of the reactions were more crude. "Why should Americans boycott the Schmeling-Braddock fight because the Jews insist on hounding Germany?" Puzzled Gentile Fighter wrote to the editorialized. Some of the reactions were more crude. "Why should Americans boycott the Schmeling-Braddock fight because the Jews insist on hounding Germany?" Puzzled Gentile Fighter wrote to the Daily News. Daily News. "Does every prize fight have to be kosher?" "God help the Jews in Germany if the proposed Schmeling-Braddock boycott forces cancellation of the bout," a Brooklyn man warned in another letter to the paper. "The suffering the German Jews have already endured will be as nothing compared with the attacks, both financial and physical, to which they will be subjected if Schmeling is cheated of his hard-earned shot at the title. I suggest that the boycott committee arrange to evacuate all Jews now in Germany if it insists on going ahead with the boycott." A group of German businessmen based in New York's Upper East Side predicted that the "almost stupid beyond belief boycott" would "ultimately produce an overwhelming wave of Anti-Semitism in this country." "Must we allow these most loathsome and despicable of all human forms (the Jews) to dictate to us americans "Does every prize fight have to be kosher?" "God help the Jews in Germany if the proposed Schmeling-Braddock boycott forces cancellation of the bout," a Brooklyn man warned in another letter to the paper. "The suffering the German Jews have already endured will be as nothing compared with the attacks, both financial and physical, to which they will be subjected if Schmeling is cheated of his hard-earned shot at the title. I suggest that the boycott committee arrange to evacuate all Jews now in Germany if it insists on going ahead with the boycott." A group of German businessmen based in New York's Upper East Side predicted that the "almost stupid beyond belief boycott" would "ultimately produce an overwhelming wave of Anti-Semitism in this country." "Must we allow these most loathsome and despicable of all human forms (the Jews) to dictate to us americans [sic] [sic] what they allow us to do in our sports and privat what they allow us to do in our sports and privat [sic] [sic] business in our own country?" asked another letter, to the head of Madison Square Garden. "That is the result of freedom and equal rights that we give to these verm ins." business in our own country?" asked another letter, to the head of Madison Square Garden. "That is the result of freedom and equal rights that we give to these verm ins."

Bill Cunningham of the Boston Post Boston Post sympathized with Schmeling's plea to keep sports and politics distinct, but noted that Germany itself had crossed that line most flagrantly, and that Schmeling was doing his share. Dempsey's wins over the Argentine Firpo or the Frenchman Carpentier had never been billed as an American victory over inferior races, nor had any president sent flowers to the wife of an American boxer when her husband knocked out a foreigner, nor invited that boxer to the White House. Schmeling "is forced to be a Nazi if he doesn't want to rot in jail," he wrote. But if anyone had to be sacrificed to make a larger political point, a wealthy prizefighter from Nazi Germany was probably a suitable target. sympathized with Schmeling's plea to keep sports and politics distinct, but noted that Germany itself had crossed that line most flagrantly, and that Schmeling was doing his share. Dempsey's wins over the Argentine Firpo or the Frenchman Carpentier had never been billed as an American victory over inferior races, nor had any president sent flowers to the wife of an American boxer when her husband knocked out a foreigner, nor invited that boxer to the White House. Schmeling "is forced to be a Nazi if he doesn't want to rot in jail," he wrote. But if anyone had to be sacrificed to make a larger political point, a wealthy prizefighter from Nazi Germany was probably a suitable target.

The Anti-Nazi League, headed by the prominent lawyer Samuel Untermyer, was a Potemkin village of a protest group, with little of the clout attributed to it, perhaps by those inclined out of either solidarity or paranoia to exaggerate Jewish power. For all the demonizing he endured in the German press, Untermyer actually opposed the fight boycott originally, warning that it could make the league "one of the most hated organizations that was ever brought into existence." But the movement quickly assumed an air of inexorability. Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Westchester County, and New Jersey were also said to be on board. "Schmeling might just as well remain in Germany," wrote a columnist in New Orleans; any American city staging one of his fights would be deemed pro-Nazi. Also supporting the campaign were Jeremiah T. Mahoney, who led the unsuccessful attempt to withdraw the American team from the Berlin Olympics, and the American League Against War and Fascism, which urged Schmelingto donate three-quarters of his take to German exiles in America.

Jewish fans could make or break any big-time bout. Tex Rickard once said that Jews spent $250,000 on each of Jack Dempsey's fights, while Mike Jacobs claimed they'd put down $300,000 apiece for Louis's fights against Carnera and Baer. "Even without the aid of any other organizations the Jews of New York could make the Braddock-Schmeling fight a financial flop," a sportswriter from Minneapolis said. The Yiddish Forverts Forverts declared it a Jewish duty to support the boycott. While some Jews were still loath to classify "easy-going Max" as a Nazi, one had to consider his "continued voluntary residence in Hitlerland," the declared it a Jewish duty to support the boycott. While some Jews were still loath to classify "easy-going Max" as a Nazi, one had to consider his "continued voluntary residence in Hitlerland," the Jewish Examiner Jewish Examiner editorialized. Schmeling "has as much chance of earning another American dollar as his boss Hitler has of owning a delicatessen store on Delancey Street," it predicted. But typically, the Jewish community did not speak with one voice on the subject. The editorialized. Schmeling "has as much chance of earning another American dollar as his boss Hitler has of owning a delicatessen store on Delancey Street," it predicted. But typically, the Jewish community did not speak with one voice on the subject. The Jewish Advocate Jewish Advocate in Boston said its beef was with the Nazis, not with Schmeling. "People tell stories about Schmeling 'Heiling Hitler,'" it noted. "What of it? The boxer was merely responding to greetings in the way that is now unfortunately accepted in his country." Boycotting Schmeling, it said, was "just as nonsensical as refusing to eat cheese because the Germans also eat it, or refusing hospital facilities to people with German measles." in Boston said its beef was with the Nazis, not with Schmeling. "People tell stories about Schmeling 'Heiling Hitler,'" it noted. "What of it? The boxer was merely responding to greetings in the way that is now unfortunately accepted in his country." Boycotting Schmeling, it said, was "just as nonsensical as refusing to eat cheese because the Germans also eat it, or refusing hospital facilities to people with German measles."

But the two most important Jews in the equation-Mike Jacobs and Braddock's manager, Joe Gould-all but embraced the campaign, quickly meeting with its organizers and exaggerating how effective it would be. The boycott that had robbed him of $400,000 at the Schmeling-Louis fight had been mild by comparison, Jacobs said; this one would be the father of them all. Schmeling, he conceded, had always been very friendly with Jews. But business was business, and Jacobs saw a chance to jettison a star-crossed fight for something far more lucrative. As for Gould, he "leaped at the excuse like a speckled trout coming out of a stream," wrote Richards Vidmer. A Braddock-Schmeling fight wouldn't "draw flies," Gould insisted. He asked fifteen sportswriters to guess the gate for such a contest; their estimates ranged from a paltry $250,000 to a pathetic $100,000, a tenth of what Gould thought a Braddock-Louis fight would draw. "I want to be fair to Schmeling," he said, "but I got to take care of Jim."

For Jacobs and Gould, then, the boycott was a godsend, letting them put an altruistic gloss over a pure money grab. Jacobs, wrote one critic, was hiding behind some "anti-Nazi front men." "There is a powerful aroma of larceny about this boycott business, a strong scent of lilies-of-hokum," John Lardner wrote; to Braddock and Gould, the only question was "whether to fight Joe Louis for a stack of dough or Max Schmeling for coffee money." And once Louis had beaten Braddock, Jacobs would have his real prize: a second, boycott-proof Louis-Schmeling fight. But even those who opposed the boycott made it clear that they had little concern for Schmeling. "We don't owe the Horst Wessel muzzler anything," wrote Jack Miley in the News News. Shunning Schmeling, Joe Williams chimed in, was "akin to boycotting smallpox." For all the labels it stuck on him-"Hitler's boyfriend," "Storm Trooper Moxie," "Hitler's emissary to America"-even the Daily Worker Daily Worker conceded that Schmeling was no anti-Semite. "He never was the kind of guy who sneaks up behind you and knifes you until Hitler got him," it said. His sin, instead, was simply betting on the wrong horse. "He should have known on which side of the Atlantic his bread is buttered," it wrote. "He didn't read the American newspapers except on the sports pages. The result is that he has fallen for the Hitler hooey. And he is going to pay for it." conceded that Schmeling was no anti-Semite. "He never was the kind of guy who sneaks up behind you and knifes you until Hitler got him," it said. His sin, instead, was simply betting on the wrong horse. "He should have known on which side of the Atlantic his bread is buttered," it wrote. "He didn't read the American newspapers except on the sports pages. The result is that he has fallen for the Hitler hooey. And he is going to pay for it."

The campaign only stoked Nazi claims of Jewish power and deviousness. SCHMELING HECKLED IN UNBELIEVABLE WAY BY USA JEWS SCHMELING HECKLED IN UNBELIEVABLE WAY BY USA JEWS, the Angriff Angriff shouted. Surely, urged the shouted. Surely, urged the Berliner illustrierte Nachtausgabe, Berliner illustrierte Nachtausgabe, "racially conscious Americans" would not let "the Jewish Marxist gang" in New York cheat them out of a championship fight. The German news agency, Deutsches Nachrichtenburo, insisted the bout could succeed even without Jews; hadn't sixty-five thousand people attended the Louis-Schmeling fight, despite boycott calls in the synagogues? The indignation of real Americans upset over Jewish meddling might actually increase attendance, it speculated. Caught between two anti-Semitic stereotypes-of Jews as either manipulators or hucksters-the "racially conscious Americans" would not let "the Jewish Marxist gang" in New York cheat them out of a championship fight. The German news agency, Deutsches Nachrichtenburo, insisted the bout could succeed even without Jews; hadn't sixty-five thousand people attended the Louis-Schmeling fight, despite boycott calls in the synagogues? The indignation of real Americans upset over Jewish meddling might actually increase attendance, it speculated. Caught between two anti-Semitic stereotypes-of Jews as either manipulators or hucksters-the Angriff Angriff couldn't decide whether the boycott was designed to kill the fight or to publicize it. It predicted that Americans would not be impressed by posters appearing throughout New York declaring couldn't decide whether the boycott was designed to kill the fight or to publicize it. It predicted that Americans would not be impressed by posters appearing throughout New York declaring IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN, BOYCOTT THE FIGHT IF YOU LOVE YOUR CHILDREN, BOYCOTT THE FIGHT! "Schmeling hasn't kidnapped any children, nor has he imprisoned any women," it said. "Schmeling is an upright German and an honest, fair sportsman-certainly a fact that Untermyer regrets." The Tageblatt Tageblatt appealed to the "traditions of fairness and chivalrous treatment of competitors which are common to all Anglo-Saxon nations." The German-American Bund deluged Madison Square Garden with letters stating that "100 per cent Americans" wanted the fight to go forward. appealed to the "traditions of fairness and chivalrous treatment of competitors which are common to all Anglo-Saxon nations." The German-American Bund deluged Madison Square Garden with letters stating that "100 per cent Americans" wanted the fight to go forward.

That Schmeling's titular manager was Jewish only complicated things. When boycott organizers tried meeting with "the Hitler-Heiling Joe Jacobs," he stood them up. On January 18, Jacobs announced that Schmeling would soon return to New York, but would start training only after taking a twenty-two-city tour. The itinerary included Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit, but concentrated on the South. "Schmeling is a hero down in the South for knocking out that Louis guy, and we intend to cash in on it," explained Jacobs, who had apparently overcome any lingering fears of returning there. BOYCOTT BROKEN! SCHMELING'S EXHIBITION BOUTS IN THE USA BEGIN ON MARCH BOYCOTT BROKEN! SCHMELING'S EXHIBITION BOUTS IN THE USA BEGIN ON MARCH 1, the 1, the Volkischer Beobachter Volkischer Beobachter proclaimed. The Nazi press, which rarely acknowledged Jacobs's existence, now cited him as the authority for the proposition that the boycott was doomed. The proclaimed. The Nazi press, which rarely acknowledged Jacobs's existence, now cited him as the authority for the proposition that the boycott was doomed. The Reichssportblatt Reichssportblatt soon advertised trips to New York for the Braddock-Schmeling fight. But the Germans and Jacobs were unduly optimistic. Opponents of the fight now targeted the tour, too. The commander of the Jewish War Veterans asked posts in the cities on Schmeling's itinerary to become involved, and urged blacks to pitch in. soon advertised trips to New York for the Braddock-Schmeling fight. But the Germans and Jacobs were unduly optimistic. Opponents of the fight now targeted the tour, too. The commander of the Jewish War Veterans asked posts in the cities on Schmeling's itinerary to become involved, and urged blacks to pitch in.

Blacks and Jews had been on opposite sides of the boycott of the Berlin Olympics. For blacks the Games promised to be-and became- a moment of glory. Besides, there was an element of payback. "The Jews don't help us so why should we help them?" one Berlin-bound black athlete asked. Now, though, with Schmeling catering to crackers and threatening to abscond with a prize that a black man stood to win, things changed. No fight should be a windfall for the "Negro-Jew-Catholic-hating Nazis," the Amsterdam News Amsterdam News editorialized. Roy Wilkins urged blacks to support the boycott; no one who knew persecution himself, he wrote, could remain indifferent to the plight of German Jews. But Wilkins complained that many of those same Jews who'd bankrolled the campaign against the Olympics hadn't given five dollars to combat race prejudice. In fact, he faulted the Jews for being AWOL on civil rights generally. While Jewish radicals, like the staffers on the editorialized. Roy Wilkins urged blacks to support the boycott; no one who knew persecution himself, he wrote, could remain indifferent to the plight of German Jews. But Wilkins complained that many of those same Jews who'd bankrolled the campaign against the Olympics hadn't given five dollars to combat race prejudice. In fact, he faulted the Jews for being AWOL on civil rights generally. While Jewish radicals, like the staffers on the Daily Worker, Daily Worker, were among the most fervent civil rights champions, most blacks encountered Jews only as landlords and businesspeople, relationships that bred far more resentment than camaraderie. "Maybe they have some Negro servant of whom they are fond and they let it go at that, or maybe they give the Negro porter or elevator boy ten dollars at Christmas and call it square with their consciences," Wilkins wrote. "Let us do all we can to see that no disciple of Hitler and fascism reaps any benefit here in America. At the same time, let us hope our Jewish friends will not have too short memories when next we appeal for aid." were among the most fervent civil rights champions, most blacks encountered Jews only as landlords and businesspeople, relationships that bred far more resentment than camaraderie. "Maybe they have some Negro servant of whom they are fond and they let it go at that, or maybe they give the Negro porter or elevator boy ten dollars at Christmas and call it square with their consciences," Wilkins wrote. "Let us do all we can to see that no disciple of Hitler and fascism reaps any benefit here in America. At the same time, let us hope our Jewish friends will not have too short memories when next we appeal for aid."

Boycott organizers tried repeatedly to enlist the NAACP, but Walter White balked. The group opposed Hitlerism, he said, but felt the movement had been hijacked by "certain individuals in the boxing game"- presumably Jacobs and Gould-"for selfish and ulterior motives." He worried that the group's opposition to Schmeling's sputtering southern tour could, oddly, help revive it. Then there was the matter of fairness: Schmeling had had been promised a title shot. "I do not think that we should be demanding fair play and then join in denying it to others, even if we dislike and disapprove of those others," he concluded. Besides, overzeal-ous publicity men had turned the boycott into a joke: only fourteen people showed up for a much-touted luncheon the Anti-Nazi League threw for sportswriters at Jack Dempsey's restaurant on February 16 - some, undoubtedly, just for the free lunch. been promised a title shot. "I do not think that we should be demanding fair play and then join in denying it to others, even if we dislike and disapprove of those others," he concluded. Besides, overzeal-ous publicity men had turned the boycott into a joke: only fourteen people showed up for a much-touted luncheon the Anti-Nazi League threw for sportswriters at Jack Dempsey's restaurant on February 16 - some, undoubtedly, just for the free lunch.

By late January the papers were writing obituaries for the Braddock-Schmeling bout. Rather than fight Schmeling in Long Island City on June 3, they speculated, Braddock would fight Louis in Chicago a week or two later. Authorities in Illinois had already gone into action, and by February 19 it was official: Braddock would take on Louis for the world heavyweight championship at Comiskey Park on June 22. The champion would collect 50 percent of the gate, Louis the challenger's take of 17 percent. The Cinderella Man, who'd once sworn eternal fealty to the Garden for taking him off the breadline, had changed his mind. Mike Jacobs would run the show as a silent partner, with a local man acting as his "promotional stooge." That way, Jacobs hoped, he would be spared the full wrath of the New York boxing authorities. Madison Square Garden vowed to sue, but the Hearst papers lined up, unsurprisingly, behind the switch. "Why should Jim, who was on relief for years, who hasn't made a real dollar since winning the title, who has a bunch of youngsters he wants to educate, who has a wife that he wants to build a home for, take $75,000 to fight Schmeling instead of $700,000 for facing Louis?" asked Bill Farnsworth of the Evening Journal. Evening Journal.

Box-Sport could not believe what was happening: "a clique that has nothing to do with sports" had shafted someone "just because he is a son of the new German Reich and supports the Fatherland abroad, inside and outside the ring." It was "simply inconceivable" that a valid contract could be so utterly ignored. But Schmeling and the Nazis had already begun their countermove. In late January, Schmeling asked Hitler to salvage the fight by luring Braddock to Germany. Despite stringent German currency regulations, by February 1 a proposal was in the works offering Braddock $250,000 to take on Schmeling in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. "It is understood that Chancellor Hitler has already voiced his general approval of such a match," an internal memo from the American embassy in Berlin to the State Department declared. could not believe what was happening: "a clique that has nothing to do with sports" had shafted someone "just because he is a son of the new German Reich and supports the Fatherland abroad, inside and outside the ring." It was "simply inconceivable" that a valid contract could be so utterly ignored. But Schmeling and the Nazis had already begun their countermove. In late January, Schmeling asked Hitler to salvage the fight by luring Braddock to Germany. Despite stringent German currency regulations, by February 1 a proposal was in the works offering Braddock $250,000 to take on Schmeling in Berlin's Olympic Stadium. "It is understood that Chancellor Hitler has already voiced his general approval of such a match," an internal memo from the American embassy in Berlin to the State Department declared.

Within the Nazi apparat, the proposal generated a kind of euphoria. "This fight will be the greatest sporting event of the year 1937," Hermann Esser, a friend of Hitler's who was president of the German tourist committee, gushed to the Reich's chancellory. "The significance of the event for propaganda cannot be overestimated.... The entire world will say that a country that can finance and carry out such a huge sporting event must possess entrepreneurial spirit and can't be at the end of its financial powers." With a capacity of 130,000, the Olympic Stadium was the greatest space ever for such an event, and with only the snooty Bayreuth festival to offer otherwise, Germany needed a summer tourist attraction. As for foreign currency, the income from visas alone would cover two-thirds of the $300,000 Braddock was by now demanding. Then there was all the money travelers would bring with them, along with the home-court advantage the fight would confer on Schmeling. "As a fighter in his hometown, and probably in the presence of the Fuhrer, Schmeling will offer a first-rate performance and thus carry the victory," Esser predicted.

Since Schmeling would win, Esser went on, the fight would inevitably lead to a rematch with Louis that would earn more money for the Reich, even though that battle would surely be in the United States. The Fuhrer "placed the greatest value on the [Braddock-Schmeling] fight taking place on German soil," Esser concluded. Goebbels expressed concern about scrounging up enough hard currency; Germany had just embarked upon an ambitious four-year plan for economic self-sufficiency, supervised by Hermann Goring, a key part of which consisted of curbing imports, and thereby stanching the outflow of capital. (Even the head of German boxing had to apply for permission to take the equivalent of ten pounds sterling out of the country.) Rubber, fuel, textiles: Germany itself could produce all of them, or at least ersatz versions of them; but one thing it would have to import was champion boxers, and for them, Goebbels realized, it would have to pay dearly. "This still needs to be discussed with Goring," he wrote in his diary. But Schmeling met with a representative of the Deutsche Reichsbank and the sports ministry, and the Reich office of foreign currency ultimately found enough money to make a credible offer to Braddock. When Schmeling arrived in the United States for his exhibition tour, he would carry the proposal with him.

As Schmeling's southern tour encountered difficulties and delays, so, too, did the date of his departure from Germany. Finally, on February 24 he boarded the Berengaria, Berengaria, the German-built steamer given to the British as reparation for the the German-built steamer given to the British as reparation for the Lusitania. Lusitania. It was a sop to public relations: the It was a sop to public relations: the Berengaria Berengaria would not be flying the swastika-surely an inopportune image for someone fighting an anti-Nazi boycott-as it entered New York Harbor. A large crowd of boxing officials, newspapermen, and fans saw Schmeling off. He arrived in New York on March 2, six days before his tour was scheduled to start. The boycott, he remarked, made him laugh. "You know, they do me an honor, in fact they compliment me," he remarked. "If they thought Braddock could beat me in two or three rounds there wouldn't be a boycott movement." He issued appeals to Braddock and to American good sportsmanship, but pledged to fight a "ghost battle" with Braddock if the champion didn't show up. would not be flying the swastika-surely an inopportune image for someone fighting an anti-Nazi boycott-as it entered New York Harbor. A large crowd of boxing officials, newspapermen, and fans saw Schmeling off. He arrived in New York on March 2, six days before his tour was scheduled to start. The boycott, he remarked, made him laugh. "You know, they do me an honor, in fact they compliment me," he remarked. "If they thought Braddock could beat me in two or three rounds there wouldn't be a boycott movement." He issued appeals to Braddock and to American good sportsmanship, but pledged to fight a "ghost battle" with Braddock if the champion didn't show up.

But with anti-Nazi feelings in New York intensifying almost by the hour, the fight seemed doomed. The day after Schmeling arrived, Mayor La Guardia told an audience of Jewish women that a pavilion at the upcoming New York World's Fair dedicated to religious freedom should include a "chamber of horrors" on Nazi Germany, featuring an exhibit on the "brown-shirted fanatic who is now menacing the peace of the world." The speech prompted another venomous attack on La Guardia in the Nazi press, in which he was denounced as a "shameless Jew lout," "New York's chief gangster," and "a dwarf with a grotesque belly, a knave with a screechy voice, a master blackmailer, a nose completely Semitic-a truly magnificent specimen of his race." New York, meantime, was labeled the most "un-American city in the country," a place known to other, real Americans as "Jews-York." "No less than three million members of this race of criminals live on the banks of the Hudson," the Frankische Tageszeitung Frankische Tageszeitung declared. "They dwell both in stinking outer boroughs, great examples with black coats and temple locks, as well as in the bank palaces of Wall Street and in the great millionaires' quarters where they surround themselves with their stolen luxury, 'representing' New York's High Society." Pro-Hitler groups met in Yorkville, and the German-American Bund called La Guardia "a product of the lower east-side of New York ... where the boys grow up in an environment of garbage cans and fishy odors." Meanwhile, in what was probably the worst verbal peacetime attack against it ever, the Nazi press depicted the United States as a place of crime, violence, and Jewish-inspired strikes-like Germany before Hitler rescued it. In contrast to what the declared. "They dwell both in stinking outer boroughs, great examples with black coats and temple locks, as well as in the bank palaces of Wall Street and in the great millionaires' quarters where they surround themselves with their stolen luxury, 'representing' New York's High Society." Pro-Hitler groups met in Yorkville, and the German-American Bund called La Guardia "a product of the lower east-side of New York ... where the boys grow up in an environment of garbage cans and fishy odors." Meanwhile, in what was probably the worst verbal peacetime attack against it ever, the Nazi press depicted the United States as a place of crime, violence, and Jewish-inspired strikes-like Germany before Hitler rescued it. In contrast to what the Angriff Angriff called a land of "real culture"-of Goethe, Kant, and Beethoven-America was a cesspool of heartless-ness, corruption, and philistinism. At its decadent core were not just Jews but blacks, subhumans who were nonetheless entitled to better than the poverty and lynch mobs to which a pious and hypocritical America subjected them. In reaction to all this, Jewish groups announced plans to hold a mass meeting against Nazism at Madison Square Garden on March 15. called a land of "real culture"-of Goethe, Kant, and Beethoven-America was a cesspool of heartless-ness, corruption, and philistinism. At its decadent core were not just Jews but blacks, subhumans who were nonetheless entitled to better than the poverty and lynch mobs to which a pious and hypocritical America subjected them. In reaction to all this, Jewish groups announced plans to hold a mass meeting against Nazism at Madison Square Garden on March 15.