Prelude to Catastrophe: FDR's Jews and the Menace of Nazism. By RobertShogan. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2010. 312 pp.

Abstract

Prelude Catastrophe: and the Menace of Nazism. By Robert Shogan. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee, 2010. 312 pp. In Prelude Catastrophe: and the Menace of Nazism, Robert Shogan critiques the failure of American Jewish leaders prod the Roosevelt administration into stronger action on behalf of Jewish victims of the Third Reich. The book is organized as a series of brief biographies focused on the Jewish leaders who had the most access Franklin D. Roosevelt: Louis D. Brandeis, progressive reformer and Supreme Court Justice; Felix Frankfurter, Harvard law professor, talent-spotter for the Roosevelt administration, and eventually a Supreme Court Justice; Samuel Rosenman, FDR speechwriter and political confidante; Benjamin Cohen, White House legislative assistant and architect of important New Deal legislation; Rabbi Stephen Wise, prominent spokesman for American Jews; and Henry Morgenthau, Roosevelt's neighbor, friend, and Secretary of the Treasury. Shogan identifies four failures of FDR's Jews and of the larger American Jewish community. First, too often backed away from organized protests and boycotts out of fear of intensifying anti-Semitism or losing influence with the Roosevelt administration. Shogan claims that other New Deal political constituencies, such as labor unions and African Americans, extracted the best results from the administration when they resorted protests or the threat of demonstrations. Second, he holds that should have worked harder convince the American public that Hitler's regime harmed not only Jews, but threatened all of Western Civilization (p. 225). Third, he writes that advocates for Jewish refugees failed mount an effective rebuttal the claims that increasing immigration quotas would worsen unemployment. Finally, the biggest mistake of American Jewish leaders was let the president take their electoral support for granted. Shogan's Roosevelt governed by temporizing and dissembling (p. 163). His failure to lead the public in the proper direction.., doomed hopes that he would deal effectively with the Jewish refugee crisis (p. 165). Roosevelt allowed the State Department keep immigration quotas unfilled, and ignored creative proposals such as Harold Ickes' suggestion open up Alaska refugees. In one of his last acts as president, FDR betrayed a promise the Jewish community and pledged King Saud that he would oppose efforts create a Jewish state in Palestine. Shogan sees Brandeis, Frankfurter, Rosenman, and Wise failing speak truth power. In varying degrees, all four men acted too timidly, fearful of undermining their own clout with the president. Cohen, convinced that he could do little modify indifference the Jews, instead worked gain passage of measures such as the Destroyer-for-Bases Deal, which would help Great Britain stay in the war against Hitler. Only Morgenthau took the kind of action that the situation required. …