Because everything must come to an end, what seemed
permanent not long ago, now appears to be fraying at the edges. You can see
this phenomenon in the article that came under the title: “The Folly of
Excusing FDR on the Holocaust,” and the subtitle: “Two new books give him
credit where it isn't due.” The article was written by Rafael Medoff and
published on June 5, 2018 in The Weekly Standard.
As indicated by the title and subtitle of the article,
Medoff is responding to two authors, each of whom wrote a book about Franklin
Delano Roosevelt's (FDR) handling of the Jewish situation during the Second
World War. The norm up to now had been that everything pertaining to the
Holocaust was so sacred, messing with it would not only kill you faster than
touching the proverbial “third rail,” it would vaporize you instantly and send
you into exile out of the galaxy if not the universe itself.
Given that the Holocaust happened when FDR was President of
the United States, the Jewish habit had been to blame him for not preventing
the Holocaust, or at least attempting to end it sooner than he did. And during
all the time that FDR was being criticized by the Jews, there was never a hint
that no one – FDR included – had the duty to rank the Jews priority number one.
On the contrary, the prevailing view was that prioritizing the needs of the
Jews was the number one duty of the American President.
But the reality on the ground, on the seas and in the air
was that America's engagement in two simultaneous wars around the globe, kept
everyone busy trying to make the best use of the available resources. The truth
is that the Second World War was a matter of life and death not only for the
Jews, but for America too. Therefore, it was natural for FDR to consider
America his number one priority, and that he would follow it with the rest of
the world, which included the Jews.
Now, three quarters of a century later, after the banishment
into permanent exile of countless honest gentiles who tried to do justice to
the historical record, two young historians, Rebecca Erbelding and Barry
Trachtenberg felt enough shame for what their elders had done, they stood up
and said enough was enough. They decided to look into the role that FDR played
in the war, and when done, reported on what they discovered, not what they were
told they must discover and must write about.
The independence of those two is what incensed Rafael
Medoff. He took them on and criticized their books: Rebecca Erbelding's “Rescue
Board” and Barry Trachtenberg's “The United States and the Nazi Holocaust.” To
that end, he cited the three claims (he calls them excuses) that were made over
the years to exonerate FDR from the charge of what he likes to think was a
dereliction of duty on the part of an American President.
Reading Medoff's account of the war years, you get the
impression that he feels FDR should have dropped everything he was doing and
worked exclusively to (1) rescue the Jews and (2) bomb Auschwitz and (3) buck
the American Congress and public opinion to do what was right.
(1) With regard to the subject of rescuing the Jews, Medoff
claims that FDR was at first opposed to the establishment of a War Refugee
Board, but was made to change his mind because the Senate was about to take a
vote on the matter. This was Medoff's response to Rebecca Erbelding's assertion
that FDR needed no convincing to establish such a board.
(2) With regard to the subject of bombing the Auschwitz gas
chambers and the railways leading to them, FDR does not feature in this affair.
The controversy seems centered on the wishes and doings of the War Department,
and yet, Rafael Medoff pinned the failure to carry out that mission on FDR.
(3) With regard to the subject of FDR bucking the Congress
and public opinion, here is what Medoff first said: “The Roosevelt
administration claimed that even if the president wanted to help, his hands
were tied by Congress and public opinion.” But he later said that FDR did the
right thing because he was scared by a looming Senate vote on the matter. Make
of it what you wish.