The Jewish Trail of Tears The Evian Conference of ... - Haruth.com

Chapter 4
“Firmly Fixed American Tradition”
“It is a fantastic commentary on the inhumanity of our times that for thousands and thousands of
people a piece of paper with a stamp on it is the difference between life and death.” 1
The revelation of the Evian Conference generated varying degrees of public and
private support. On the same day as the State Department announcement of the
proceeding the President declared that the primary American contribution to the
immigration dilemma would be the consolidation of the annual German and Austrian
quotas (open to both Christians and Jews) but he did not anticipate any change in
immigration laws. 2 FDR knew that his administration faced political risk in promoting
Jewish immigration into the U.S. and he attempted to downplay its focus on Jews by
asserting that “a great many Christians, too, a very large number” would benefit from the
conference. 3
Roosevelt confided in Judge Irving Lehman, the brother of the New York
Governor, that he hoped that “narrow isolationists” would not attack his conference
1 Dorothy Thompson on the importance of being granted an exit and entry visa.
“Deathly Silence Teaching Guide: Bystander Psychology” The Southern Institute for Education and
Research available from http://www.southerninstitute.info/holocaust_education/ds9.html ; Internet;
accessed October 4, 2009.
2 Press Conferences of FDR, vol. 11-12, 1938 (NY: Da Capo Press, 1972), #445.
3 Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2002), 161.
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