Truman and Zionism
Formei President's Memoirs
"Memoirs of Harry S. Tru-
man: Year of Decisions," the first
of two volumes of President Tru-
man's record as soldier, business-
man, judge, Senator, Vice-Presi-
dent and President, now is avail-
able, having come off the press
of Doubleday Publishers this
week.
It is the remarkable story of a
great President who had a lot
to do with the establishment of
Israel, with the fight for civil
rights, with multiple problems
affecting our nation.
The Jewish News Commenta-
tor already has quoted Mr. Tru-
man's reference to Zionism and
the attitude of the State Depart-.
ment. In Mr. Truman's Meinoirs,
the statement is lengthier than
originally quoted. It reads:
"Shortly before noon, (April
20, 1945), Dr. Stephen S. Wise,
chairman of the American
Zionist Emergency Council,
came in to talk to me about
the Jewish victims of Nazi per-
secution and the serious prob-
lem of the resettlement of the
refugees which led naturally
to a discussion of a proposed
Jewish state and homeland in
Palestine.
"I had before me President
Roosevelt's records and state-
ments regarding Palestine. And
the Secretary of State had sent
me a special communication
two days before, expressing the
attitude and the thinking of
the State Department on Pales-
tine.
"'It is very likely,' this com-
munication read, 'that efforts
will be made by some of the
Zionist leaders to obtain from
you at an early date some com-
mitments in favor of the Zion-
ist program which is pressing
for unlimited Jewish immigra-
tion into Palestine and the es-
tablishment there of a Jewish
state. As you are aware, the
government and people of the
United - States have every
sympathy for the persecuted
Jews of Europe and are doing
all in their power to relieve
their suffering. The question of
Palestine is, however, a highly
complex one and involving
questions which go far beyond
the plight of the Jews in
Europe.
" 'There is continual tense-
ness in the situation in the
Near East,' the community-
tion concluded, 'largely as a
result of the Palestine question,
and as we have interests in
that area which are vital to the
United States, we feel that this
whole subject is , on.; that
should be handled with the
greatest care and with a view
to the long-range interests of
the country.' •
"Sin.ce I was in agreement
with the -eipressed policy of
the Roosevelt administration on
Palestine, I told Rabbi Wise
that I would do everything
possible to carry out that
policy. I had carefully read the
Balfour Declaration, in whieh
Great Britain was committed
to a homeland in Palestine for
the Jews. I had familiarized
myself with the history of the
question of a Jewish homeland
and the position of the British
and the Arabs. I was skeptical,
as I read over the whole
record up to date, about some
of the views and attitudes
assumed by the `striped-pants
boys' in the State Department.
It seemed to me that they
didn't care enough about what
happened to the thousands of
displaced persons w h o were
involved. It was my feeling
that it would be possible for
us to watch out for the long-
range interests of our coun-
try while at the same time
helping these unfortunate vic-
tims of persecution to find a
home.. And before Rabbi Wise
left, I believe I made this clear
to him."
Among the: very interesting
portions of the President's Me-
moirs are . his descriptions of his
friendship for and business part-
nership with Edward Jacobson
of Kansas City, who died on
Oct. 25. Mr. Truman had a deep
affection for Eddie Jacobson.
Mr. Truman makes this refer-
ence to Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,
his first Secretary of the Trea-
sury;
"Secretary Margenthati_ called
upon me at the White House on
July 5 to submit his resignation.
His letter of resignation and my
reply were made public later that
day at a press and radio confer-
ence. The previous fall he had
attended the Quebec meeting of
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Mac-
kenzie King and had worked on
a plan to eliminate the industrial
potential of Germany by making
Germany strictly a pastoral and
agricultural community. This is
what became known as th Mor-
genthau Plan. Those of Li who
looked into it did not think much
of this plan. I did not like it.
When he found out I was going
to Potsdam in July, Secretary
Morgenthau came in to ask if
he could go with me. I told him
I thought the Secretary of the
Treasury was badly needed in the
United States — much more so
than in Potsdam. He replied that
it was necessary for him to go
and that if -he could not he would
have to quit.
that
" 'All right,' I replied,
is the way you feel, I'll accept
your resignation right now.' "
And I did. That was the end of
the conversation and the end of
the Morgenthau Plan.
"Although Morgenthau and I
were personally friendly, it
would be difficult for me to
evaluate him as Secretary of the
Treasury because I had too few
contacts with him. I always had
the impression that Mr. Roose-
velt was his own Secretary of
the Treasury."
President Truman's Memoirs
must be read by all Americans
who are interested in the life
story of a great leader as well
as in the historic events which
transpired in this country during
his leadership.
AJC Questions USSR
Genuine 'New Look'
Report New Finds
At- Bet Shearim
NEW YORK — Dr. Benjamin
Mazar, president of Hebrew Uni-
versity in Jerusalem, speaking
here, announced the discovery of
10 catacombs of the ancient city
of Bet Shearim, in Lower Gali-
lee.
Delivering the second annual
Chaim Weizmann lecture, which
officially opened the 1955-56
Israel Institute at the Jewish
Theological Seminary here, Dr.
Mazar said the find "will enable
us to arrive at significant insights
into important chapters in the
life of the people of Israel during
the Mishnaic and Talmudic pe-
riods."
Excavations previously have
yielded remains revealing that
Bet Shearim was a central burial
place during the first and fourth
centuries CE. The catacombs are
the latest discovery in the exca-
vations of Bet Shearim, known
as the city of the Sanhedrin be-
cause the highest court con-
vened here.
Original excavations of the site
were begun in 1936 after the ac-
cidental discovery of an "inter-
esting" tomb cave.
1DC Representative Gets
Vienna's 'Medal of Honor'
PARIS (JTA)—The award of
a "medal of honor" by the City
of- Vienna to Theodore Feder,
Joint Distribution Committee
representative for Austria, for
his contributions to the health
and welfare of the city, has been
announced here by Moses Bec-
kelmann, JDC director general.
Mr. Feder has been appointed
joint director in Germany.
The dinner in his honor was
attended by James K. Penfield,
deputy head of the United States
mission to Austria, and Arieh
Eshel, Israel Consul General in
Vienna. Mr. Feder's successor in
the Austrian post is. Fred Ziegel-
laub, former director of the JDC
community relations department
in Germany.
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS-19
Friday, November 11, 1955
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------- —
Thousands of Jews are still in
Russian jails or slave labor camps
for no reason other than their
religion, the American Jewish
Committee charged, challenging
Soviet Russia to prove that its
"new look" is genuine.
A six-point test was proposed
to the U. S. Department of State
by the AJC administrative Board.
Made public by Ralph E. Samuel,
chairman, it calls for:
1. Release of all persons held in
jail or in slave labor camps on
charges related to their race, reli-
gion or national origin.
2. Restore to their citizens of
the JeWish faith true freedom of
worship.
3. Allow theth to reopen their
schools.
4. Give them the opportunity to
have the use of their language, a
press and distinctive cultural ac-
tivities.
5. Re-establish full freedom of
movement for all peoples of East-
ern Europe.
6. Permit immediately the re-
union of broken families, allow-
ing the orphaned and the home-
less to be taken to places of
shelter and care.
USSR Arrests 11 -Jews
In Anti-Israel Drive
BERLIN, (JTA) — Reports
reaching here from Moscow re-
veal that the Soviet authorities
have started a new campaign
against Zionism and arrested at
least 11 Jews in the Soviet cap-
ital on suspicion of sympathies
with Israel.
The report said that arrests
were made by police searching
Jewish homes for Zionist and -
Israel literature. It is not known,
the report added, whether such
searches were carried also in
other parts of the Soviet Union.
The official government news-
paper "Izvestia" appeared with
an article telling the Western
Powers to mind their own busi 7
ness about the arming of Egypt
by Communist countries. The
paper accused the Allies of pra-
yoking armed conflicts between
Israel and the neighboring Arab
countries..
Moscow radio announced that
the Israel Embassy in Moscow
had signed a contract for the
purchase of 350,000 to 400,000
tons of Soviet- crude oil and fuel
'oil, while the Soviet Government
had contracted to buy 15,000
tons of Israel citrus fruits.
-
MM IMO 11,11 NMI M.11
Lord Samuel Greeted
On His 80th Birthday
LONDON, (JTA)—Lord, Sam-
uel, first High Commissioner of
Mandated Pales t i n e, received
hundreds of greetings from
groups and persons in all parts
of the world as he celebrated his
85th birthday.
Lord Samuel appeared on a
special television prdgram and
was honored at a dinner ar-
ranged by a committee of out-
standing British Jews and at
which leaders of the Conserva-
tive, Labor and Liberal parties
spoke. A dinner was held in
Manchester in his honor and a
recorded message from Lord
Samuel was played at the affair.
CARD OF THANKS
The family of the late Sam
Cohen, of Mt. Clemens, acknowl-
edges with grateful appreciation
the many kind expressions of
sympathy extended by relatives
and friends -during the family's
recent bereaVement.
FORECAST:
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