THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, December 21, 1984
(
LOOKING IN
55
A Great Detroit
Tradition
ROBERT ST. JOHN
Bloopers from the great leaders of our time
A new book shows that some great men in
history were only human.
When revisionist historians set
down what really happened or
what was really said, those we
have considered great are often
revealed to have been somewhat
less worthy of our admiration, and
r _P those we thought wise turn out to
have been, at least on some occa-
sions, actually stupid.
So it is that a recently published
book, The Experts Speak, edited
by Victor Navasky and Christ-
opher Cerf, demolishesquite a few
reputations by quoting, generally
without comment, the printed or
spoken words of men and women
who are in the history books as
wise and noble characters.
For example.
William Wolffsohn, who suc-
ceeded Theodor Herzl as president
_ of the World Zionist Organiza-
tion, is quoted as having declared
in his opening address to the
Tenth Zionist Congress in Basle
in 1911:
"Only those suffering from
gross ignorance or actuated by
malice could accuse the Zionist
• movement of the desire of estab-
lishing an independent Jewish
kingdom."
Anwar el-Sadat, President of
Egypt, in 1970: "Don't ask me to
make diplomatic relations with
Israel. Never, never!" Seven years
later Sadat made his historic trip
to Jerusalem.
Cordell Hull, who won a Nobel
, Prize and is described in_ my
encyclopedia as "a great states-
man," declared in 1933 that "the
mistreatment of Jews in Germany
may be considered virtually
eliminated." Some years later,
when the figure of six million
dead Jews finally came out, I
wonder what the "great states-
man" felt about his great state-
ment.
That same year, 1933, Fred-
erick Moseley Sackett, Jr., Am-
bassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to Germany, re-
ported in a letter to the State De-
partment:
"The Hitler Cabinet realizes
that in order to avert the danger of
political isolation, Germany must
_ continue a pacific and conciliatory
policy _abroad."
The Mahatma Gandhi in 1940
- said: "I do not consider Hitler to be
as bad as he is depicted. He is
showing an ability that is amaz-
ing and he seems to be gaining
victories without much
bloodshed."
George Fielding Eliot, consid-
ered in the 1930s one of America's
most brilliant writers on military
matters, wrote on May 13, 1939:
"The chances of Germany mak-
ing a quick job of overwhelming
Poland are not good."
Just a few months later Poland
was "overwhelmed" in a matter of
days.
Joseph Kennedy, U.S. Ambas-
sador to Great Britain, in 1939
said:
"I have yet to talk to any mili-
tary or naval expert of any na-
tionality who thinks that
England has a Chinaman's
,LD chance."
Arthur Vandenburg, Senator
from Michigan, who was consid-
ered such an expert on interna-
tional matters that he was given a
hand in shaping American
foreign policy, 28 days after the
start of World War II said:
"This so-called war is nothing
but about 25 people and prop-
aganda."
William Scott, U.S. Senator
from Virginia, made a trip to
Egypt in 1975 and while
President Sadat was showing him
the Suez Canal he remarked:
"This is beautiful! I have al-
ways wanted to' see the Persian
Gulf."
At a dinner given in his honor
by Egyptian President Sadat,
President Gerald Ford, proposing
a toast, said:
"To the great people of the gov-
ernment of Israel . . . excuse me,
Egypt."
Warren R. Austin, former Sen-
ator from Vermont and in 1947-
1948 a U.S. delegate to the United
Nations, behind Truman's back
tried to get the United Nations to
reverse its resolution partitioning
Palestine and making possible
the creation of the State of Israel.
During one of the many Israeli
crises after partition Austin is
quoted in The Experts Speak as
saying:
"The Arabs and the Jews should
settle this problem in a true
Christian spirit."
Years ago one of my own
sources told me that Austin's ac-
tual words were:
"The way to solve the Middle
East problem is to get the Jews
and the Arabs in the same room
and bang their heads together
until they agree to settle their dif-
ferences in the true spirit of
Christian brotherhood."
(It's possible that Austin made
both the remarks — on two sepa-
rate occasions.)
And to conclude with another
amazing prediction about Hitler,
this one made by Harold Laski,
distinguished professor at the
University of London and one-
time leader of the British Labour
Party, who wrote in a London
newspaper in November of 1932:
"The day when the Nazis were a
vital threat is gone. It is not un-
likely that Hitler will end his
career as an old man in some
Bavarian village who, in the bier-
garten in the evening, tells his in-
timates how he nearly overturned
the German Reich. Strange battle
cries will struggle to his lips, and
he will mention names that trem-
bled at his name. But his
neighbors will have heard the tale
so often that they will shrug their
shoulders and bury their faces de-
eper in their mugs of Pilsener to
hide their smiles. The old man,
they will think, is entitled to his
pipe dreams, for it is comforting to
live on the memory of an illusion."
Two months later, on Jan. 26,
1933, President von Hinderburg
publicly declared:
"I have no intention whatever
of making that Austrian corporal
either Minister of Defense or
Chancellor of the Reich."
Yet just four days later von
Hindenburg did name Hitler
chancellor (Prime Minister) and
the great tragedy of the 20th Cen-
tury began quickly to unfold.
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