In poor health two months before his death, Franklin Roosevelt met with King Abdul Aziz ibm Saud on the USS Quincy in the Suez Canal on February 14, 1945.
Later, on April 5, 1945, Roosevelt wrote to King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, promising that as long as he was President, America would not recognize a Jewish State: "I communicated to you the attitude of the American Government toward Palestine ... that no decision be taken ...
I assured you that I would take no action, in my capacity as Chief of the Executive ... with regard to the question of Palestine ... The policy of this Government ... is unchanged."
Within a week of making this promise, the ailing Roosevelt died.
Meanwhile . . .
The next Chief of the Executive was President Harry S Truman.
He immediately proceeded with plans to recognize the State of Israel.
In his Memoirs-Volume Two: Years of Trial and Hope, published in 1956, Harry S. Truman stated:
"When I was in the Senate, I had told my colleagues, Senator Wagner of New York and Senator Taft of Ohio, that I would go along on a resolution putting the Senate on record in favor of the speedy achievement of the Jewish homeland."
President Truman commented at a Press Conference (New York Times, August 17, 1945):
"The American view on Palestine is that we want to let as many of the Jews into Palestine as it is possible."
President Truman wrote to Winston Churchill, July 24, 1945:
"The drastic restrictions imposed on the Jewish immigration by the British White Paper of May, 1939, continue to provoke passionate protest from Americans most interested in Palestine and in the Jewish problem.
They fervently urge the lifting of these restrictions which deny to Jews, who have been so cruelly uprooted by ruthless Nazi persecutions, entrance into the land which represents for so many of them their only hope of survival."
President Harry S Truman stated, April 3, 1951:
"There is a lesson for us in the passage from the Bible ...
The Book of Ezra describes the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the long captivity in Babylon ...
The writer describes the people shouting with a great shout when the foundation of the new temple was laid ... Some of those in the crowd, particularly the old men, did not shout. They wept ...
These were the men who remembered all the sacrifices -- all the suffering of all the people -- what their people had undergone during the captivity.
They knew that these sacrifices had not been made in vain.
They realized that, in spite of all their troubles, and in the face of overwhelming odds, their faith had prevailed. And so they were too deeply moved to shout; they wept for joy.
They gave thanks to God 'because He is good, for his mercy endureth forever.'"
[Source for this information is Bill Federer www.AmericanMinute.com]
Later, on April 5, 1945, Roosevelt wrote to King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, promising that as long as he was President, America would not recognize a Jewish State: "I communicated to you the attitude of the American Government toward Palestine ... that no decision be taken ...
I assured you that I would take no action, in my capacity as Chief of the Executive ... with regard to the question of Palestine ... The policy of this Government ... is unchanged."
Within a week of making this promise, the ailing Roosevelt died.
Meanwhile . . .
The next Chief of the Executive was President Harry S Truman.
He immediately proceeded with plans to recognize the State of Israel.
In his Memoirs-Volume Two: Years of Trial and Hope, published in 1956, Harry S. Truman stated:
"When I was in the Senate, I had told my colleagues, Senator Wagner of New York and Senator Taft of Ohio, that I would go along on a resolution putting the Senate on record in favor of the speedy achievement of the Jewish homeland."
President Truman commented at a Press Conference (New York Times, August 17, 1945):
"The American view on Palestine is that we want to let as many of the Jews into Palestine as it is possible."
President Truman wrote to Winston Churchill, July 24, 1945:
"The drastic restrictions imposed on the Jewish immigration by the British White Paper of May, 1939, continue to provoke passionate protest from Americans most interested in Palestine and in the Jewish problem.
They fervently urge the lifting of these restrictions which deny to Jews, who have been so cruelly uprooted by ruthless Nazi persecutions, entrance into the land which represents for so many of them their only hope of survival."
President Harry S Truman stated, April 3, 1951:
"There is a lesson for us in the passage from the Bible ...
The Book of Ezra describes the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the long captivity in Babylon ...
The writer describes the people shouting with a great shout when the foundation of the new temple was laid ... Some of those in the crowd, particularly the old men, did not shout. They wept ...
These were the men who remembered all the sacrifices -- all the suffering of all the people -- what their people had undergone during the captivity.
They knew that these sacrifices had not been made in vain.
They realized that, in spite of all their troubles, and in the face of overwhelming odds, their faith had prevailed. And so they were too deeply moved to shout; they wept for joy.
They gave thanks to God 'because He is good, for his mercy endureth forever.'"
[Source for this information is Bill Federer www.AmericanMinute.com]