The
politician that the Jews of America adored above all others was
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose inauguration in 1933 occurred at
about the same time as the accession of Hitler and whose 12-year
administration coincided with the final agony of European Jewry as
ordered by the Fuhrer. Despite his many impressive accomplishments, not
the least being the indispensable support he extended to the British
during their "Finest Hour", Roosevelt, the darling of American Jewry,
steadfastly refused to lift a finger to save the Jews of Europe until he
was compelled to establish the (wholly inadequate and hobbled) War
Refugee Board late in the war. Presented with numerous opportunities to
throw a lifeline to the desperate Jews of Europe, as a practical matter
he availed himself of none. He would not rebuke Hitler by a diplomatic
and economic boycott or by forbidding American participation in the
Berlin Olympics. He would not admit Jewish children on an emergency
basis or utilize more than a fraction of the immigration quotas to save
Jewish lives once the war had begun. He refused admission to the United
States of escaping Jews who had reached American waters, some within
sight of the shore. He would not exercise his prerogatives under the
American-British Convention of 1924 or, simply, as the dominant partner
in the alliance with Britain to secure a safe-haven in the "Jewish
National Home" for Jews in imminent danger of annihilation. With one
paltry and grudging exception, he would not provide temporary shelters
to Jews in the United States or its possessions, nor would he oblige the
British to do so in their far-flung empire. He would not order the
bombing of Auschwitz, the gassing of Germans, or air-drops to Jews
revolting in Warsaw or elsewhere. In short, instead of demonstrating in
some tangible way, a concern for the lives of Jews, he sent an
altogether different message to Hitler and the rest of the world,
namely, that the Jews were, indeed, expendable.
