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

Justice, for highly commendable reasons that no petitions should be sent, particularly by
Jews…either to the Dutch Government or to the Evian Conference.” 98
Roosevelt apparently believed, as stated in the official invitation, that the bulk of
the refugee work would be carried out and financed by private organizations.
Consequently, he called upon the leaders of these groups to meet with him in Washington
on April 14 in order to create the Presidential Advisory Committee on Political Refugees
(PACPR); a construction which was tasked to cooperate with and render assistance to any
rescue plans formulated by the international conference in Evian. The objectives,
however, were not clearly defined and any financing was expected to be donated by nongovernmental
sources. The majority of its membership was, significantly, non-Jewish. 99
James G. McDonald assumed the chairmanship during the first meeting on May
16, 1938 and Samuel Cavert became secretary. The committee set out to assess potential
sites of resettlement and worked through the offices of the State Department with
Roosevelt assuming little or no personal involvement. Assistant Secretary of State
George Messersmith cautioned against too much optimism. He advised the PACPR to
“frankly face certain facts at the outset.” Although the various delegations were “deeply
moved by humanitarian instincts” the American diplomat observed they were attending
98 David Cohen (head of the Committee) to D.M. Sluys, Secretary of the Union of Ashkenazi
Communities, June 21, 1938, Archives of the Jewish Refugee Committee, file 5 cited in Michman, “The
Committee,” 218.
99 FDRL/OF 3186, April 8, 1938, Invitation to White House Meeting cited in Feingold, Politics of
Rescue, 25. The group included Joseph Chamberlain, Law Professor and Chairman of the National
Coordinating Committee; Samuel Cavert of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.;
Archbishop Joseph Rummel of New Orleans, chairman of the Committee for Catholic Refugees from
Germany; Louis Kennedy, president of the National Council for Catholic Men; Henry Morgenthau, Jr.,
Secretary of the Treasury; Bernard Baruch, presidential adviser; James G. McDonald, former League of
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from Germany; and later Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of the
American Jewish Congress.
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