Although much of Germany started to latch onto the Nazi Party's ideals, many in the United States took an active stand against the mass book burnings. Helen Keller, a socialist of whose book was burned, wrote a letter to the German student body condemning them. Many news outlets covered the burnings play-by-play, while artists took to creating political cartoons to take action against the Nazis. These people were taking the first steps to  extinguishing the barrier.