“1959 Saul Jarcho conceded: "it must be admitted that the evidence of discriminatory admission practice by medical schools [directed against jews] is not of the precision or concreteness which the historian requires."' In this essay I argue that, on the contrary, the nature and extent of U.S. medical school admission quotas during the first half of the twentieth century can be thoroughly documented. Leaders of U.S. medical schools rationalized their objections to the admission of jewish students on the grounds of proportional representation as well as the classic “anti-Semitic” canards of jewish defensiveness, bookishness, poor manual dexterity, and avarice. The jewish community, in response, was divided between those who accepted the quota and those who vigorously fought back. Here I examine the historical evidence concerning the quota, how it was justified, and the nature of the jewish community's response.”