December 8: Roosevelt Takes a Meeting

Rabbi Stephen S. Wise led a committee of four American Jewish leaders who met with President Franklin Roosevelt on this date in 1942. The 29-minute meeting about the unfolding Holocaust was the only meeting Roosevelt had on the subject with Jewish leaders throughout the war. “The purpose of the conference,” wrote attendee Adolph Held, president of the American Jewish Committee, “was to present a prepared memorandum on the German atrocities in Poland consisting of an appeal to the President for immediate action against the German extermination of Jews, and also a 12-page memorandum citing the facts that have been gathered on this subject.” Roosevelt replied that “the government of the United States is very well acquainted with most of the facts you are now bringing to our attention. Unfortunately we have received confirmation from many sources.... At the same time it is not in the best interest of the Allied cause to make it appear that the entire German people are murderers or are in agreement with what Hitler is doing. There must be in Germany elements, now thoroughly subdued, but who at the proper time will, I am sure, rise, and protest against the atrocities, against the whole Hitler system.” Roosevelt then “plunged into a discussion of other matters,” actually a soliloquy about Jews and Muslims worldwide, which lasted twenty-three minutes.
“Mr. President, we also beg to submit details and proofs of the horrible facts. We appeal to you, as head of our government, to do all in your power to bring this to the attention of the world and to do all in your power to make an effort to stop it.” —Rabbi Stephen S. Wise