Purely Commentary

Vandenberg's Role in the Zionist Struggle
in Israel's Pre-Statehood Era

"The United States and the Jewish - State Movement
— The Crucial Decade 1939-1949" by Dr. Joseph B.
Schechtman, published jointly by Herzl. Press and Thomas
Yoseloff, is a valuable review of an important period in
Jewish history. It is a significant account of the struggle
conducted by American Jews to assure the rescue of as
many as could possibly be saved from the Nazi infernos.
It is an account of the attitudes of Presidents Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman towards Zionism and
the urgent requests that were made for the opening of
Palestine's doors by the British Mandatory Power to a
rather small portion of the Jews who could , have been
saved from the ovens. It describes how President Truman
finally attempted to exert his influence upon Great Brit-
ain to admit 100,000 Jews and the attacks that were
leveled at him and his administration by the Arabs and
by Britain's Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin. It reviews
the doubletalk that was heard in Washington, the role that
was played by President Roosevelt, the clamor in support
of rescue efforts by members of both Houses of Congress
and the manner in which public opinion was mobilized
• in defense of basic rights for oppressed Jews.
Dr. Schechtman realistically asserts in the preface
• of his impressive collection of data about that period
that "the collected material is staggering," that:
"The main problem facing the author was not the
scarcity of sources but their abundance, variety,
and partisanship, and the resulting necessity of discrim-
inating selection and critical appraisal." He is correct in
making this statement. Nevertheless, there are some facts,
many unknown, others forgotten, that must be included
in an historic record of such great significance.
The Schechtman compilation of facts demolishes the
myth of FDR's avowed friendship for the Zionist cause.
His statement to Ibn Saud, the vacillations in his admin-
istration's actions, the yielding to Arab pressures, do not
in any sense contribute towards an affirmation of an
interest that was expressed in politically-motiVated dec-
larations. Out of this record there .emerges proof that in
the differences of opinion that divided the ranks that
supported Abba Hillel Silver and Stephen Wise the latter
had judged poorly. It is evident from the facts enumer-
ated by Dr. Schechtman that the policies advocated and
pursued by Dr. Silver, Emanuel Neumann and their
associates were the more pragmatic. Dr. Wise meant well,
„, but he misjudged his friend FDR.
This reviewer had befriended both Silver aneL.Wise,
.., but the record will show that — much as it pained
me to disapprove of the views of Dr. Wise, with whom
I had labored closely in Zionist ranks and in the Amer-
ican Jewish Congress—to me, the Silver attitude was the
more realistic during the struggle in which we - were
engaged.
Dr. Schechtman's accumulated facts definitely prove
which course was correct, but on one score he is lacking
in facts, and these must be recorded in the interest of a
complete record of the history of the period that pre-
ceded the birth of the State of Israel. It is a chapter that
should be titled Arthur' Hendrick Vandenberg. As the
friend of Vandenberg, in contact with him in
relation to Zionist aspirations from the early 1930s until
his death in 1951, I am now impelled to relate the facts
and to indicate the role the eminent Senator from Mich-
igan played in the struggles we were involved in during
the turbulent years of our pleadings for the fulfillment
of pledges to facilitate Jewish pioneering efforts in what
was then Palestine.
There are several corrections that must be made in
the Schechtman record. For instance, in the footnote on
Page 83, the reader might be left with the impression that
Claire Booth Luce was helpful in the sponsorship of the
' Palestine Resolution in the House of Representatives in
1944. But when our delegation from Michigan passed a
group of people who were in a heated argument, in one
of the Congressional halls, we were witnesses to Congress-
woman Luce's rather discourteous treatment of her Con-
necticut constituents who were arguing with her, trying
to convince her regarding the justice of the proposed
resolution. She supported it, but the statement quoting
her indicates in her instance, •as it was in many others,
that it was good Republican politics to oppose the Chief
Executive (FDR), who "took the advice of his Chief of
Staff." Mrs. Luce further is quoted by Schechtman as
having said that "our Administration gave the Palestine
Resolution no support in the House."
It is regarding Senator Vandenberg that Schechtman
is in error. He leaves the reader with the impression,
after several brief references, that the Michigan Senator
was known for his lack of sympathy for Zionist aspira-
tions." (Page 418). This blanket statement is not entirely

The Vandenberg Record in Zionist History
During Critical Years of Pre-Israel Era

correct. To several of our national conferences of the
Zionist Emergency Committee in Washington, I brought
statement of deep friendship from Vandenberg. He accom-
panied me to at least two dinners, in Washington, of
the American Christian Palestine Committee. He did not
commence with a lack of friendship. It was at San Fran-
cisco. where, after the death of President Roosevelt, at
the founding of the United Nations Organization, to which
we then referred as LINO, and subsequently as acting
Vice President, that his antagonism became evident. And
these are the facts I am now impelled to relate, since Dr.
Schechtman has opened up a new record involving Van-
denberg. FDR, Truman and the many others who either
helped or stood in the way of Statehood for the stateless
and homeless and persecuted Jews.
Just before FDR's death, Vandenberg was still the
friend of our movement. This incident must be related:
It was on the Friday before FDR had passed away
that I was asked by Dr. Silver to arrange for a conference
with Vandenberg. Assigned to accompany me were the
late Herman Shulman and the late Dr. Hayim Greenberg.
It was in war time and I could not get a plane. I took the
B & 0. arose at 7 a.m. that morning, shaved, had break-
fast and believed that I was in Washington at 8:30
—in time for the scheduled 10 a.m. meeting. I discovered
that the train was several hours late, that we were in
Pennsylvania. I was frantic, but managed to reach both
of our Jewish leaders and Senator Vandenberg and de-
layed the meeting until 4 p.m.
After formal introductions, Vandenberg went right
into the discussion of the question we came to face him
with. Before we had a chance to make our requests, he
lifted from his desk a copy of that week's New Palestine
which carried a story about a Roosevelt pledge, under a
banner headline stating that Roosevelt reaffirms his
pledge to Zionism. Thereupon Vandenberg said to
"The trouble with you is that every time the Great White
Father waves his wand, you jump through the loop! He
does not keep his pledges. Only yesterday he broke a
pledge to me, but what can I do? He is such a sick man!"
As I indicated, Roosevelt passed away six days later.
Vandenberg was not unfriendly even then. He would do
what he could, he told us. When we left him, the two
Jewish leaders who were with me said: "The sad part of
the Vandenberg attitude is that he is so right about Roose-
velt!" And both had leaned towards support of the Demo-
cratic Party, yet this was their impression of a statement
by one of the leading figures in the Republican Party!
Several months later, I was invited by Meyer W.
Weisgal, who then was among the chief figures directing
the affairs of the Zionist Emergency Council and who
was representing Dr. Chaim Weizmann in behalf of the
Jewish Agency, to be a member of the Jewish
Agency delegation at San Francisco, during the prelim-
inary plans for the creation of the -United Nations. I was
instructed to meet Arthur Lourie in Chicago, and we
shared a compartment on our railroad trip to San Fran-
cisco. I was to contact Vandenberg again. It took me
nearly three weeks to finally get an appointment. Vanden-
berg asked me to meet him at 10 p.m. on the night before
Vyacheslav M. Molotov was to deliver his final, arrogant
address at a press conference attended by more
than 1,200 of our press corps accredited to the
UNO sessions. When I came into Vandenberg's suite at
the Mark Hopkins Hotel, Mrs. Vandenberg was in an
adjoining room preparing his dinner. He had not yet
eaten. He was red-faced. He began to pound on the arm
of his chair, and he virtually shouted: "I just got through
with Molotov after an entire day's sessions. He didn't get
away with a thing and he never will!"
It was in this vein that Vandenberg spoke to me. It
was the first time in a friendship of nearly 30 years that
he avoided the issue, that be kept talking about Russia,
that he expressed such suspicions of the USSR and in such
a violent temper that I had the impression that
nothing else interested him. He didn't consider the Pales-
tine question timely. He certainly didn't believe we had
a chance. Who did, then?
Then came the last time I met with him. He was then
the acting Vice President_ Again Abba Hillel Silver called
me and asked that I go to see Vandenberg. His request
to me was: "Keep him friendly. We don't want him to turn
against us." Silver had met with Vandenberg two years
earlier, when FDR was still alive. He had asked me to do
the introducing, and he met him through me. They were
friendly. Vandenberg did not discourage him. But just
at the time when I also began to sense Vandenberg's irrita-
tions, Dr. Silver thought we were in danger of losing him
as a friend.
At the meeting in the Vice President's office, Vanden-
berg being seated at that immense table in that large room
—it reminded me as I entered it of the description of the

By Philip
Slomovitz

large, very large, hall, in which Mussolini sat and through
which those who came to see him had to walk hundreds
o! yards before approaching him—I became aware of one
of his secretaries, who was seated at another desk in a far
corner, reading a book, listening in, being a witness to
our meeting. It was the first time in our exchange of views,
in our very many meetings, that there was another per-
son present.
Vandenberg again began to excoriate the Russians.
That was America's big problem: the Russians. He ducked
the Zionist issue again. What hope did we, could we, pos-
sibly have? But what disturbed me was the implication
that perhaps Jews were among the Russians. I never left
a conference more dejected. I felt that the new attitude—
the one on the basis of which Dr. Schechtman writes that
Vandenberg was known for his lack of sympathy for Zion-..
ism—stemmed from a new goal in the great Senator's
not ever to let the Russians get away with a thing. Nothing
else mattered. And who were the Zionists with their un- '—
realizable dream?
As early as Dec. 9, 1943, Vandenberg was in the front
ranks of the friends of Zionism. I had brought him into
the movement and he was with us. On Dec. 9, 1943, he had
written to Senator Robert F. Wagner, addressing him to
the o"fice of the American Palestine Committee, 1720 16th
St. N. W., Washington.
"I think I have been a member of the American Pales-
tine Committee from its inception. I continue to be deeply
interested in its objectives. I shall be glad to serve in the
manner you suggest"
Indeed, when the American Palestine Committee was
formed, Vandenberg acceded to Senator Wagner's invita-
tion and became a member of the group's executive com-
mittee.
The role played by Vandenberg is best explained in the
tribute I paid him when he passed away. The U. S. Senate
published a memorial volume in tribute to Vandenberg.
Included in it was a single Jewish statement, inserted by
the late Congressman John D. Dingell, entitled "Tribute
to a Great Senator by Philip Slomovitz." In that tribute
I wrote:

"Arthur H. Vandenberg was one of the outstanding person-
alities of our time. Scholarly, well-informed, an excellent speak-
er, a brilliant organiser, he was held in high regard even by his
severest critics. Few men in the United States Senate measured
up to him in stature in the last 25 years. It is no wonder that
as late as November 1948 President Truman was quoted as stat-
ing that he regarded him as the ablest Republican in the
Senate.
"From his background as a newspaper editor and publisher—
a position to which he rose from the coveted beginning as a
good reporter for his Grand Rapids paver—he acquired a passion
for information on every subject with which he was deeply
concerned. As a result, he never committed himself on any issue
unless he possessed all available facts in order to - be in position
to speak with a measure of authority. He was a voluminous
correspondent. He never failed to respond to communications—
whether they were from critics or supporters. More than one
biography could be written of his Life. Every issue he was in-
volved in offers material for a study of his attitudes, his char-
acter, his ability to cope with situations. In most cases he rose
to great heights in dealing with situations affecting our country.
"This commentator knew him intimately and is in a posi-
tion to say that a full-length biography could be written to des-
cribe Senator Vandenberg's relationships with Jews and Jewish
issues, with narticular reference to Zionism, Palestine,. and Israel.
"Our first acquaintance with him was at a meeting of the
Men's Club- of Temple Beth El at which he captured the hearts
of his Detroit audience with his eloquence and forthright ex-
pressions on matters of state. It was in the late 1920's: A friend-
ship began in 1930 when we first interested him in the Zionist
cause. At that time the Pro-Palestine Federation of America
was the active Christian philo-Zionist movement in this country
which functioned under the brilliant leadership of the eminent
Socialist, the late Charles Edward Russell. Out of the friendship
for Zionism grew Senator Vandenberg's interest in other matters
—his anti-Nazi stand, his aid in efforts to liberalize 1 - eislation
for the admission of displaced persons. the leading role he played
in securing the ratification of the appointment of David Lilienthal
as head of the Atomic Energy Commission in oppositon to forces
which he believed were anti-Semitic, his help in individual cases
involving people who sought refuge in this country, his sponsor-
ship of a resolution in support of Jewish aspirations in Palestine.
"In its entirety, the Vandenberg story vis-a-vis Zionism and
Israel was not always rosy. There were times when we were im-
patient about his attitudes. Tense situations arose frcm time
to time. Most of the time his hesitancy in acting in our behalf,
as a member( later chairman) of the Senate Foreign Relations
Cemmittee. were due to pressure from the White House, the
State and War Denartments. When President Truman gave speedy
recognition to the Jewish state. he was the first to commend it
as the logical and proper step to take.
'It would take volumes to describe our experiences with the
great Michigan Senator. For more than 15 years it was cur duty,
at times on an hour's notice, to go to Washington to consult him
on Zionist matters. It became necessary for this commentator to
keen in touch with him on the Palestinian issue at San Francisco,
in 1945, during the formative stages of the international world
organization whose charter he helped frame; to keep in touch
with him when he renresented the United States. in Paris, at the
sessions of the United Nations, in January of 1946, and constant-
ly to keep him informed about the Jewish position in matters
involving the future of our harassed people in Europe and in
Arabic countries and the development of the State of Israel.
"The historian will be amazed at the mass of information.-
that came to us from his desks, wherever he may have bee?'
—in Washington, in San Francisco, in Paris, in Grand Rapid';
There is an especially interesting note describing his conferent5 .,
at his Washington office with David Ben-Gurion on November.
21, 1946. Even Ben-Gurion was wrong in an important matter
involving the Arabs at that time. There are messages describing
his reactions to Zionist leaders. And there are reports about the
progress of his efforts in behalf of a Jewish Palestine in the
United States Senate.
"A wire dated December 12, 1945 informed us that the
"Foreign Relations Committee this morning ordered favorable
re"ort on Palestine resolution which seems to be in satisfactory
form.' to which was appended the information that 'only oppos-
ing vote was that of Chairman Connally.' Since it is impossible,

(Continued on Page 32)

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
2—Friday, April 15, 1966

SENATOR VANDENBERG

VYACHESLAV MOLOTOV
. _

PRESIDENT TRUMAN
,• -

DR. HAYLM GREENBERG

DR. JOSEPH B. SCHECHTMAN

