S Foreign Policy Toward Jewish Refugees During 1933-1939.
PART I HISTORICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS.
In reviewing the events which gave rise to the U.S.'s foreign policy.
toward Jewish refugees, we must identify the relevant factors upon which such.
decisions were made. Factors including the U.S. government's policy mechanisms,.
it's bureaucracy and public opinion, coupled with the narrow domestic political.
mindedness of President Roosevelt, lead us to ask; Why was the American.
government apathetic to the point of culpability, and isolationist to the point.
of irresponsibility, with respect to the systematic persecution and annihilation.
of the Jewish people of Europe during the period between 1938-1945?.
Throughout the years of 1933-1939, led by Neville Chamberlain and the.
British, the United States was pursuing a policy of appeasement toward Hitler.
They had tolerated his military build-up and occupation of the Rhineland, both.
violations of the Treaty of Versailles, as well as the annexing of Austria and.
the take-over of the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. Hitler realized early on in.
his expansionist campaign that Western leaders were too busy dealing with their.
own domestic problems to pose any real opposition. In the United States,.
Americans were wrestling with the ravages of the Great Depression. With the.
lingering memory of the more than 300,000 U.S. troops either killed or injured.
in World War I, isolationism was the dominant sentiment in most political.
circles. Americans were not going to be "dragged" into another war by the.
British. The Depression had bred increased xenophobia and anti-Semitism, and.
with upward of 30% unemployment in some industrial areas1, many Americans wanted.
to see immigration halted completely. It was in this context that the.
democratic world, led by the United States, was faced with a refugee problem.
that it was morally bound to deal with. The question then became; what would.
