The American Lie that Hitler Snubbed Gold Medalist Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens said, “Hitler didn’t snub me; it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”

Jesse Owens was a master Olympian: he won gold medals in the 100-meter, 200-meter, and 400-meter relays, as well as in the long jump. No other American had achieved this phenomenal success.

The legend went like this: After Jesse Owens won a gold medal, Hitler stormed out of the Olympic stadium in a fit of anger after bluntly refusing to shake the winners hand. Jesse Owens emerges from the story as a Black man had beaten racist Nazi ideology with a fistful of medals.

In truth, Hitler did none of this. Firstly, Hitler made the decision to not shake hands with any Olympic champion after Olympic officials warned the Nazi dictator that he must shake all hands or none at all. Unlike popular belief, Hitler did acknowledge Jesse Owens success but in a typical stiff-necked fashion by offering him a, “friendly little Nazi salute” after Jesse Owens waved in his general direction. According to Jesse Owens, they had exchanged congratulatory waves.

During the Olympic games, Nazi Germany went to great lengths to appear in-discriminatory in hopes of improving international perception. Most anti-Jewish propaganda was temporarily removed and newspapers ceased their ruthless rhetoric on racial inferiority of non-Aryan people. To the shock of many Black athletes, they were allowed to share the same hotels as other athletes. A far cry from American segregation.

Surprisingly, Jesse Owens had become very popular in Berlin. Jesse Owens was a true celebrity. In the stadium, the German spectators in the Olympic stadium would cheer “Yesseh Oh-vens” or “Oh-vens.” He would later complain about being hunted by mobs of fans asking for his autograph. All of this was astonishing, especially considering all the racial superiority dogma being shoved down the throat of the German people on a regular basis.

The hardest truth to face is that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the real villain in this story.

“Hitler didn’t snub me; it was our president who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.” -Jesse Owens, quoted in Triumph, a book about the 1936 Olympics by Jeremy Schaap.

After the 1936 Berlin Olympics, only the White athletes were invited to meet and shake hands with Roosevelt. This was a huge blow to Owen who was the most successful athlete at the games. For many years, he would lament that he wasn’t invited to the White House to shake hands with the President. There was no public acknowledge of his achievements, no congratulatory letter, no invitation to the White house. It’s tragic to think that Hitler, a violent racist dictator, happened to show more respect to Jesse Owens with a simple wave than his own president.

While White Olympians had the honour of receiving what was due to them, Jesse Owens wasn’t even allowed to use the Waldorf Astoria elevator and forced to take the back steps to attend his own reception organized for his Olympic accomplishments.

In essence, Jesse Owens plummeted through Nazi racial theories with his outstanding wins only to be thrown-back with the same oppression in the United States.

Dear America, do not console yourself with this lie anymore.