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

“most extraordinary letters” that inflicted upon him the “rude[st] shocks.” The writers,
he claimed, were resentful that the U.S was not providing “on a golden platter a position
which native-born Americans would be glad to get at the end of a long and hard fought
career.” America, Messersmith believed, would still belong to the “native-born…” 60
Myron Taylor, acting as the American representative to the Inter-governmental
Committee for Political Refugees, reassured a radio listening audience following
Kristallnacht that America would not be flooded by refugees. “On the contrary, our
entire program is based on the existing immigration laws of all the countries concerned,
and I am confident that within that framework our problems can be solved.” 61
Thus, once
again as with the Evian Conference, the United States would not, despite its expressed
sympathies, willingly offer refuge to the victims of Nazi persecution, providing a basis
upon which foreign governments could maintain their own restrictive immigration
policies. The pogrom, however, had led Taylor to believe that an orderly plan of
emigration carried out over a number of years was now a more difficult and perhaps
impossible goal. The humanitarian situation had assumed a greater degree of urgency but
its solution remained constrained by the problem of finding havens for 400,000-500,000
refugees, a lack of sufficient funds for resettlement and the need for the cooperation of
the German Government. Representative Hamilton Fish, in an address on “America’s
Answer to Religious and Racial Hatred” broadcast following Taylor’s speech, stated he
would support a motion in Congress to appropriate $10,000,000-20,000,000 to transport
60 Ibid., 124. See also Messersmith (GSM) to Hull, March 31, 1938, 840.48/84 ½; Messersmith to
Welles, April 7, 1938, 150.01/34; Hull to Messersmith, April 17, 1938 cited in Wyman, Paper Walls.
61 “U.S. Will Not Be ‘Flooded” With Jews, Myron Taylor Says,” Tampa Tribune, November 26, 1938, 2.
330