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A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel

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Ronald and Allis Radosh have written a very important work of contemporary history. It examines President Truman's remarkable decision to support the foundation of the state of Israel, a decision he took even in the face of opposition from leading officials in the State and Defense Departments. On the basis of extensive and creative research, they present a powerful narrative about the international and domestic pressures impinging on Truman from 1945 to 1948 and about the evolution of his own thinking. This is a book about a key chapter in the history of American foreign relations and American politics. Yet in ways that many readers will find surprising and moving, it is also a story about the power of friendship and about Truman's courage and integrity. Both historians and general readers will find much in this book that is new, interesting and important. A Safe Haven is both timely and enduring. It deserves a very wide readership.

Jeffrey Herf, author of The Jewish Enemy: Nazi Propaganda During World War II and the Holocuast (Harvard University Press, 2006), and Nazi Propaganda for the Arab World, forthcoming with Yale University Press in Fall 2009.

I am giving this book five stars, notwithstanding a factual error that should have been caught by the editor. On page 3 there is a reference to the Jewish Diaspora since "they had been defeated by the Romans in 70 B.C." Problematically, the actual year is 140 years later -- 70 C.E. (a/k/a A.D.). Having said this, the book is a fine work of scholarship and did enlighten me both with respect to the complexity of the issue, as faced both by FDR and Truman. FDR did vacillate, and clearly was more focused on the effort to win World War II, naively thinking that somehow the issue of Jewish slaughter and refugees would solve itself. He clearly had hopes of convincing Saudi King Ibn Saud of the wisdom of a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine when he met him just after the Yalta conference. However, by then he was too ill to focus his true attention, and he clearly regretted that he did not challenge Saud on his fallacious historical claims.

Truman, a true hero in this drama, was beyond frustrated by the lack of progress by the British and the perceived lack of appreciation by certain Zionist leaders, particularly, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver.

There are several references in the book to the great playwright Ben Hecht, who as many may know wrote works as diverse at "The Front Page" and "Perfidy." In his autobiography, "A Child of the Century", Hecht opined that "in the warmest Christian heart, there is a cold spot for the Jew." While I do not believe the statement is universally true, it nonetheless represents a mindset that still prevails. Further, while the authors do not quote this statement, they demonstrate it in some of the more vitriolic comments by President Truman.

What ultimately comes through is that President Truman, as much as he was a politician wished to do what was just, and rose to the occasion, extending de facto recognition to the new State of Israel, when almost everyone in his cabinet was against doing so. He risked wholesale resignations both by the U.S. delegation to the U.N. and in the State Department itself. His courage was in taking the leap of faith necessary and damning the consequences if he proved wrong.

The book is an excellent, absorbing and engrossing telling of a fascinating series of events in world history. This is all the more important now, when the World at large seems to have forgotten its own complicity in the slaughter of 6,000,000 Jews.

Moreover, when one reads the way the Arabs reacted to the possibility of even one more Jew emegrating to Palestine, one cannot help but conclude that the Arab Muslim mindset has not evolved at all in over sixty years. When the UNSCOP committee went to Palestine to interview both Jews and Arabs, the Arabs refused to meet with them and only the Marionite Christians in Lebanon expressed support for the idea of a Jewish State in Palestine, with which they could find common ground.

I must confess, that as an Orthodox Jew, I was exceedingly impressed by the leadership manifested both by Reform Rabbis Abba Hillel Silver and Stephen Wise. This was at a time when Reform Judaism took an egalitarian and anti-Zionist view of the world. Yet, these two men were moved by the passion to save the remnant of European Jewery. For this leadership and kinship they have earned both my thanks and admiration, and remind me that just as Hitler did view Jews based upon their level of observance, so too should we not do so.

I am an enthusiastic reader of mysteries and thrillers, but I have to tell you that "A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and The Founding of Israel" was both a page turner and very hard to put down. In fact, I gave up reading a great detective story just to finish this book. As Cokie Robert's so wisely said, even though you know how the story ends it still keeps you on the edge of your seat.

What the Radoshes have done is show the kaleidoscope of faiths, political maneuverings, personality conflicts set in the aftermath of the Holocaust, with the surviving Jews in DP camps, some as tragic as the concentration camps. How our State Department, the Zionists, the anti-Zionists and most importantly, Harry Truman reacted to this reality is shown in a swift and sharp chronology that shows the day by day, week by week, month by month trials and tribulations of those with power and those without.

There are wonderfully juicy stories including Harry Truman saying to his old (Jewish) pal, Eddie Jacobson, who was trying to convince him to allow Chaim Weizman one more visit to the White House, "You win, you bald-headed S.O.B. I will see him..." and then after the State of Israel was recognized Chaim Weizmann saying, when responding to Truman who said "that he was the President of so many millions of Americans, Chaim retorted, 'But I am the President of a million presidents!' The joke was not lost on Truman." Truman perceived Weizmann as a prophet of old and the mutual respect they had for eachother is a wonder to read about.

There are a number of wonders, suprises, and head-twisters in the book. I dont want to be a "spoiler" and reveal the biggest ones - but Clark Clifford being the foremost pro-State of Israel supporter in Truman's cabinet, and George Marshall the most anti; Bevin of England almost qualifying as an anti-Semite, and the pro-State of Israel position taken by the Soviet Union. all came as revelations to me. I am tempted to tell you the Radoshes conclusion about FDR - but do read this book now and find out for yourselves.

Perhaps one of the most important aspects of the book is that though it is about events now sixty years in the past - I was between 8-10 years old - it has both disturbing and enlightening things to say (inadvertently) about the events happening in the Middle East today. As the saying goes: some things never change - but then again some things do - and change can come from the most unexpected directions and from people, like President Truman, whom you might never thought would play the role he did play when the Middle East was in crises.

I think this book should be read by both the students and professors of American and Israeli history, by President Obama and his cabinet, by every Jew and non-Jew pondering the future of Israel, and by every thriller aficianado who needs to be reminded, once in a while, that truth can be stranger (and more exciting) than fiction.

Cantor Bob Cohen

Allis and Ronald Radosh have painstakingly researched the maneuvering of all the interested parties from the mo0ment Harry Truman assumed the Presidency in April, 1945 through the declaration of Israel's Statehood in 1948. Their writing style is somewhat stodgy and even tedious, but their attention to detail is the reader's reward for sticking with it. The Radoshes could have used a more attentive editor: there are numerous references to "Her Majesty's" government, though at all times covered in the book, it would have been "His Majesty's" government. There is constant confusion as to what year is being spoken of because the Radoshes move back and forth in the chronology and forget to remind the reader of what year they are speaking of. Finally, there are a few just plain silly mistakes, like referring to Clark Clifford as Clifford Clark on one occasion.

Aside from this nitpicking, this is a magnificent, if slow reading, history of the public and private political jockeying that went on for the three years from the day Harry Truman assumed the Presidency until the day President Truman became the first head of state to recognize modern Israel as an independent State.

For a bit more than 60 years, the popular media have reported only the endless conflict between Muslims and Israel. Most people probably have little understanding of how and why Israel came into being. The longer story, which the Radoshes summarize well, begins in the late 19th Century with the quest of European Jews for a homeland to escape the discrimination and persecution of Europe. The end result was Zionism which brought development to areas previously thought uncultivable in a backwater of the Ottoman Empire. With the end of WWI, the League of Nations gave France and Britain a mandate for the governance of the territories once ruled by the Ottoman dynasty. British Lord Balfour endorsed the concept of a Jewish homeland to be carved from the artificial territories of Palestine, Lebanon and Trans-Jordan, which were created by the French and British drawing lines on maps.

As WWII drew closer and the Germans (as well as other Europeans) increased the tempo of their persecution of the Jews, more of them wanted to emigrate. Anti-Semites in the American State Department closed the borders of the United States to most of them as did the "civilized" nations of Europe such as France and Switzerland. Those who wanted to emigrate to the Holy Land, Palestine or whatever the many names it was called, were increasingly blocked by the British who, in 1939, issued their infamous White Paper which essentially ended Jewish emigration - and condemned millions of Jews to be murdered by the Germans. The British wanted to do nothing to disturb their relations with Muslims and their access to Arab oil.

The Radoshes succinctly encapsulate this history. Their story begins with death of FDR and the swearing in of Harry Truman as the President of the United States in April, 1945. It was common knowledge at the time that the Germans were murdering Jews and others at a prodigious rate. Less commonly known was the fact that the Germans had industrialized murder to the point where a trainload of several thousand women and children would progress from jumping out of boxcars to the gas chambers in less than an hour.

Groups representing both Zionist and anti-Zionist views were active in the United States and Britain. The Radoshes do a brilliant job in describing the leaders of these contentious groups - and the means by which they enlisted public support for a Jewish homeland.

The authors set the stage for telling of Truman's involvement by first setting forth Roosevelt's policies that were to cause so much difficulty. Roosevelt, during the 1930s, did little to ease the plight of European Jews, despite urging from his wife. Roosevelt met with Ibn Saud, King of Saudi Arabia, and allegedly committed the US to seeking Arab approval for further Jewish immigration to the former Ottoman territory.

Truman was a very different man than Roosevelt. He had joined several Zionist and Jewish-related groups as a Senator. A devout Christian of the Baptist denomination, Truman believed the Jews should return to their ancestral home. In the immediate aftermath of WWII as the vast extent of German crimes against all of humanity became known, public support for the few surviving European and their right to emigrate grew in the United States. The British government, however, and an Arabist clique in the State Department, not a few of whom were also anti-Semites, wanted to keep the Jews out of the area, despite decades of promises.

The conflict, with Harry Truman, at its center, between Zionists, anti-Zionists, diplomats, public opinion is the primary story the Radoshes tell and, despite the defects in their writing style, they tell it well.

The implacable hatred of the Jews shown by Arab Muslims is difficult to comprehend, unless you are familiar with the injunctions of the Koran. The story of the Grand Mufti, the British appointed Muslinm leader of the Palestine territory, is told in detail, including his alliance with Hitler and the Germans. While the Jews of the region contributed about 70,000 troops to the British Army, the Grand Mufti was creating Muslim legions to fight for the Nazis. The Grand Mufti, through surrogates, played a major role in resisting efforts to create a Jewish homeland. Oddly, the Radoshes don't mention that Yassir Arafat was the nephew of the Grand Mufti.

One can only admire Truman's steadfast desire to do what he believed was the right thing. He grew to despise most of the Zionist and anti-Zionist leaders and came to refuse their requests for meetings. Only two men representing the Zionist cause could gain entrée: Chaim Weizman, a moderate whom the more aggressive leadership had essentially shoved aside, though he still commanded respect and Eddie Jacobson, Truman's longtime friend from Missouri. The story of these two men and their role in the creation of modern Israel, particularly Jacobson, is too little known.

Not only did Truman have to contend with the warring Zionist and anti-Zionist groups, but he also had to deal with politicians of both parties, foreign heads of state and perhaps, most distressingly, his own State Department which essentially betrayed him.

Everyone knows the end of this part of the story: Israel became a state and Truman recognized it just minutes after its independence was declared. But that was only a small part of the story.

The Radoshes tell it all: the maneuvering at the United Nations, the perfidy of both American and British diplomats, the mass meetings, the threats of the Muslims. They may not be the best writers you'll ever read, but they are objective historians, impressively thorough in their research and they tell the story of events which still resonate today.

This is a book you must read if you want to enlarge your understanding of the world we presently live in - and to understand just how great a hero President Truman is.

Jerry

Nowadays, it seems that those who do good deeds don't get "full marks" for their efforts unless their intentions are as pure as the driven snow. By those standards, Harry Truman, a peppery-tongued man who wasn't shy about expressing his opinions -- opinions about ethnic and racial minorities included -- traced a fairly "politically incorrect" path on the way to becoming the first world leader to recognize the new state of Israel in 1948. Truman, after all, resented the constant pressure from Zionists of all kinds (including Eddie Jacobson, Truman's old partner in the men's clothing business back in Missouri) to help the Jews establish a country of their own, and he was known to occasionally hold forth about Jewish "pushiness" and the like. As Allis and Ronald Radosh relate in their lengthy but fascinating story of Truman's role in the birth of Israel, Truman overcame these feelings at the last and, drawing from his strong sense of sympathy for the victims of the Holocaust, did the right thing at a moment when the history of the Middle East could have turned in any number of different directions. By starting their narrative with a description of the last days of Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, the Radoshes make a compelling case that, had FDR lived, Israel's "moment" might never have come. Be prepared to thrash through a host of commissions, pressure groups, State Department flunkies, and UN meetings (this was back when the UN actually seemed to promise a better world, rather than simply prop up existing patterns of tyranny!), but if you're interested in the history of the Middle East, this is a very worthwhile read.

Allis and Ronald Radosh present a convincing case that Harry Truman behaved courageously by supporting the birth of Israel. The State Department and most Democrat and Republican leaders thought it best not to upset the Middle East apple cart. Preserving solid relations with the Arabs and their oil was deemed of greater importance. A disingenuous form of anti-Semitism also motivated many of them. Jewish-Americans did not possess the sort of political power to make the risk worth it to the self-serving politician. Most assuredly, the issue of Israeli statehood would have been kicked down the road for a future generation to resolve. The Soviets could also have been placed in the position of saviors of the Israelis. Their position in the Mid East would have been greatly enhanced had Truman not stood tall. We know that he was a racial bigot in his earlier years. The odds are that he was also anti-Semitic. Truman is a reminder that people can change for the better. This book is well worth reading.

I could save you the trouble of reading a long review by writing my conclusion first: BUY THIS BOOK. Whether your primary interest is Harry S Truman's presidency, American history, post-World War II history, Israel, the Middle East, the Arab world, or some or all of the above, this is the book for you.
But more than any of those particular historical or geographic categories, this is the story of human courage, intelligence, devotion and steadfastness---in the face of "experts" and other interested parties who advised President Truman to ignore the new-born state of Israel, and not to give Israel the international legitimacy it so desperately needed by having its existence recognized by the United States of America. It is, in a later President's ghost-writer's phrase, a profile in courage.
It is difficult to imagine an American President of today, with all the paraphernalia of public opinion polling at his (or perhaps her) disposal, making a decision as clear-sighted and wise as Truman's decision in 1948. President Truman stood up to his own State Department, his own Cabinet, to every imaginable special interest, and made up his own mind, in stark contrast to the minds and prejudices of his multitude of advisers, to do what he thought was best for the United States of America and for the only democracy then---or since---in the Middle East, the state of Israel.
If you are a parent and would like to educate your child or children about what it takes to be a true leader, and what it means to think for yourself and not be pushed or pulled by the opinions, prejudices and desires of powerful others, this is the book for you.
If you are a person who aspires to run for public office, buy and read this book. It will give you a vastly different picture of what a political figure can achieve with a fine mind, a brave heart and a degree of human decency rarely found in public life today.
Whoever you are, whatever your interests, this is a truly inspiring book, vividly written, carefully researched, one which breaks new ground in our knowledge of its subject, but even more importantly, paints a portrait of a great man and how he looked within himself and made a decision that changed the course of history for the betterment of mankind.
As promised, here's my conclusion: BUY THIS BOOK--and then buy another copy for a young person you know who may otherwise have no role model for what an adult in public life can be. If that young person looked around Washington today, he or she wouldn't have a clue. That's why this book is so important. It reminds us of a crucially important moment, only 61 years ago, and illuminates it for all time to come. It is a great read.

This book is the most thorough account on the factors which went into the decision by Harry Truman, over the objection of his state and defense department, to recognize the state of Israel just 11 minutes after statehood was declared.

The authors meticulously researched their topic, and present a very objective account of a very historical and highly significant decision.

Allis and Ronald Radosh deserve immense credit and praise for bringing to light new information concerning this pivotal moment in world history. American diplomatic recognition of the State of Israel was critical to the new nation's birth as a modern state and thanks to President Harry S Truman, and no thanks to the Arabists in the States Department of the United States and his own Cabinet, Franklin Roosevelt's wartime vice president, looked into his own mind, heart and beliefs, and added his support of Israel to his other magnificent acts as president. This is a book for all readers, particularly those who wonder why the so-called "peace process" between the Israelis and the Palestinians is so unlikely to achieve its goal: mired as it is in the ancient hatreds of the people who founded the State of Israel. Would that the State of Israel were a safer haven than it is, but it is far better than the non-existent state its virulent enemies wish for it. Read this book and you will better understand both America's relationship with the only democracy in the Middle East and the challenges faced by both the United States and its most dependable ally in the world, the State of Israel.

It is very unfair to the author of a historical work to protest amazon's kindle pricing by down-grading the rating of the book! This is outrageous behavior. I also want all my kindle books at $9.99 but the stars should be reserved to reviews of the book not price protests. I know I am violating this by giving 5 stars to counteract the 1 the first reviewer did. But this seems only fair.