{"id":651740,"date":"2026-06-22T06:45:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T06:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651740\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T06:45:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T06:45:25","slug":"joe-louis-documentary-clash-of-nations-revisits-bout-that-rocked-the-nazis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651740\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Louis documentary \u2018Clash of Nations\u2019 revisits bout that rocked the Nazis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The grotesque display of corruption<\/a> and bigotry<\/a> hosted on the White House grounds this past weekend was a reminder of the ways combat sports have been used throughout American history as a vehicle for propaganda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The politics of paid punching have not always been what they are today. In fact, as hard as it may be to imagine with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, there was a time when America\u2019s president glommed onto the fight game and its surrounding machismo as a means to fight \u2014 rather than fuel \u2014\u00a0global fascism.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the crux of a new History Channel documentary on iconic boxer Joe Louis called \u201cThe Clash of Nations,\u201d which may come as a bit of a palate cleanser in the aftermath of Trump\u2019s UFC event. The film documents the story of Louis, the Black American known as the \u201cBrown Bomber\u201d who garnered support from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his two bouts against German boxer Max Schmeling, whom Adolf Hitler and the Nazis saw as the epitome of Aryan dominance. It also chronicles the personal bond the two established years after their iconic fights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two fights, held at Yankee Stadium, unfolded in as cinematic a fashion as one can imagine. Schmeling won the first via knockout, giving Hitler a propaganda victory so great that he mandated German theaters show footage of the fight. The loss also devastated many Americans, particularly Black Americans, who had viewed Louis as an avatar for democracy and a symbol of American dominance over Nazism. Louis\u2019 son, Joe Louis Barrow Jr., is featured in the film and told me the loss and the feeling of utter failure that weighed on his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis world, this country particularly, does not treat Black people the way they should,\u201d Barrow said, observing that the U.S. experiences \u201cpeaks\u201d and \u201cvalleys\u201d in racial progress. \u201cWe\u2019re now in a valley because people don\u2019t respect the Black man the way they should, and that distinguishes Joe Louis, because everyone wanted a hero at the time to defeat the Germans.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJa’han Jones<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJa\u2019han Jones is an MS NOW opinion blogger. He previously wrote The ReidOut\u00a0Blog.\t\t<\/p>\n

\"MS<\/p>\n

\u00a9\u00a02026 Versant Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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