Beyond Belief: The American Press And The Coming Of The Holocaust, 1933- 1945
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See Louis Adamic, America and the Refugees, pp. 10-11, and Lewis and Marian Shibsby, “Status of the Refugee Under American Immigration Laws,” Annals, CCIII, May 1939, 78ff., both cited in Henry L. Feingold, The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1945 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1970), p. 313, n. 39.
11. Achilles memorandum on refugee program under cover memo from Butler to Duggan and Drew November 15, 1938, DS 840.48 Ref./900 1/2, as cited in Shafir, p. 702.
12. Paterson (New Jersey) News, March 28, 1938; El Paso Times, March 27, 1938; Portland Oregonian, March 25, 1938.
13. Time, April 4, 1938, p. 12; Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 27, 1938; Pasadena Star News, March 26, 1938.
14. Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 27, 1938; Dayton (Ohio) News, March 29, 1938.
15. Charleston (South Carolina) News and Courier, March 29, 1938.
16. FRUS, 1938, vol. 1, pp. 740-741; Birmingham Age Herald, March 29, 1938; Providence Journal, March 28, 1938; Paterson News, March 28, 1938.
17. There were of course those who were not reassured by these stipulations. In addition, many papers were buoyed by their belief that through America’s gates would come a stream of “brainy men,” the Einsteins and Freuds, the “brilliant minds of the old world.” Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle, March 27, 1938; Memphis Commercial Appeal, March 27, 1938; Boston Globe, March 28, 1938; La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune, March 30, 1938; Cincinnati Enquirer, March 30, 1938; Jacksonville (Florida) Journal, March 31, 1938; Indianapolis News, March 26, 1938.
18. New Bedford (Massachusetts) Standard Times, March 28, 1938; Greenville (South Carolina) News, March 27, 1938; Butte (Montana) Post, April 2, 1938; Indianapolis News, March 31, 1938.
19. Norman Bentwich, Wanderer Between Two Worlds (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., 1941), pp. 185-186; Shafir, p. 700.
20. South Bend (Indiana) Tribune, April 2, 1938; Jacksonville (Florida) Journal, March 31, 1938.
21. Salem (Oregon) Journal, March 30, 1938; Time, April 4, 1938, p. 12.
22. Roosevelt to Frankfurter March 26, 1938, as quoted in Shafir, pp. 705-706.
23. Time, April 4, 1938, pp. 11-12; Newsweek, April 4, 1938, pp. 10-11. Wyman interview with George L. Warren, former executive secretary of the President’s Advisory Committee on Political Refugees, corroborates this view that the plan for the conference and the conference itself were part of the design to move America away from its strictly isolationist stance. See Wyman, pp. 44, 236, n. 2.
24. For delineation of groups which opposed the plan see Wyman, pp. 46-47; Shafir, pp. 715-716. Jackson (Michigan) Citizen Patriot, April 3, 1938.
25. Binghamton Press, March 26, 1938.
26. Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator, March 26, 1938; Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Journal, March 30, 1938; Missoula (Montana) Missoulian, April 5, 1938.
27. Milwaukee Journal, March 28, 1938; Ft. Wayne News Sentinel, March 29, 1938.
28. Milwaukee Journal, March 30, 1938.
29. Portland (Oregon) News Telegram, March 30, 1938.
30. Detroit News, April 5, 1938.
31. Christian Century, November 30, 1938, pp. 1456-1459.
32. Holyoke (Massachusetts) Trans-Telegram, November 16, 1938.
33. Newsweek, June 27, 1938, p. 16. Proceedings of the Intergovernmental Committee, Evian, July 6-15, 1938, Verbatim Record of the Plenary Meetings of the Committee, Resolution and Reports, July 1938.
34. New York Times, July 6, 1938, p. 1; Newsweek, July 18, 1938, p. 13.
35. Little Rock Gazette, July 8, 1938.
36. Lewiston (Idaho) Tribune, July 7, 1938; San Francisco Chronicle, July 9, 1938; New York Times, July 6, 1938.
37. Washington Post, July 3, 1938; Houston Chronicle, July 7, 1938; Providence (Rhode Island) Journal, July 11, 1938; Boston Herald, July 13, 1938.
38. New Orleans Times Picayune, July 15, 1938; Houston Chronicle, July 7, 1938; Chattanooga Times, July 18, 1938.
39. Salt Lake City Tribune, July 8, 1938.
40. Philadelphia Record, July 17, 1938.
41. Baltimore Sun, July 16, 1938; Boston Transcript, July 18, 1938; Cincinnati Enquirer, July 18, 1938.
42. Utica (New York) Observer Dispatch, July 11, 1938; El Paso Times, July 8, 1938.
43. Detroit Free Press, July 11, 1938.
44. Galveston Texas News, July 9, 1938.
45. Norfolk (Virginia) Pilot, July 10, 1938; Buffalo Courier Express, July 14, 1938.
46. Time, July 18, 1938, p. 16; New York Herald Tribune, July 12, 1938.
47. New York Times, July 8, 1938.
48. New Republic, July 20, 1938, pp. 291-292.
49. Richmond News Leader, July 13, 1938.
50. Philadelphia Record, July 17, 1938.
51. Newsweek, July 18, 1938, p. 13.
52. Washington Star, July 13, 1938. See also Washington Post, July 10, 1935.
53. New York Herald Tribune, July 17, 1938; New York Times, July 14, 1938; Boston Transcript, July 9, 1938; Houston Chronicle, July 18, 1938; Buffalo News, July 18, 1938; Newark Star Eagle, July 22, 1938; Albany Knickerbocker News, July 11, 1938; San Francisco Chronicle, July 18, 1938.
54. Fortune, July 1938, pp. 80-82.
55. Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, July 15, 1938; Erie (Pennsylvania) Dispatch Herald, July 15, 1938; Springfield (Illinois) Journal, July 17, 1938.
56. Los Angeles Examiner, November 16, 1938; San Francisco Chronicle, November 16, 1938; Seattle Post Intelligencer, November 17, 1938.
57. Newsweek, June 27, 1938, p. 16; Lionel Kochan, Pogrom, 10 November 1938 (London: Andre Deutsch, 1957), p. 127; DGFP, series D, IV, 1938, pp. 639-640.
58. New York Times, November 13, 1938; Bill Graves to Roosevelt, November 12, 1938, DS 862.4016/1826, as cited in Shafir, p. 819; Sander Diamond, “The Kristallnacht and the Reaction in America,” YIVO Annual of Jewish Social Science, vol. XIV (1969), pp. 200-203.
59. For the sheer mass of comment see Press Information Bulletin for the period from November 10 to early December 1938.
60. Newsweek, November 21, 1938, p. 18; Nation, July 5, 1933, p. 2.
61. Kochan, p. 11.
62. KnoxvilleJournal, November 15, 1938; Butte (Montana) Post, November 23, 1938; New Haven Journal Courier, November 23, 1938; Washington Times, November 15, 1938.
63. New York Daily News, November 15, 1938, p. 27.
64. Wilmington (Delaware) News, November 13, 1938; Newsweek, November 21, 1938, p. 18; Kochan, p. 15.
65. Dallas Times Herald, November 16, 1938; Denver News, November 17, 1938; Philadelphia Bulletin, November 22, 1938; Pittsburgh Press, November 16, 1938; Macon (Georgia) Telegraph and News, November 20, 1938; Portland (Oregon) Journal, November 18, 1938.
66. Virginian Pilot, November 15, 1938; Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, November 25, 1938; Phoenix Republic, November 19, 1938; New York Evening Post, November 17, 1938; Philadelphia Record, November 18, 1938; San Antonio (Texas) Express, November 23, 1938; Schenectady Gazette, November 25, 1938.
67. Fort Worth Star Telegram, November 19, 1938.
68. Lynchburg (Virginia) News, November 28, 1938; Richmond News Leader, November 22, 1938; East St. Louis Journal, November 21, 1938; Binghamton (New York) Sun, November 22, 1938; Chester (Pennsylvania) Times, November 20, 1938; Troy (New York) Record, November 22, 1938.
69. Gary (Indiana) Post Tribune, November 16, 1938; Denver News, November 23, 1938; Waco (Texas) News Herald, November 22, 1938; Rapid City News Journal, November 23, 1938; Gadsden (Alabama) Times, November 20, 1938; Richmond News Leader, November 22, 1938; Houston Press, November 17, 1938; Ogden (Vermont) Standard Examiner, November 24, 1938.
70. New York Times, November 16, 1938, p. 22.
71. Cleveland Plain Dealer, as cited in New York Times, November 12, 1938; Nation, January 7, 1939; Rutland (Vermont) Herald, November 24, 1938; New Orleans Times Picayune, November 16, 1938; Paterson (New Jersey) News, November 18, 1938; Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram, November 17, 1938; Portland Oregonian, November 17, 1938
; Canton (Ohio) Repository, November 18, 1938; St. Joseph (Missouri) Gazette, November 18, 1938; Tacoma (Washington) News Tribune, November 26, 1938; Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle, November 19, 1938.
72. St. Louis Post Dispatch, November 25, 1938; Baltimore Evening Sun, November 14, 1938.
73. New York Times, November 14, 1938, p. 18; see also Christian Science Monitor, November 15, 1938, pp. 1, 5; Cleveland Plain Dealer, as quoted in Los Angeles Times, November 17, 1938, p. 4; Nation, January 7, 1939, pp. 33-35. This was also one of the major theses of Soviet reports regarding Kristallnacht. The attacks were, a Pravda editorial concluded, a “direct result of the hopeless position in which the Fascist dictatorship has found itself.” Pravda, November 16, 1938, as cited in Kochan, p. 137.
74. Saturday Evening Post, April 22, 1939, p. 104.
75. Interview with Senator Alan Cranston, May 7, 1985.
76. Staatzeitung und Herald, as quoted in Nineteenth Century, January 1939, p. 120; Contemporary Jewish Record, January 1939, p. 42; Springfield Republican, as quoted in New York Times, November 12, 1938, p. 4; Tampa Tribune, November 15, 1938; Helena (Montana) Independent, November 15, 1938; Hamilton (Ohio) Journal News, November 19, 1938; Springfield (Illinois) State Register, November 20, 1938; Huntington (West Virginia) Advertiser, November 19, 1938; Eugene (Oregon) News, November 19, 1938.
77. Diamond, p. 36. Jan Ciechanowski, Defeat in Victory (New York: Doubleday, 1947), p. 119.
78. Chattanooga (Tennessee) News, November 15, 1938; Chicago News, November 19, 1938; New York Herald Tribune, November 13, 1938; Trenton (New Jersey) Gazette, November 19, 1938; Durham (North Carolina) Herald, November 21, 1938.
79. Atlanta Constitution, November 22, 1938; Hamilton (Ohio) Journal News, November 26, 1938.
80. Franklin Reid Gannon, The British Press and Nazi Germany, 1936-1939 (London: Oxford, 1971), p. 228.
81. Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal, November 15, 1938.
82. Time, November 11, 1938, p. 19; Newsweek, November 21, 1938, pp. 17-18.
83. The Philadelphia Record, as cited in Contemporary Jewish Record, November 1939, p. 56, and January 1939, pp. 41-50. See also Commonweal, November 25, 1938, p. 113, and Christian Century, November 23, 1938, pp. 1422-1423.
84. New York Times, November 10, 1938, p. 1, November 11, 1938, p. 3; New Republic, November 23, 1938, p. 60; Christian Science Monitor, November 10, November 12, 1938.
85. Louisville Times, November 17, 1938; Frederick (Oklahoma) Leader, November 17, 1938; Schenectady Union Star, November 18, 1938; Danville (Virginia) Register, November 20, 1938; Long Beach Press Telegram, November 16, 1938.
86. Ashville (North Carolina) Citizen, November 16, 1938; Roswell (New Mexico) Dispatch, November 18, 1938; Boston Transcript, November 14, 1938.
87. Time, November 28, 1938, p. 10.
88. Time, November 21, 1938, pp. 18-19, November 28, 1938, pp. 10-11; Newsweek, December 12, 1938, p. 16; New Republic, December 21, 1938, p. 189; Commonweal, December 9, 1938, p. 177; Joseph Alsop and Robert Kintner, American White Paper: The Story of American Diplomacy and the Second World War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1940), pp. 24-25; Complete Presidential Press Conferences of Franklin D. Roosevelt, introduction by Jonathan Daniels (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), vol. XII, p. 224; Selig Adler, Isolationist Impulse, (New York: Abelard-Schuman, 1957), p. 279; Elmer Roper, You and Your Leaders: Their Actions and Your Reactions, 1936-1956 (New York: Morrow, 1957), p. 71. Diamond, p. 205; Shafir, p. 829.
89. Not only did the President ignore the State Department’s advice on the statement, but he did not adhere to the language of the statement that had been prepared for him by the Department. Immediately prior to delivering it to the press, he changed the wording. The proposed statement read as follows: “The news of the past few days from Germany has shocked public opinion in the United States. Such news from any part of the world would inevitably produce a similar reaction among the American people. With a view to gaining a first hand picture of the situation in Germany I asked the Secretary of State to order our Ambassador in Berlin to come home for report and consultation.” Press Conferences of Roosevelt, vol. XII, pp. 227-229. See also Cordell Hull, The Memoirs of Cordell Hull (New York: Macmillan, 1948) vol. I, pp. 24-25, 599; Shafir, pp. 828-829; Diamond, p. 205.
90. New York Times, November 16, 1938, p. 1; Newsweek, November 28, 1938, p. 11; Philadelphia Inquirer, November 16, 1938; Huntington (West Virginia) Advertiser, November 19, 1938.
91. There was no unanimity of opinion in the State Department regarding an American response. George Messersmith, the former Consul in Berlin, urged that Ambassador Wilson, who was due to visit in the near future anyway, be recalled “for consultation.” Messersmith advocated this step because, among other things, he believed it would constitute a fitting response to American public opinion. Others in the State Department argued against removal of America’s representative from Germany. Pierrepont Moffat objected to yielding to “pressure in favor of one particular population or group.” He objected to Wilson’s recall and counseled that some means be found of making a “gesture that would not . . . hurt us.” See the Moffat Diary entries for October 29-30 and November 14 as quoted in Shafir, p. 825. It is true that Wilson was planning a visit to the United States, but he left earlier than was intended and was clearly summoned home by FDR in the wake of the pogrom. New York Times, November 15, 1938; FRUS, 1938, vol. II, pp. 402-403.
92. New York Sun, November 15, 1938; Minneapolis Star, November 19, 1938.
93. Milwaukee Journal, November 18, 1938; Toledo (Ohio) Blade, November 21, 1938; Witchita (Kansas) Eagle, November 19, 1938; Indianapolis Star, November 19, 1938; Miami News, November 21, 1938.
94. New York Herald Tribune, November 19, 1938, p. 10; Fortune, April 1939, p. 102; New York Times, November 15, 1938, p. 1, November 16, 1938, p. 4.
95. St. Louis Globe Democrat, as quoted in New York Times, November 12, 1938; Chicago Tribune, November 17, 1938.
96. Nation, July 6, 1940, pp. 4-5; New Republic, November 23, 1938, p. 60, November 30, 1938, p. 87, June 28, 1939, p. 197, April 28, 1941, pp. 592-594; Commonweal, November 24, 1938, p. 113; Collier’s, December 31, 1938, p. 50. See also Survey Graphic, October 1940, pp. 524-526; New York Daily News, March 16, 1939, as quoted in Admission of German Refugee Children: Joint Hearings Before a Subcommittee on Immigration, U. S. Senate, and Subcommittee on Immigration and Naturalization, House of Representatives, 76th Cong., 1st sess., on S.J. Res. 64 and H.J. Res. 168, April 20-24, 1939, p. 31; Forum, November 1938, pp. 209-210. Davenport (Iowa) Democrat, November 22, 1939; Denver News, November 15, 1938; Richmond News Leader, November 16, 1938; New York Daily News, November 19, 1938; Wichita (Kansas) Eagle, November 18, 1938; Hartford Courant, November 15, 1938.
97. Pittsburgh Press, November 16, 1938.
98. Binghamton Sun, November 29, 1938; South Bend (Indiana) News Times, November 28, 1938; Vicksburg (Mississippi) Herald, November 29, 1938.
99. John R. Carlson, Under Cover (New York: Dutton, 1943), p. 66; Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, April 7, 1939, p. 3; Wyman, pp. 6-7; Survey Graphic, October 1940, p. 534ff; Commonweal, October 6, 1939, pp. 531-533, November 25, 1938, p. 11; Current History, May 1939, pp. 19-22; New Republic, July 20, 1938, pp. 291-292; Time, December 5, 1938, p. 18; Michael N. Dobkowski, Politics of Indifference (Washington: University Press of America, 1982), p. 286.
100. Pittsburg Press, November 16, 1938; St. Joseph (Missouri) Gazette, November 21, 1938; Wilmington (Delaware) News, November 21, 1938; Kansas City Journal, November 19, 1938; Danville (Virginia) Register, November 11, 1938; Pasadena Star News, November 15, 1938; Lake Charleston (Louisiana) American Press, November 18, 1938; Huntington (West Virginia) Advertiser, November 23, 1938; South Bend (Indiana) News Times, November 28, 1938; Binghamton Sun, November 29, 1938; Dallas Dispatch, November 28, 1938.
101. Richmond (Virginia) News Leader, November 14, 1938; Toledo (Ohio) Times, November 16, 1938; Erie (Pennsylvania) Times, November 21, 1938; Springfield (Ohio) Sun, November
22, 1938; Madison (Wisconsin) Times, November 26, 1938.
102. Christian Science Monitor, November 15, 1938, p. 1.
103. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the movement, requested that her followers pray at the time of the Russo-Japanese War and the Boxer Rebellion. According to her, this was the “greatest contribution they could make toward the peace of mankind.” Stephen Gottschalk, The Emergence of Christian Science in American Religious Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1973), pp. 267-268.
104. Christian Century, November 30, 1938, pp. 1456-1459; Cincinnati Times Star, November 19, 1938; Binghamton Press, November 19, 1938; Tulsa (Oklahoma) World, November 18, 1938; Oakland Tribune, November 22, 1938; New Haven Journal Courier, November 23, 1938; Tampa (Florida) Tribune, November 21, 1938; Mobile (Alabama) Register, November 19, 1938; Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal, November 18, 1938; Danville Register, November 20, 1938; Lewiston (Indiana) Tribune, November 18, 1938; Spokane Spokesman Review, November 17, 1938.
105. Charles Stember, Jews in the Mind of America (New York: Basic Books, 1966), pp. 140, 145-148. Roosevelt was also careful about other aspects of his action. He reassured the press that those citizens of the Reich in the United States on visitors’ visas who would be allowed to remain “were not all Jews by any means.” Press Conferences of Roosevelt, vol. XII, pp. 238-241.
106. Fortune, July 1938, p. 80, April 1939, p. 102. A Gallup poll taken at the time revealed that 95 percent of the American public was opposed to American involvement in European affairs. William Langer and S. Everett Gleason, The Challenge to Isolation (New York: Harper, 1952), p. 36.
107. New York Times, November 16, 1938, p. 22.
108. Adler, pp. 270-273; Public Opinion Quarterly, October 1939, pp. 595-596; Langer and Gleason, pp. 14, 39, 51; Public Opinion Quarterly, October 1939, p. 599; DGFP, series D, IV, pp. 639-640.
109. Time, December 5, 1938, p. 18; Ronald Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century (New York: Vintage Books, 1980), p. 173. Lippmann failed even to mention antisemitism as a contributing factor to the creation of a refugee problem. Instead he attributed the situation to the fact that there were “too many shop keepers, professional men, artists and intellectuals.” All of which were code words for Jews. Los Angeles Times, November 13, 1938; Birmingham Age Herald, November 19, 1938; Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Globe Times, November 19, 1938; Cincinnati Times Star, November 19, 1938; Brockton Enterprise and Times, November 18, 1938; Charleston (West Virginia) Gazette, November 24, 1938.