Louis Battles Schmeling.

Louis Battles Schmeling. When black American boxer Joe Louis battled the white German boxer Max Schmeling in 1936 and 1938, the bouts were political events as well as sporting matches. This report provides not only a blow-by-blow account of the matches but also describes the propaganda battle that ensued as well. . Louis v. Schmeling In the 1930s the United States and Germany engaged in a propaganda war leading up to World War II (1939-1945). In one celebrated case, this rhetorical slugfest entered the boxing ring. Joe Louis from the United States and Max Schmeling from Germany confronted each other on a summer night at Yankee Stadium in 1938. Each man battled not only his opponent but also the nationalized rhetoric of his opponent's home country. Joseph Goebbels, Germany's director of propaganda, led a barrage of bigotry directed at Louis, an African American from Alabama. In the United States, Schmeling was portrayed as a ravenous Hun. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was determined to harvest extensive political capital from the event. "Joe," FDR exclaimed, "we need muscles like yours to beat Germany!" The historic 1938 meeting of Louis and Schmeling was a rematch of a bout two years earlier that was won--to the surprise of most people not living in Germany--by Schmeling. Louis was 22 years old and undefeated in his previous 27 bouts when he stepped into the ring with Schmeling on June 18, 1936, at Yankee Stadium in New York. The 31-year-old German, world heavyweight champion from 1930 to 1932, was viewed as menacing but past his prime. Louis, without question the most talented young fighter in boxing history, was favored to win by odds that reached eight-to-one--three-to-one by knockout. Schmeling had Louis in trouble early, decking the Brown Bomber in the fourth round with a right to the temple. Louis rose to his feet after a count of two but never regained his bearings. Two rounds later Schmeling pounded Louis with a right that connected after the bell. "After that I expected to see Joe go down any minute," Schmeling recalled. "I was surprised that he lasted as long as he did. It was, of course, his hardest fight, but I think he showed the public he can take it." Louis was battered, and booed, for the next six rounds--surprises on both counts. He succumbed with 31 seconds remaining in the 12th round, a knockout victim for the first time in his professional career. Louis was unable to sit up and talk to his handlers for several minutes. Once coherent, Louis said his memory of the fight did not extend beyond the fifth round. Assistants and police officers carried the beaten man to his dressing room, where he lowered his face into his aching hands and cried. Meanwhile a telegram from Goebbels was delivered to Schmeling's dressing room. It read: "To your wonderful victory, my best congratulations. I know you fought for Germany, that it's a German victory. We are proud of you. Heil Hitler. Regards." His mission a success, Schmeling rejoiced. "I don't think I've ever been happier in my life. It was a great victory for me, because I beat a great fighter," he said. "Louis is as game as they come. I hit him with everything I had, and he kept coming in for more until the end." Schmeling's sense of sportsmanship soon faded, however. After returning home he said of Louis, "He fought like an amateur. This is no man who could ever be champion." Years later, after becoming world champion, Louis faced Schmeling on June 22, 1938. By then Hitler had absorbed Austria and Czechoslovakia. A war in Europe seemed imminent. A sideshow no more, the fight was a main event in a prewar political bout. Patriotism enthused the fans at Yankee Stadium. "Knock him cold, Joe! Adolph Hitler sent him!" Louis heard as he marched toward the ring. "You gotta do it for the U.S.A., Joe!" This time Louis settled the match quickly, scoring three first-round knockdowns in a fight that lasted just 2 minutes 4 seconds. Outmuscled and overpowered, Schmeling managed only to land three lackluster blows. "It was no fight," wrote a New York Daily News reporter. "It was a slaughter, so one-sided and ending so abruptly, expert and customer alike felt cheated of thrills." To the endless delight of most Americans, this time it was Schmeling who could not leave the ring under his own power. Louis's savage body blows literally broke Schmeling's back in two places. Schmeling's performance was so disastrous that his handlers disabled the shortwave equipment that was broadcasting the fight in Germany. A year later, the Nazis invaded Poland, and Europe went to war. When the war ended in 1945, Louis still held the heavyweight title. His reign as world champion outlasted Hitler's reign of Germany by four years. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.