The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi

The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust

Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews Should Keep Quiet reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administrationâ€™s fateful policies during the Holocaust. Rafael Medoff delves into difficult truths: With FDRâ€™s consent, the administration deliberately suppressed European immigration far below the limits set by U.S. law.Â His administration also refused to admit Jewish refugees to the U.S. Virgin Islands, dismissed proposals to use empty Liberty ships returning from Europe to carry refugees, and rejected pleas to drop bombs on the railways leading to Auschwitz, even while American planes were bombing targets only a few miles awayâ€”actions that would not have conflicted with the larger goal of winning the war.

What motivated FDR? Medoff explores the sensitive question of the presidentâ€™s private sentiments toward Jews. Unmasking strong parallels between Rooseveltâ€™s statements regarding Jews and Asians, he connects the administrationâ€™s policies of excluding Jewish refugees and interning Japanese Americans.

The Jews Should Keep Quiet further reveals how FDRâ€™s personal relationship with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, American Jewryâ€™s foremost leader in the 1930s and 1940s, swayed the U.S. response to the Holocaust. Documenting how Roosevelt and others pressured Wise to stifle American Jewish criticism of FDRâ€™s policies, Medoff chronicles how and why the American Jewish community largely fell in line with Wise. Ultimately Medoff weighs the administrationâ€™s realistic options for rescue action, which, if taken, would have saved many lives.

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Country USA
Manufacturer The Jewish Publication Society
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2019-09-01
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	The Jewish Publication Society
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2019-09-01
Format	Kindle eBook

The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust

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