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A contentious debate lingers over whether Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned his back on the Jews of Hitler’s Europe. FDR and the Jews reveals a concerned leader whose efforts on behalf of Jews were far greater than those of any other world figure but whose moral leadership was tempered by the political realities of depression and war.
Based on recently discovered documents, Rafael Medoff reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration’s fateful policies concerning European Jewry during the Holocaust.
The year was 1932. At age fourteen Robert Beir’s journey through life changed irrevocably when a classmate called him a “dirty Jew.” Suddenly Beir encountered the belligerent poison of anti-Semitism. The safe confines of his upbringing had been violated. The pain that he felt at that moment was far more hurtful than any blow. Its memory would last a lifetime. Beir’s experiences with anti-Semitism served as a microcosm for the anti-Semitism among the majority of Americans. That year, a politician named Franklin Delano Roosevelt ascended to the presidency. Over the next twelve years, he became a scion of optimism and carried a refreshing, unbridled confidence in a nation previously mired in fear and deeply depressed. His policies and ethics saved the capitalist system. His strong leadership and unwavering faith helped to defeat Hitler. The Jews of America revered President Roosevelt. To a young Robert Beir, Roosevelt was an American hero. In mid-life, however, Beir experienced a conflict. New research was questioning Roosevelt’s record regarding the Holocaust. He felt compelled to embark on a historian’s quest, asking only the toughest questions of his childhood hero, including: • How much did President Roosevelt know about the Holocaust? • What could Roosevelt have done? • Why wasn’t there an urgent rescue effort? In answering these questions and others, Robert Beir has done a masterful job. This book is graphically written, well-researched, and provocative. The portrait depicted of a man he once thought to be morally incorruptible amidst a circumstance of moral bankruptcy is truly unforgettable.
I am 81 now and since finishing this, my first effort, ages ago I've been not a little embarrassed since then when asked, what is "BEFORE I FORGET!'' all about? My answer of "Me!" sounds awful but that's it, plus many more intriguing and interesting personalities and situations, thank goodness. My life certainly hasn't reached great prominence, but it's been by no means humdrum either so I feel it, perhaps, worth sharing with others. Suffice to say it is about growing up in Jollye Olde from 1919 to 1936; a terrific year as an Exchange Student at a great prep school in Rhode Island; returning to the UK in '37 and, promptly, starting work as a trainee in a big thread-making company. This, being a disaster, made me join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on my 20th birthday, September 13, 1939, (a) to get out of what I was doing and (b) hopefully to become a pilot! An exciting, often scary, but always fascinating war followed for seven years, which included night-fighter squadrons and experimental work; crazy situations; marriage to a girl I met when at school in Newport, and the struggle for normalcy after I was demobilized. We left the UK for the States in 1948 for sundry reasons. Then started a life with never a dull moment! Hairbrush then English car salesman; marmalade-making in our 1780 home in Hamilton, MA; radio and television in the US and in the UK; special events announcer; two children adopted; US citizen; PR Director for the New England Aquarium . . . to name but a few! The book ends with the passing of my late wife, to whom it is dedicated. Book Two of BEFORE I FORGET starts a couple of years later and is still in the works. It will be dedicated, of course, to Annie, my present wife of 33 years.
The Jews who so deeply admired Roosevelt made up the richest, most influential Jewish community in the world, leaders in government, commerce, and the arts. Yet by the time Franklin Roosevelt died in office, six million European Jews had been murdered by the Nazis while neither FDR nor American Jews lifted much more than a finger to help them. How did the president, the nation he led, and American Jewry allow this to happen? There is no simple answer, but Robert Shogan seeks a partial explanation by examining the behavior of a handful of Jews, so close to Roosevelt and supposedly so influential that they could be considered the president's Jews.
Examines the reactions of particular groups within Congress (including those of individual congressmen) to the changing role of the federal government during the New Deal era. Also examines facets of the New Deal era from a contemporary perspective.
