'Harry S
.Truman in the Image of Cyrus Truman Met Jacobson

(Continued from Page I)
leaders, who were the President's strong backers in 1948.
Senator Morse was not alone in his commendation a Among those assisting them in that crucial campaign was
Harry S. Truman. Other Republicans and a number o f Detroiter Louis Berry.
"Republican newspapers commended the retiring leader for
Two Detroiters were in the group of 36 likened to the
his fine analysis of the state of the nation as he turn ed Lamed Vav Tzadikirn—the 36 saintly who uphold human
over his office to Dwight D. Eisenhower. There will; of and Jewish honors—who contributed $100,000 each for the
course, be disagreement on the choice of adjectives us ed establishment of the Truman Peace Center in Israel. Emma
by Senator Morse in describing Mr. Truman's record. B sat Schaver and Abraham Borman were the two Detroiters who
in Jewish history Mr. Truman will be recorded as a gre at enlisted in this project established by the Hebrew University
man who understood our problems, who recognized an hi s- in Jerusalem.
toric moment and utilized it properly.
President Johnson was the guest speaker at the historic
It is your Commentator's firm belief that Mr. Truma n function, Jan. 20, 1966, in Independence, Mo., when the
will go down in history as the Modern Cyrus, in recogn i- Truman Center for Peace was formally announced.
tion of the very great role he has played in the establish-
ment of Israel and in causing this country to be the first
to recognize the infant Jewish state on May 14, 1948.
•
•
•
The Chapter Written by Cyrus
In 536 BCE, Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire
the conqueror of Babylon, emerged as the instrument for
the return of the Jews, who were exiled by Babylonia, to
their homeland in the Land of Israel. The great Jewish
historian Heinrich Graetz speaks of King Cyrus as having
been "but an instrument of God for furthering the deliver.
ance of Judah and the salvation of the world." Graetz wrote
as follows about the great period in Jewish history in the
time of Cyrus:
"The joy of those who were preparing for the ex-
odus from Babylon and the return to the Holy Land
was overpowering. To be permitted to tread the soil of
their own country, and to rebuild and restore the sanc-
tuary, seemed a sweet dream to them. The event caused

great sensation amongst other nations; it was discussed,
and considered as a miracle, which the God of Israel
had wrought on behalf of His people. A poem faithfully
reproduces the sentiments that inspired the exiles:
"'When the Lord turned against the captivity of
Zion, we were like them that dream.
"'Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and
our tongue with singing; then said they among the na-
tions, The Lord hath done great things for them.
" 'The Lord hath done great things for us, where-
of we are glad.' (Ps. cxzvi.)
"As the patriots were preparing to make use of
their freedom to return to Jerusalem, one of their
poets, in Psalm X1417., bade them reflect whether they
were worthy of this boon. For only the righteous and
those who sought the Lord were to assemble upon
God's ground. But who would dare take on himself the

24 Times, Records Show

Margaret Truman (Mrs. Clifton Daniel), in her book
"Harry S. Truman," dismisses as "absurd" claims that
have been made that her father had acceded to requests
from his former haberdashery partner s Eddie Jacobson, to
support the Zionist cause. She denies that Jacobson and
Truman had secret meetings.

Frank J. Adler, administrative director of Cong. Bnai
Yehuda in Kansas City, in a book just published, has a
chapter entitled "From Dream to Reality: Truman, Jacob-
son and Israel," in which he insists that there were 24
Truman-Jacobson meetings, substantiated in official White
House records.

In an article in the Kansas City Star, Adler wrote last
week:

"Thirteen of these (meetings) are marked 'off the
record.' Other files at the Truman Library refer
to six Truman-Jacobson meetings outside the White
house during the presidential years.

"In addition. Jacobson was with Truman on the
the 1948 election campaign 'whistle stop' train for
three days. The substance of most of the private dis-
cussions Truman and Jacobson engaged in—largely
U.S. policy on Israel—is furnished in 'Roots in a Mov-
ing Stream.' Most of this information was obtained
from sources at the Truman Library.

Mrs. Daniel refers to only one White House inter-
view for Jacobson in the President's office (instead
of 24). It is her impression that her father was so
angry with Jacobson for presuming upon their long
friendship when he came to argue the Zionist cause on
March 13, 1948, that he learned a bitter lesson and
never again approached Mr. Truman to gain his ear
for such a purpose.

"Mr. Truman, however, wrote in 1965 that his late
'great and irreplaceable friend," Jacobson, had 'a
special place in my mind and heart' and advised: 'I
trusted him explicitly. I never knew him to ask for
anything that was either improper or for selfish motives.

Presidents Harry S. Truman and Chaim Weisznann
conferred at Blair House, where a kosher luncheon was
given by the President of the U.S. to the chief of state of
Israel. The Presidents and their wives are shown here at
the Blair House, March 18, 1948.

right to pronounce judgment?"
•
•
•
The Related Cyrus - Truman Roles
Transplant these impressions, written nearly a century
ago, about the great and miraculous event of the return
from the Babylonian exile, to our time, and it is easy to
imagine as if the great historian were speaking of our
, ;tine, and of the rebirth of Israel In 1948.
And while the roles of Cyrua and Truman were not en-
tirely analogous, they were related. Cyrus was able to order
the freedom of the return of Jews to the Holy Land, and
Truman used the great power of his office to sanction
Israel's rebirth and to give the great signal to the nations
of the world that the greatest nation on earth wills it that
Jewish homelessness should end and that Jews should have
. the right to reconstruct their lives in dignity and freedom
and through self-determination.
Some writers make mention of other gestures by Cyrus
—such as the guarantee of freedom to the Greek cities of
Ionia—implying that it was politically expedient, for the
safety of his empire, to create friendships among his sub-
jects. Graetz, too, wrote that "the true reason for his de-
cision is unknown," but he made it a point to emphasize
that "Cyrus was a humane conqueror."
By the same token, some historians have said that
Arthur James Balfour's famous Declaration was issued as
an expedient move in time of war, and Truman has been
There is also the record of President Truman's meeting
charged with playing for Jewish votes. Yet, only the un-
grateful will fail to recognize that Truman acted • humane with Jewish leaders when he made the announcement of
role, and if he played for votes he knew to gain it through U. S. de jure recognition of Israel in May 1948. Jacobson
was present when the photograph of that meeting was
a great historic act.
•
•
taken, the participants being (from left) President Tru-
man,
Jacobson, Maurice Bisgyer and Frank Goldman,
Truman Linked American and Jewish Histories
then president of Bnai Brith.
We have said it while he was in the White House, and
we say it now that he is in Independence, Mo.: Harry S.
Truman's name will go down in history as the man who
knew the arrival of an historic moment and he linked it
promptly with American history. He saw the emergence
of an oppressed people as a free, sovereign state, and he
used his great office to extend to that people a friendly
(Continued from Page 1)
hand. For that reason, we say that he is The Modern Cyrus.
driving other sympathetic na-
There were other occasions when Truman rose to great the letter bombs.
tions into the arms of the
British.
heights, especially when be aligned himself with the liberal
Yalin-Mor told the JTA that
I _tierces in defense of humane immigration and naturaliza-
his group had no motive to
The terrorist activities of
tion laws. He proved his genius when he took the lead in assassinate Trtrnan who it the Stern Group and its sister
propagating civil rights and legislation for the advancement regarded as infinitely more organization, Irgun Zvai
of our highest social sense. In these roles, as Senator sympathetic to the Zionist Leung, during the years im-
Morse said, he was a great President.
cause than his predecessor, mediately preceding Israel's
Cyrus' deeds are recorded in four Biblical Books— Franklin D. Roosevelt. He independence in 1948 were
Ezra, Isaiah, Daniel and Second Chronicles. Truman's readily acknowledged that the publicly condemned by offi-
Itnirne is indelibly written in modern Jewish history, to be Sternists resorted to letter cial Zionist leaders. But im-
remembered by all generations to come.
bombs but insisted that they partial observers here have
•
•
•
were sent only to British tended to dismiss Mrs. Dan-
Much has been said and written about the friendship leaders during the waning iel's attribution of the White
between Truman and Eddie Jacobson, his onetime, for a years of the Palestine Man- House letter bombs to the
brief period, partner in a haberdashery business.
date and not to any other Sternists as unrealistic and
Not to be forgotten are the friendships between Truman nationals. He said there was uncharacteristic of the Stern
I
and Dewey Stone and Abraham Feinberg, American Jewish nothing to be gained from Group's activities at the time.

Margaret Truman's Charge
Against Sternists Denied

"'And when the day came when Eddie Jacobson
was persuaded to forego his natural reluctance to
petition me and he came to talk to me about the plight
of the Jews and the struggles confronting the state of
Israel then being formed—I paid careful attention. Al-
though my sympathies were already active and present
in the cause of the state of Israel, it is a fact of history
that Eddie Jacobson's contribution was of decisive
importance . . His name should forever be enshrined
in the history of the Jewish people.' "

•

•

•

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (JTA) keep U.S. bipartisan foreign
— A local Jewish community policy out of domestic poli-
leader has challenged Mar- tics and had made up his
garet Truman Daniel's ver- mind to withhold de jure re.
sion of her father's attitude cognition of Israel until after
on the Palestine problem the 1948 elections and be-
contained in "Harry S. Tru- cause he was also concerned
man," Mrs. Daniel's Just- about the treatment of Arabs
published biography of the In Israel.
former President.
According to Adler, Tru-
According to Frank J. Ad- man issued a statement be-
ler, administrative director of fore the elections in which he
Temple Congregation Ben promised de jure recognition
Jehuda here, Mrs. Daniel for Israel as soon as Israel's
erred when she wrote that provisional government was
her father had favored the replaced by a permanent
Internationalization of Jeru- elected government.
salem and that he withheld
Mrs. Daniel wrote that her
de jure recognition of Israel
after extending de facto re- father deeply regretted that
cognition, because he was he could not persuade the
"concerned" about Israel's Arabs and Jews "to agree to
treatment of its Arab citizens the internationalization of Je-
and "felt that withholding rusalem which was a key
this recognition was a way point in his policy."
According to Adler, It was
of guaranteeing their good
behavior."
true that the 1948 Democra-
tic Party platform supported
Adler
also was
contends
that UN
efforts to and
internationalize
Mrs.
Daniel
completely
Jerusalem
the
the
U.S.
in error when she dismissed delegate to the UN
Pales-
as inconsequential the influ-
tine Committee requested
ence of Truman's one-time both Israel and Jordan to
haberdashery
partner,
Eddie on
agree
to 24,
internationalization
Jacobson,
on the
President's
Nov.
1949.
decision with regard to the
Palestine situation. Adler,
But on the following day,
author of "Roots in a Moving Adler noted, Truman met
Stream," a centennial history with Jacobson and discussed
of his congregation published the ramifications of inter-
earlier this year, said in an nationalization.
article published in the Kan- Microfilm documents at the
sas City Star, that research Truman Library record that
he did for his book, mainly Truman authorized Jacobson
at the Truman Library, re- to have Israel Foreign
futes much of what Mrs. Minister Moshe Sharett, relay
Daniel wrote of the period to President Chaim Weiz-
1947-48 when the Palestine mann that the U.S. "will do
crisis was at its peak. the best possible to delay vote
Mrs. Daniel stated that her in the UN. Our delegation
lather was determined to would vote with us (Israel)."

44 — Friday, Dec. 22, 1972

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS