Mary Phagan Kean on Ryan Dawson: The ADL and the 1913 Leo Frank CaseAired on March 11, 2025, this interview features Ryan Dawson and 70-year-old Mary Phagan-Kean, great-niece of 13-year-old Mary Phagan, discussing the 1913 murder case that led to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) by B’nai B’rith. Phagan was raped and murdered at the National Pencil Company in Atlanta, her body found in the basement on April 27, 1913. Leo Frank, the Jewish superintendent, was convicted based on forensic evidence—blood and hair in the factory—and Jim Conley’s testimony, alleging Frank’s involvement. Phagan-Kean defends the trial’s integrity, documented in the Leo Frank Trial Brief of Evidence, which withstood U.S. Supreme Court appeals. She disputes the ADL’s claim that antisemitism drove Frank’s conviction, highlighting witness testimonies about his predatory behavior. The interview explores the ADL’s origins, formed to defend Frank, and its ongoing push for his exoneration, which Phagan-Kean calls a distortion of history. She discusses Frank’s 1915 lynching by the Knights of Mary Phagan after his sentence commutation, a pivotal moment for the ADL’s mission. Phagan-Kean references her book, The Murder of Little Mary Phagan (2025), debunking myths like the “bite mark” evidence. She notes the 1986 pardon, which didn’t clear Frank, and 2025 efforts by the Georgia Innocence Project for exoneration, which she opposes. Dawson and Phagan-Kean address X debates, with some citing Alonzo Mann’s 1982 affidavit implicating Conley, while others support the original verdict. The interview critiques the ADL’s influence on historical narratives, urging a reexamination of justice and bias.
