Gertrude Stein is another interesting case:
Stein's seemingly paradoxical views about Hitler and fascism have never been a secret. As early as 1934, she told a reporter that Hitler should be awarded the Nobel peace prize. "I say that Hitler ought to have the peace prize, because he is removing all the elements of contest and of struggle from Germany. By driving out the Jews and the democratic and Left element, he is driving out everything that conduces to activity. That means peace ... By suppressing Jews ... he was ending struggle in Germany" (New York Times Magazine, May 6, 1934).
Like many of this century's Jewish American intellectuals, Stein's relationship to her own Jewishness was complex and conflicted. ================================================= Wow. You might say.
I dug up the 1934 interview in the New York Times, in which she also declares that she "does not approve of the stringent immigration laws in America today. We need the stimulation of new blood. It is best to favor healthy competition". But then she goes on to say "there is no reason why we should not select our immigrants with greater care, nor why we should not bar certain peoples and preserve the color line for instance."
And some say there is TOO MUCH intellectual-bashing on this list... :)