The Jews Should Keep Quiet

Based on recently discovered documents, The Jews Should Keep Quiet reassesses the hows and whys behind the Franklin D. Roosevelt administrations fateful policies during the Holocaust. Rafael Medoff delves into difficult truths: With FDRs consent, the administration deliberately suppressed European immigration far below the limits set by U.S. law. His administration also refused to admit Jewish refugees to the U.S. Virgin Islands, dismissed proposals to use empty Liberty ships returning from Europe to carry refugees, and rejected pleas to drop bombs on the railways leading to Auschwitz, even while American planes were bombing targets only a few miles awayactions that would not have conflicted with the larger goal of winning the war. What motivated FDR? Medoff explores the sensitive question of the presidents private sentiments toward Jews. Unmasking strong parallels between Roosevelts statements regarding Jews and Asians, he connects the administrations policies of excluding Jewish refugees and interning Japanese Americans. The Jews Should Keep Quiet further reveals how FDRs personal relationship with Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, American Jewrys foremost leader in the 1930s and 1940s, swayed the U.S. response to the Holocaust. Documenting how Roosevelt and others pressured Wise to stifle American Jewish criticism of FDRs policies, Medoff chronicles how and why the American Jewish community largely fell in line with Wise. Ultimately Medoff weighs the administrations realistic options for rescue action, which, if taken, would have saved many lives.