American Minute with Bill Federer
Presidents on Jewish Persecution & Israel
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The Play,
"Fiddler on the Roof,"
recounts the story of Jewish persecution in Eastern Europe and Russia.
President Abraham Lincoln,
shortly after he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, met with
Canadian Christian Zionist, Henry Wentworth Monk
regarding the oppression of Russian and Turkish Jews.
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Lincoln
showed sympathy for
Henry Wentworth Monk's
plea of "restoring (Jews) to their national home in Palestine."
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Lincoln
noted this was "a noble dream and one shared by many Americans."
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On May 22, 1872,
President Ulysses S. Grant
wrote to Congress:
"In answer to a resolution of the House of Representatives ... requesting me to join the Italian Government in a protest against the intolerant and cruel treatment of the Jews in Romania, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State relative to the subject."
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President Chester A. Arthur
had stated, December 4, 1882:
"Our long-established friendliness with Russia ... has prompted me to proffer the earnest counsels of this Government that measures be adopted for suppressing the proscription which the Hebrew race in that country has lately suffered."
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In 1891, pogroms incited by
Czar Alexander III
provoked an outcry by many prominent Americans, including the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
and
Speaker of the House.
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Rev. William E. Blackstone
and
Cardinal James Gibbons
presented a petition on behalf of the
persecuted Jews of Russia
to
President Benjamin Harrison
and
Secretary of State James Blaine.
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The petition was signed by notable leaders, including
John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan, Cyrus McCormick, the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, D.L. Moody, A.T. Pierson, Philip Schaff,
and future president
William McKinley.
The
petition
stated:
"Why shall not the powers which under the treaty of Berlin, in 1878, gave Bulgaria to the Bulgarians and Serbia to the Serbians now
give Palestine back to the Jews? ...
These provinces, as well as Romania, Montenegro, and Greece, were wrested from the Turks and given to their natural owners. Does not
Israel
as rightfully
belong to the Jews? "
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Rev. Blackstone's petition,
which he also sent to Q
ueen Victoria
and
Czar Alexander III,
continued:
"We believe this is an appropriate time for all nations and
especially the Christian nations
of Europe to
show kindness to Israel.
A million of exiles, by their terrible suffering, are piteously appealing to our sympathy, justice, and humanity.
Let us now restore to them the land of which they were so cruelly despoiled by our Roman ancestors."
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Rev. William E. Blackstone,
who later corresponded with
Theodor Herzl,
called for the first international conference:
"to consider the
Israelite claim to Palestine as their ancient home,
and to promote in any other just and proper way the alleviation of their suffering condition."
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President Benjamin Harrison
wrote DECEMBER 9, 1891:
"This Government has found occasion to express ... to the
Government of the Czar
its serious concern because of the
harsh measures
now being enforced against the
Hebrews in Russia ...
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... By the revival of
anti-semitic laws,
long in abeyance, great numbers of those unfortunate people have been constrained to abandon their homes
and leave the Empire by reason of the impossibility of finding subsistence within the pale to which it is sought to confine them ..."
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Harrison
continued:
"The immigration of these people to the United States -- many others countries being closed to them - is largely increasing ...
It is estimated that over 1,000,000 will be forced from Russia within a few years ..."
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Harrison
went on:
"The
Hebrew
is never a beggar; he has always kept the law-- life by toil --often under severe and oppressive civil restrictions ...
It is also true that no race, sect, or class has more fully cared for its own than
the Hebrew race ..."
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President Harrison
concluded:
"This consideration, as well as the suggestion of humanity, furnishes ample ground for the remonstrances which we have presented to Russia."
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On December 2, 1895,
President Grover Cleveland
wrote to Congress:
"Correspondence is on foot touching the practice of Russian consuls ... to interrogate citizens as to their race and religious faith, and upon ascertainment thereof to deny to Jews authentication of passports of legal documents for use in Russia ...
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... Such a proceeding imposes a disability ... and ... is an obnoxious invasion ... It has elicited fitting remonstrance."
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President Theodore Roosevelt
addressed Congress, December 6, 1904:
"It is inevitable that such a nation should desire eagerly to give expression to its horror on an occasion like that of the
massacre of the Jews in Kishenef."
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President Woodrow Wilson
made a plea for aid to stricken Jewish people, January 11, 1916:
"Whereas in the various countries now engaged in war there are
nine millions of Jews,
the great majority of whom are
destitute of food, shelter, and clothing ...
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... have been driven from their homes without warning, deprived of an opportunity to make provision for their most elementary wants, causing starvation, disease and untold suffering; and
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... Whereas
the people of the United States of America
have learned with sorrow of this terrible
plight of millions of human beings
and have most generously responded to the cry for help ...
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... Now, Therefore, I, Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States ... do appoint and proclaim January 27, 1916, as a day upon which
the people of the United States
may make such contributions as they feel disposed for the
aid of the stricken Jewish people."
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On August 21, 1922,
President Warren G. Harding
gave a greeting to Jews in their year Tishri 5683
(The Jewish Forum: The Leading Jewish Monthly in English,
Sept. 1922):
"The commemoration of this year of Rosh Hashannah, the New Year day of the Jewish people, will mark the end of a year peculiarly notable in Jewish annals.
It has seemed the definite assurances to the Jewish people that their long aspiration for re-establishment of Jewish nationality in the homeland of this great people is to be definitely realized.
This is an event of notable significance not only to the Jewish people but to their friends and well-wishers everywhere, among whom the American nation has always been proud and numbered. (signed) Warren G. Harding."
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Will and Ariel Durant wrote in
The Lessons of History
(1968):
"Jews gave the Bible and Christianity to Europe, and much of the Koran to Mohammed."
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President Harry S Truman
stated May 26, 1952:
"I had faith in Israel before it was established, I have faith in it now. I believe it has a glorious future before it -- not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization."
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President Truman
answered questions at a News Conference of August 16, 1945:
"Q. What was the American view on Palestine?
PRESIDENT. The American view ... is, we want to let as many of the Jews into Palestine as it is possible."
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Dwight D. Eisenhower
stated:
"Our forces saved the remnants of the Jewish people of Europe for a new life and a new hope in the reborn land of Israel. Along with all men of good will, I salute the young state and wish it well."
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President Eisenhower
stated February 20, 1957:
"There can, of course, be no equating of a nation like Israel with that of the Soviet Union. The people of Israel, like those of the United States, are imbued with a religious faith and a sense of moral values ... which unhappily we cannot expect from a nation controlled by atheistic despots."
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Eisenhower
remarked on the Jewish High Holy Days, September 14, 1958:
"The teaching of their ancient belief is filled with truth for the present day ... The health of our society depends upon a deep and abiding respect for the basic commandments of the God of Israel."
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President John F. Kennedy
met with Israel's Foreign Minister Golda Meir. He addressed the Zionists of America Convention, August 26, 1960:
"Israel was not created in order to disappear -- Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."
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Kennedy
stated May 8, 1963:
"This nation from the time of President Woodrow Wilson, has established and continued a tradition of friendship with Israel because we are committed to all free societies that seek a path to peace and honor individual rights"
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President Lyndon Johnson
remarked at the 125th Anniversary Meeting of B'nai B'rith
(Children of the Covenant),
September 10, 1968:
"The United States and Israel share many common objectives ... chief of which is the building of a better world in which every nation can develop its resources and develop them in freedom and peace.
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... Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life ...
Most if not all of you have very deep ties with the land and with the people of Israel, as I do, for my Christian faith sprang from yours ...
The Bible stories are woven into my childhood memories as the gallant struggle of modern Jews to be free of persecution is also woven into our souls."
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President Richard Nixon
stated:
"The United States stands by its friends. Israel is one of its friends."
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Nixon
remarked on Presidential Trip to Israel, June 16, 1974:
"Their courage, their tenacity, their firmness in the face of very great odds, is one that makes us proud to stand with Israel, as we have in the past in times of trouble, and now to work with Israel in a better time, a time that we trust will be a time of peace."
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President Nixon
honored the President and Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel, September 25, 1969:
"Madam Prime Minister and our very distinguished guests this evening ... This is the first time that in this administration we have had the honor to receive the head of government of another state who also is a woman ...
We know that very capable women and strong women have played a remarkable and important part in that history.
In Biblical terms, we remember Deborah, 3,000 years ago. The Bible tells us very little about Deborah, except that she loved her people and served them well...that there was peace in the land for 40 years ...
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Nixon
added:
"When we think back on your people, a war every 10 years; when we think back on your people going back through the century, how they have suffered, we know how much the word 'peace' means ...
We feel it because the people of Israel deserve peace. They have earned peace ...
We simply want to say that we are very honored to have the Prime Minister ... here in this room tonight. We are honored to pay tribute to a very brave and courageous people ... I would like to ask you, in affirming that sentiment, to rise and raise your glasses with me to the Prime Minister."
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President Gerald Ford
welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Rabin, September 10, 1974):
"The United States ... has been proud of its association with the State of Israel. We shall continue to stand with Israel. We are committed to Israel's survival and security. The United States for a quarter of a century has had an excellent relationship with the State of Israel."
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In his autobiography,
An American Life
(Simon & Schuster, 1990, p. 410),
Ronald Reagan
wrote:
"I've believed many things in my life, but no conviction I've ever held has been stronger than my belief that the United States must ensure the survival of Israel.
The Holocaust, I believe, left America with a moral responsibility to ensure that what happened to the Jews under Hitler never happens again.
We must not let if happen again. The civilized world owes a debt to the people who were the greatest victims of Hitler's madness."
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American Minute is a registered trademark of William J. Federer. Permission is granted to forward, reprint, or duplicate, with acknowledgment.
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Schedule Bill Federer for informative interviews & captivating PowerPoint presentations: 314-502-8924
wjfederer@gmail.com
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