FDR and the Jews - Rilegato

Breitman, Richard; Lichtman, Allan J.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0674050266 ISBN 13: 9780674050266

Casa editrice: Belknap Pr, 2013

Riassunto

Nearly seventy-five years after World War II, a contentious debate lingers over whether Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned his back on the Jews of Hitler's Europe. Defenders claim that FDR saved millions of potential victims by defeating Nazi Germany. Others revile him as morally indifferent and indict him for keeping America's gates closed to Jewish refugees and failing to bomb Auschwitz's gas chambers.

In an extensive examination of this impassioned debate, Richard Breitman and Allan J. Lichtman find that the president was neither savior nor bystander. InFDR and the Jews, they draw upon many new primary sources to offer an intriguing portrait of a consummate politician-compassionate but also pragmatic-struggling with opposing priorities under perilous conditions. For most of his presidency Roosevelt indeed did little to aid the imperiled Jews of Europe. He put domestic policy priorities ahead of helping Jews and deferred to others' fears of an anti-Semitic backlash. Yet he also acted decisively at times to rescue Jews, often withstanding contrary pressures from his advisers and the American public. Even Jewish citizens who petitioned the president could not agree on how best to aid their co-religionists abroad.

Though his actions may seem inadequate in retrospect, the authors bring to light a concerned leader whose efforts on behalf of Jews were far greater than those of any other world figure. His moral position was tempered by the political realities of depression and war, a conflict all too familiar to American politicians in the twenty-first century.

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Recensione

[Breitman and Lichtman] challenge the view that F.D.R. was remiss in helping [Europe's Jews] and plot stages in his development from aloofness to engagement. --Jerome Donnelly, America (05/06/2013)

"Breitman and Lichtman conclude that FDR was 'neither a hero of the Jews nor a bystander'. On the basis of meticulous research, using many fresh sources, they establish his good intentions beyond any doubt. But locating his words and deeds in their precise contexts, they elucidate what was feasible and distinguished when his conduct stemmed from prudence, cowardice or indifference." --David Cesarani, New Statesman, 31/05/2013

L'autore

Richard Breitman is Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at American University.Allan J. Lichtman is Distinguished Professor in the Department of History at American University.

Authors’ home: Washington, DC

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Belknap Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0674050266
• ISBN 13: 9780674050266
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 433