Herbert Hoover and the Jews: The Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel [Paperback]

Dr. Rafael Medoff (Author), Prof Sonja Schoepf Wentling (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 13, 2012

Although Herbert Hoover is not remembered as having had much interaction with Jews or interest in issue of Jewish concern, he in fact played a significant role in aiding Jewish communities devastated by World War One and pogroms; supported the cause of a Jewish state despite pressure from his own State Department; actively promoted the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust; and played a key part in the emergence of the "Jewish vote" in American politics and bipartisan support for Israel. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Dr. Sonja Schoepf Wentling is associate professor of history at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. A Herbert Hoover Presidential Fellow, Class of 1997-1998, she has written about U.S. foreign policy, Zionism, and East European Jewish history for numerous scholarly journals, including the Journal of World History, the Journal of American Ethnic History, American Jewish History, and American Jewish Archives. Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. A Herbert Hoover Presidential Fellow, Class of 1988-1989, he is author or editor of fourteen books on American Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust, including 'Jewish Americans and Political Participation,' which was named an "Outstanding Academic Title of 2003" by the American Library Association's Choice Magazine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 238 pages
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (April 13, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1469978423
• ISBN-13: 978-1469978420
• Product Dimensions: 0.5 x 5.9 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprising, excellent history of origins of Jewish vote April 17, 2012

By maximilianus

Format:Paperback

This is first-rate research from two of the foremost experts on modern American Jewish history. It is also storytelling at its best. Medoff and Wentling uncover a hidden history of how it was in fact Republicans, led by Herbert Hoover, who first made a concerted effort to organize the American Jewish vote. Benzion Netanyahu, the current Israeli Prime Minister's father was instrumental in reaching out to U.S. politicians to support the Jewish people living in Israel and their eventual statehood. In an election year, this has some useful and timely lessons about how Republicans could appeal to more Jewish voters. This is a terrific book. A must read for anyone interested in the role of Jews in the U.S. political system.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dry February 13, 2013

By FUNMAN

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's a text book that brought to light many interesting facts, but it didn't really tell Herbert Hoover's story. All of the reference notes made the book feel like an elaborate college report.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great history. December 19, 2012

By Lloyd D. Friedman

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Loved this book. It exceeded my expectations. It was more than the title suggested. A lot of history on WWI and WWII.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great news December 14, 2012

By Rayron

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Well written description of how Herbert Hoover was such a great organizer who was also great humanitarian. He never hesitated to do the right thing even though it may be unpopular.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars A Publish or Perish Book You Can Skip February 19, 2013

By voracious reader

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I believe Wentling wrote this book as a response to the pressure put on career academics to publish. Her part of the book details Hoover's early history. She has found every statement, phrase, and nuance that could conceivably be determined to be favorable to Jews and she has cataloged it here. Hoover was a Quaker. He came from a tradition of charity, humanitarianism, and tolerance for minorities and the creeds of others. He found like minded people among the wealthy Jews. During his work as head of the ARA which distributed food to Europeans starving after WWI, he found like minded wealthy Jews like Felix Warburg and Marshall. The Jewish Joint Distribution Committee funded much of the work done by the ARA. I doubt he ever met a Jew until he became an adult. He probably never shared a meal with a Jew until he began working with the ARA. Hoover was an engineer who made his money in mining. He was a self made man and he believed in the importance of persistence and hard work. He also believed in volunteerism and good organization. As part of his tradition of tolerance Hoover urged European countries to put a stop to the pogroms and other discrimination against their Jewish communities. The actions he took to foster religious tolerance in Europe did not produce much fruit, but he did try. However, the book also glosses over the fact that as president he appointed an anti-Semite named Stinson as his secretary of state. The assistant secretary of state was also anti-Semitic. Further,Hoover supported the new immigration quotas which were designed to fall most heavily on Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia, the Ukraine, Poland and other Eastern European nations. It should be pointed out that both Warburg and Marshall also supported the restrictive quotas for their own personal reasons....

The book finally takes off when Medoff writes the chapters on Hoover's response to the holocaust. Hoover actively supported rescue and was critical of the administration's failures in that regard. He saw avenues of rescue which were ignored. Both he and Harold Ickes were prominent people who supported finding ways to rescue the Jews of Europe. I have no doubt after reading this that he felt a heartfelt sympathy for these persecuted people. Further, he saw it as his Christian duty. He supported Israel as did a number of other republicans for a number of reasons including sympathy for the survivors of the holocaust. Some also saw it as a bulwark against communism and extremism in the middle east. Clearly the fact that so many republicans favored supporting and recognizing the state of Israel put pressure on the Truman administration to do so as well. Administration action or non-action on rescue and recognition and support of the state of Israel gave rise to the "Jewish vote." Prior to that Jews almost unanimously voted democratic.

If the reader is willing to read through 64 pages of tedium to get to the fun stuff, then this is a book you will enjoy. A far better book on the American response to the Holocaust is: While Six Million Died: A Story of American Apathy by Morse. That book is a page turner from start to finish. I am also sure there must be a better book about the crystallization of the "Jewish vote." There should also be something excellent on bipartisan American support for the state of Israel. I felt that this book repackaged other publications to create a new publication by categorizing all the facts surrounding Hoover. If you are a Hoover scholar than you may want to read this. If not there are other better books on the central subjects: U.S. response to Europe's persecution of its Jews, rescue during the holocaust or rather lack of it, and bipartisan support of Israel. Certainly the information contained in the first 64 pages could have been dealt with swiftly in a 10 page essay.

Also Hoover's sympathy for the Jews probably stopped at the door of his restricted country club. I doubt Hoover's beliefs and feelings about the Jewish people would have led him to put a stop to "restrictions" in private clubs, hotels, and residential neighborhoods that allowed only white Christians. Read more ›

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Fact based study November 11, 2012

By Moshe Yanovskiy

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

The study, which is focused on Jewish voter electoral behavior breaks few stereotypes and provides the reader a valuable assessments, facts and data. So the authors appear to be not on a safe side of modern historical studies.
They are still stick to fact based research not to the politically correct based results' presentation.
The book key disadvantage IMHO is poor presentation of key findings: assessments of Jewish voter electoral behavior in various localities in dynamics. No one Table which could contain even competing estimations from various sources is provided.
This disadvantage makes use of the study results a little bit more "costly" for the professional researchers and "prohibitively expensive" for students and for other general public.
As my stereotype (Jewish voter in USA as Democratic Party loyal vassal) is shaken, as the general public's' the same stereotype, I guess, still stands firm.