Truman’s willingness to meet with, and listen to, Weizmann and Jacobson reportedly led him to reject the advice of his secretary of state and White House insiders and to promptly recognize the newborn state of Israel. Roosevelt, on the other hand, refused even to listen to the message the rabbis were bringing to Washington. Like President Obama’s blanket rejection more than 70 years later of Prime Minister Netanyahu, the refusal silences the message by shutting out the messenger.
Reports that later emerged from White House insiders established that Roosevelt – like President Obama and Vice President Biden – did not really have anything important on his schedule to justify his refusal to meet Jewish leaders. Roosevelt sneaked out of the White House through a rear exit rather than meet with the 400 rabbis. His top Jewish adviser and speechwriter Samuel Rosenman told him – much as J Street is now telling President Obama and Congressional Democrats – that he would be best served by avoiding the rabbis.
Rosenman is also reported to have told Nahum Goldmann – co-chairman of the World Jewish Congress – that when Roosevelt heard of the rabbis’ request to meet with him, Roosevelt “had used language that morning while breakfasting which would have pleased Hitler himself.” In his recently revealed correspondence with Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei did Mr. Obama similarly refer to Prime Minister Netanyahu with language that “would have pleased” Khamenei himself?