Truman and the Creation of IsraelEssay Preview: Truman and the Creation of IsraelReport this essayEric StinerHour 2RichardsTruman and the Creation of IsraelWith the growing pressure for a new state of Israel after the atrocities committed against the Jews in World War Two, President Franklin D Roosevelts adopted a neutral policy towards Palestine. Roosevelt felt like the United States needed complete cooperation from Jews and Muslims before they could get involved. When Roosevelt passed away in April of 1945, Harry Truman was thrown into the presidency of the United States. Along with the ongoing war with Japan and difficulties with the Soviet Union, there was immediate pressure from Zionist leaders to get something done. Truman said “I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets have fallen on me”(Levantrosser). When Truman took office, his administration placed American interests first and made their policy consistent with Roosevelts policy. Although he remained neutral, the Palestine issue was one of Trumans greatest concerns. He wrote Virginia C. Gildersleeve: “The Jewish and Arab situation in the Near East is a most difficult one and has caused us more difficulty than most any other problem in the European Theater” (Donovan). When the statistics came into focus, of the hundreds of thousands Jews that were displaced, Congress was forced to make a decision. The United States Congress would eventually tell Truman that the Jewish immigration policy into Palestine was to be Great Britains situation because they held a League of Nations mandate over Palestine. Truman ignored this advice because he felt as if Congress cared more about their own interests and the Arab reaction, rather than focusing on the Jewish suffering caused by Adolph Hitler during World War II. Truman saw the suffering that the Jews went through and it affected him greatly. The final decision on the Palestinian conflict came straight from Trumans personal conception of right and wrong. Truman ignored the advice of his most trusted advisors because his Christian religious background and its emphasis on biblical teachings influenced his beliefs, value system, and moral absolutes, all of which directed him toward actively assisting in the creation of Israel.
It is well documented that Harry S. Truman was a very religious man. His strong Christian beliefs were vital in the early decision making process on the Palestine conflict. Harry S. Truman was born in the small town of Lamar, Missouri. When Truman was 6 years old, his family moved so that Harry could attend a church school in Independence, Missouri. The opportunity for Harry to be raised on strong Christian values was one of his parents top priorities. Harry took a special interest in reading, writing, and especially history. Studying the Bible became a fascination for Harry even as a young child and the Bible became a vital part of Harrys upbringing. He was known as a bookish learner and a great student of history (Hillman).
Trumans fascination for the Middle East was evident. He stated that, “It was here where so much of our history was made.”(Hillman) Truman once held a meeting in the Oval Office to discuss the historical significance of the Middle East and especially the Palestine region. He pulled out a map from his desk and began talking about the Middle East. Truman spent over an hour discussing the historical significance of different areas of Palestine. People that were in the meeting described his detailed presentation of the region as “masterful” and “that of a distinguished scholar” (Benson).
Eight days after Truman was sworn in as president, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York, co-chairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council, came to ask Truman to support a Jewish state in Palestine (Donovan). Truman assured Stephen Wise that he supported the Zionist goal but he didnt want to take immediate action. Truman wanted to create an immigration system that would “let as many Jews into Palestine as possible” (Evensen).
Although Truman supported the Zionist goals, he faced outside pressure from Great Britain and even the Vatican on the danger of the Zionist goals. Britains issues with the Arabs, in the Palestine region, had to do with the protection of oil and the Suez canal. Britain tried their best to keep peaceful relations with the Arabs for those reasons. They felt like if they allowed Jews to immigrate into Palestine that it would potentially hurt business relations with the Arabs. Truman became increasingly impatient with the British lack of action on the issue. He stated “Of course, the British control Palestine and there is no way of getting one-hundred thousand Jews in there unless they [the British] want them in” (Donovan). The pressure from the Vatican came straight from the United States presidents representative to the Vatican, Myron C. Taylor. He warned Truman about the dangers of allowing and supporting the immigration of Jews into Palestine. He cautioned Truman against the Zionist goals and the potential problems it could cause the United States. Taylor didnt want the United States to be in a situation where they were forced to protect a Jewish state because they had supported the immigration into Palestine.
In 1939, Jewish leaders created the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs. The American Jewish Committee worked against infringements of Jewish rights in foreign countries. They were in a unique position because the organization was made up of rich Jews. Because of their economic and social position, they had a greater influence. They also served as a defense organization that fought anti-Semitism in the United States. The committee was usually supportive of Zionist demands (Ganin). On April 30, 1946, the first report conducted by the American Committee of Inquiry was released. It called for a new state and the immigration of one-hundred thousand European Jews into Palestine. The recommendations
of the Committee followed. The committee began by demanding that the U.S. government stop the implementation of the 1949 Yom Kippur War. If it did so, Jews in the United States would be uprooted, killed, and expelled under the Zionist policies. If the U.S. did not stop this, Jews in Palestine would be displaced. This report states that the Committee believed that “[g]oing in earnest now, the Jewish government must stop the Israeli policies that are making the United States less friendly to a significant proportion of the Jews of our own land.” But with no progress had the House Committee begun its work. In a letter to the editor, the Committee’s members declared: “We have a clear understanding that, without a single vote of the entire House, every member of the European Parliament or the International Committee of the Red Cross is opposed to the deportation of Jewish citizens of the United States, and all of them are equally in favor of the right to life and the right to a better standard of living and a decent health.” The most prominent member of the European Parliament and the chairman of the Committee, Baron von Rompuy, opposed it. “We have not tried to stop the immigration, we have not tried to stop the deportation of Jews,” Rabbi S.G. von Gerhardt, of Birkenau, told the Times of Israel in October 1949. “There is nothing of importance, what we say, is our attitude. We believe that every Jew has the right to live in his native country. They have the right.” The Committee’s final report was signed by Chairman von Oberstein, who opposed the deportation. “They would not recognize our rights. We have said, this is not an issue of our country; this is an issue of American interest,” S.G. von Gerhardt commented. The meeting of the Committee took place on the 16th of October 1949. Therein was a meeting concerning the Zionist and Jewish problem, and the meeting was called as follows. Committee Committee of Investigation (1946-1949) Chairman Haim Schwarz: (a) By the decision of the Committee of Investigation to proceed with the deportation of Jews, the Government has a right to exclude Jewish people from the country, or expel them. The deportation of 1,000,000 Jews from the United States is in no way disproportionate to the number of European Jews on this continent. (b) The removal of Jews from the United States for the purpose of preventing the spread of Nazism also is in no way related to the problem as formulated in this report. (c) The deportation of about 1,000,000 Jews from the United States for the purpose of preventing the spread of Nazism, which the American Government was determined to do, is of national interest. Therefore, our recommendations to the Congress are not based on the opinions of a neutral panel of Jewish experts or on