Was There A Better Way?

Over the past week, I spent my time touring Washington D.C., the nation's capital. I viewed monuments, museums, and memorials. Among these sites, we toured the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. FDR numbered many accomplishments over his sixteen year administration. He was the only president to be reelected four times. How did he do it? Some would call him the father of the greatest generation that ever lived. He lifted a nation out of a depression through his innovative New Deal and defeated evil in its most triumphant hour. One ink blot lay on Roosevelt's impressive resumé. While World War II put democracy into jeopardy, Roosevelt overlooked the horrid tragedy of the Holocaust. Until 1944, our nation's leader was very hesitant to take action against the genocide occurring in Nazi Europe. At least, I thought Roosevelt was unfairly ignoring the Jews of Europe. It turns out he did a lot more than meets the eye.

I can honestly state that Roosevelt was not antisemite. How can a man juggle a economic sinkhole, a grievous war, and a genocide at the same time? Even Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis gives this president credit for trying to prevent Hitler from rising to power. Contrary to Winston Churchill, Roosevelt demanded Hitler be taken down from the first year of his presidency. While Congress refused to allow Roosevelt to lift particular quotas set in the 1920's, he helped Jewish refugees obtain visas in a more efficient way. People constantly came to Roosevelt with plans of ending the Holocaust. Contemporary historians discredit Roosevelt thinking he simply refused to listen to the American Jews. Contrary to this theory, Roosevelt took the time to go over each plan carefully. Taking these plans into consideration, he placed defeating Nazi Germany as a higher priority, even though Japan was a larger threat. He denied the American attempts to put an end to genocide in order to win the war. Roosevelt felt that defeating Hitler would bring Nazism to its end. He knew if Hitler was kept alive, his philosophies would also remain vivid. Franklin Roosevelt did not hate Jews, but developing a plan to save them was a difficult task.

These feats shed light on Roosevelt's views of the Holocaust, but many of his policies were executed too late for the Jews to be saved. Our thirty-second president's greatest impediments were Congress and the American public. Franklin and Eleanor pitied the persecution of Germany's Jews, but Americans did not. Of course, how could a nation with 25 percent unemployment worry about policies overseas? In his first term, Roosevelt's priority was to uplift the country of its depression. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover diminished the legacy of Woodrow Wilson throughout the 1920's. By 1932, the nation's greatest success story was Babe Ruth calling his shot in Wrigley Field. The legislative branch of the United States found it skeptical that Jews would find jobs in 1930's America. By the start of the European war in 1939, there were over 4 million Jews already displaced by the Third Reich. How could Roosevelt obtain visas for 4 million Jews? Presidents, like other leaders, must make tough decisions. Turning away persecuted Jews for the sake of his nation was part of Roosevelt's job. Unfortunately, Roosevelt hardly made an effort to liberate concentration camps until 1944. Luckily, he refused to bomb Auschwitz and the other death centers. Over half the world's Jews died from 1933 to 1945, but Roosevelt tried his best to save as many as he could.

Personally, I feel he waited too long. The evidence I provide may contradict my opinion, but the way Roosevelt ignored this genocide for so long makes my heart wrench. On the other hand, it got me thinking. How can you judge a president based on one policy? Obama and Roosevelt are very alike. They are Democratic presidents who were inaugurated when our nation was inundated with problems. So far, both of these men worked with economic pressures, national insecurity, and a skeptical American public. Jews were up in arms as Obama discussed Israel with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Is Roosevelt truly to blame when we here that six million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust? Is Obama to blame when the death toll of the Darfur genocide is released?


Works Cited

Vanden Heuvel, William J. "America, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust." Franklin D. Roosevelt - American Heritage Center, Inc. 2007. Web. 11 June 2011. .

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. "Franklin Delano Roosevelt." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 6 Jan. 2011. Web. 11 June 2011. .