“Eating Gelato For Israel – And Other Ways To Fight Back Against The Nazis Among Us,”
November 24, 2023
Unraveling Anti-Israel Protests Across Canada: From Intimidation to Terrorism Advocacy
Menu
Popular Articles
Read More »
A Mother’s Courage: Renana’s 12-Hour Journey To Bring Her Kidnapped Sons Home
November 24, 2023
First person: Her sons might have been taken by one of the world’s most brutal terrorist organizations, but Renana Gome remains undeterred; She goes wherever she needs to, turning heaven and earth, to bring her sons back into her arms.
Dennis Ross Tries To Save Hamas
November 24, 2023
Ross Advocates Allowing Hamas Leadership to Leave Gaza in Exchange for Remaining Hostages
Stopping Antisemitism Needs More Than A Successful Rally
November 24, 2023
The “March for Israel” in Washington, D.C., was a great response to pro-Hamas mobs. But ending the source of a rising tide of Jew-hatred requires opposing the woke ideology that created it.
Jewish Physicians At The University Of Toronto Speak Out Against Antisemitism
November 24, 2023
Over 550 Doctors Assert Their Right to Openly Identify as Zionists Amid Rising Antisemitism
Bethlehem Removes Christmas Decorations In Honor Of Gaza ‘Martyrs’
November 24, 2023
The traditional Christmas mass and prayers will still take place, but without Christmas trees or festive lights.
The Racism Of Woke Progressivism
November 24, 2023
The root of all modern-day evils for the new left is colonialism, and Israel is, they claim, a colonialist power.
Sincere Or Sanctimonious?
November 24, 2023
Will we sell our souls to claim the moral high ground?
‘Globalized Intifada’: Shootings, A Firebombing And Vandalism Rock Montreal
November 24, 2023
“This is in fact the actualization of a globalized intifada through violence,” said the president of Federation CJA of the sharp spike in antisemitism since Oct. 7.
Church Rushes Ambulance To Israel In Response To Hamas Attacks
November 24, 2023
“We knew there was an urgent need to replace ambulances that were stolen and destroyed. To know ours is part of this historic effort is incredibly gratifying,” said Pastor Larry Huch.
Source for an alleged incident quickly raised more questions than it answered
- 17 August 2022
- 10:05 pm
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
- 17 August 2022
- 10:05 pm
President Harry Truman spoke just as harshly about broad swaths of the American Jewish community, not just Rabbi Dr. Abba Silver, but his biography failed to give a complete picture. (Image: indigo.ca)
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Historian David McCullough won a Pulitzer Prize for Truman, his biography of President Harry S. Truman. McCullough also won a second Pulitzer and two National Book Awards for his other books. He was even awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Yet despite his many awards and accolades, McCullough, who passed away on August 7, got it all wrong when it came to a crucial episode in the history of President Truman’s policies regarding the creation of the State of Israel.
The story concerns Rabbi Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, the dynamic co-leader of the American Zionist movement in the 1940s, along with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise.
Rabbi Silver mobilized Zionist activists nationwide –Christians as well as Jews– to take part in a massive campaign of rallies, lobbying, petitions and other protests urging President Truman to support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Truman deeply resented the pressure, and since Silver was its primary instigator, the president disliked him—intensely. In one handwritten note to an aide in 1946, Truman blamed “terror and Silver” as “the causes of some, if not all, of our troubles.” (By “terror,” he was referring to the Jewish underground militias that were attacking British targets in Palestine.)
It should be noted that President Truman spoke just as harshly about broad swaths of the American Jewish community, not just Silver. For example, in the midst of a July 30, 1946 cabinet discussion about American Jewish dissatisfaction over his Palestine policy, Truman exploded, “Jesus Christ couldn’t please them when he was here on earth, so how could anyone expect that I would have any luck?” McCullough himself characterized Truman as “short-tempered.”
Nonetheless, according to McCullough’s biography of Truman (pp.598-599), it was Silver’s intemperate demeanor that helped provoke the president’s anger at the American Zionist movement: “Particularly offensive to Truman was the attitude of Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver…At one point during a meeting in Truman’s office, Silver had hammered on Truman’s desk and shouted at him.”
This anecdote shows up in many books and articles about the period. It is often cited as evidence that the obnoxious, belligerent Silver–as the face of obnoxious, belligerent American Jews in general–endangered the entire Zionist enterprise through his outrageous attempt to intimidate the president of the United States. The story is presented as an indictment not only of Silver the man, but of the very idea of forthright Jewish political behavior.
The claim that Silver pounded on the president’s desk and yelled at him always struck me as implausible. Rabbi Silver was a passionate man, but he knew how to comport himself in meetings with the president of the United States and other government officials.
Sure enough, my investigation of the source for the alleged incident quickly raised more questions than it answered. McCullough’s sole source was the aforementioned “terror and Silver” memo, which does not mention any fist-pounding or yelling.
So I checked Truman’s daily calendar to see when the alleged incident might have taken place.
Get thej.ca a Pro Israel Voice by Email. Never miss a top story that effects you, your family & your community
Silver visited the White House just twice during Truman’s presidency, on September 29, 1945, and July 2, 1946. But he did not go by himself.
Silver was accompanied by Stephen Wise on the first visit, and by Wise, as well as Zionist officials Nahum Goldmann and Louis Lipsky, on the second. Meaning that if Silver had indeed “hammered” on the president’s desk and screamed at him on either occasion, there would have been eyewitnesses.
It happens that Wise, Goldmann and Lipsky were bitter rivals of Silver. Surely they would have mentioned an incident that would have vindicated their view of him. Yet their autobiographies, published letters, and private correspondence say nothing on the subject. Goldmann, in his memoir, did assert of Silver that “there was something of the terrorist in his manner and bearing.” But he did not mention any fist-pounding to illustrate Silver’s supposedly terroristic nature.
Nor, by the way, did President Truman mention it in his own published memoir.
Several other books which relate the alleged fist-pounding cite a different third-hand source: an obscure book (a history of a Kansas synagogue) that quoted Elinor Borenstine, the daughter of Truman’s Jewish friend and business partner, Eddie Jacobson.
So I telephoned Mrs. Borenstine for clarification. It turned out that she had been relying on a 1968 essay by her father, in which he reported that Truman once complained to him about “how disrespectful and how mean certain Jewish leaders had been to him.” Jacobson wrote nothing about any fist-pounding or shouting. In fact, he did he not mention Silver by name.
Interestingly, however, there is another anecdote from that period, based on a stronger source, that involves some “hammering” of fists—but it was Truman who was doing the hammering.
Abba Hillel Silver was a Reform Rabbi in Cleveland and an active Zionist leader in the United States. He played a key role in Zionist fundraising, education and political action throughout the 1930s and 40s. In 1945, he became the president of the Zionist Organization of America. On May 5, 1947, Silver addressed the UN as a part of a Jewish Agency delegation that included David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Sharett, and Nahum Goldman. (Caption and Photo: Israeld.org)
Syndicated columnist Drew Pearson, a widely respected investigative journalist, reported on March 10, 1948 that Truman had lost his temper during a recent conversation about Palestine with “a New York publisher.” (He was referring to Ted Thackrey of the New York Post.)
Pearson wrote: “Pounding his desk, [Truman] used words that can’t be repeated about ‘the (blank) New York Jews’. ‘They’re disloyal to their country. Disloyal!’, he cried.”
President Truman denied the story, but Pearson stood his ground.
Is it possible that Truman, in his complaints to Eddie Jacobson or others about “disrespectful” Jewish behavior, was actually projecting something of his own intemperate ways?
Whatever the answer, one thing is clear: David McCullough got it all wrong.
His biography, Truman, was a best-seller. It won rave reviews. It was even made into an HBO movie. But McCullough’s careless accusation against an American Zionist leader, made without any documentation, reminds us that even Pulitzer Prize winners can sometimes make mistakes—serious ones.
As published in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles – August 11, 2022
Dr.Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies; his most recent book is The Jews Should Keep Quiet: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and the Holocaust.
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Click an icon above to share, email, or save this article
Read More
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.
We do news differently!
Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.
We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.
But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!
Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.
Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.
We thank you for your ongoing support.
Happy reading!
Sponsored Content
LATEST ARTICLES
cOMING SOON…….
Breaking News
Recent
Features
News
Current Events
Opinions
Politics
Religion
Culture
Memoriam and Obituaries
PodcastS
Subscribe Now
Receive the latest in community & international Jewish news direct to your inbox