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

PART IV
APPRAISALS
Chapter 13
“No Confidence in the Idea”
“Strife and desolation and destruction are in their paths. They violate the boundaries of nations,
and the way of peace they know not. They assault religion and set at naught ancient covenants of
justice and right. Human brotherhood is become a mockery, and there is neither truth, pity, nor
freedom in the land.” 1
Conflicting appraisals of the response of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his
Administration, Congress, the American people and their foreign democratic counterparts
to the great European humanitarian crises of the 1930s and early 1940s have arisen in the
historiography of the Holocaust era. Director of the IGCR, George Rublee, remained
highly skeptical of the Evian Conference’s chances for success. The meeting was called
for too quickly by Roosevelt with inadequate planning and most attendees “came
reluctantly and with no confidence in the idea.”
Taylor competently kept the
delegations “together” while obtaining agreement to create a permanent body “but that is
all.” Rublee complained that the American Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Joseph
P. Kennedy, appeared disinterested in the workings of the permanent committee and
never offered “me any real support or assistance” while the President “was not seriously
[personally] interested.” Rublee advised Hull that he believed Germany was willing to
1 The Times, July 18, 1938, 9. Special prayer offered by the Chief Rabbi of Britain, Dr. J. H. Hertz,
describing the “spirit of perverseness” which had overtaken Germany and its leadership.
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