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

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columnists as Dorothy Thompson and “certain Congressmen with metropolitan<br />

constituencies” and attempt to “guide the pressure [to increase <strong>Jewish</strong> immigration], to<br />

seize the [diplomatic and political] initiative before pressure built and to spread<br />

responsibility among the thirty two nations [which attended the conference] instead <strong>of</strong><br />

us.” He was also concerned about a potential backlash from restrictionist forces opposed<br />

to any alteration in the immigration laws; a concern that was reflected in the terms <strong>of</strong> the<br />

<strong>Evian</strong> invitation. 81 Welles may have been further motivated by humanitarian concerns<br />

after receiving a letter from Samuel Rosenman, the <strong>Jewish</strong> speechwriter <strong>of</strong> FDR, who<br />

was seeking aid for some German-<strong>Jewish</strong> friends. Welles expressed to a State<br />

Department subordinate, George Messersmith, on March 12, 1938, that it was “shocking”<br />

that immigration restrictions limited the granting <strong>of</strong> entry visas to German <strong>Jewish</strong><br />

refugees “solely because under present German law they have been convicted <strong>of</strong><br />

Rassenschande [racial shame]. We should…correct this injustice.” 82 Messersmith<br />

observed in a memorandum sent to Hull and Welles that “in spite <strong>of</strong> the difficulties<br />

involved in doing anything constructive” for involuntary refugees the potential for<br />

positive action remained “good.” Mass resettlement could only be ac<strong>com</strong>plished over a<br />

prolonged period <strong>of</strong> time and would require the “cooperative action” <strong>of</strong> a host <strong>of</strong><br />

81 National Archives 840.48 Division <strong>of</strong> European Affairs, Memorandum on Refugee Problems,<br />

attached to the Division <strong>of</strong> American Republics, memo <strong>of</strong> November 18, 1938 cited in Irving Abella and<br />

Harold Troper, None Is Too Many (NY: Random House, 1983), 16. Welles was the <strong>of</strong>ficial <strong>of</strong> the State<br />

Department closest to FDR. Dwork and Jan Pelt suggested Roosevelt was the initiator <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Evian</strong><br />

<strong>Conference</strong> and that Dorothy Thompsons’ article had “pricked the conscience” <strong>of</strong> the President who, soon<br />

after reading a preliminary version <strong>of</strong> Thompson’s article, publically announced his plan to call for an<br />

international refugee conference. Dwork and Jan Pelt, Flight from the Reich, 98.<br />

82 Memo from Sumner Welles to George Messersmith, March 12, 1938, Sumner Welles Papers in<br />

Benjamin Welles, Sumner Welles: FDR’s Global Strategist A Biography (NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1977),<br />

220.<br />

86

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