Additional Contributing Authors Include Otto H. Kahn, Madison Grant, Calvin Coolidge And Others. Journal Of The American Social Science Association, Number 53.

MY MISSION IN ISRAEL 1948-1951 by James G. McDonald First United States Ambassador to Israel SIMON AND SCHUSTER, NEW YORK 1951 To RutH and 3VEY 3VHSSIO3ST For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail working night and day ... i THESSALONIANS 2 9 The Biblical quotations which head each chapter are from the Standard American Edition, Revised Version. J. G. M. Contents BOOK ONE Bombs to Ballots Preface xi I. A Complete Surprise 3 II. Inadequate Briefing 10 III. Bevins Arrogant Distortion 20 IV. Vevey and Rome 28 V. Shalom Welcome 36 VI. Two Violations of Protocol 47 VII. Against Heavy Odds The Organization of a Mission 56 VIII. Bernadotte 65 IX. Terrorists Become Politicians 78 X. Waiting 90 XI. Paris Interlude 100 XII, Crises 114 x CONTENTS BOOK TWO The Fabric Holds XIII. Elections, Knesset, Embassy 131 XIV. The Role of an Ambassador 148 XV. The Calm Before 167 XVI. The May-June Crisis And a Visit Home 181 XVII. Return-And Istanbul Briefing 192 XVIII. The Holy City Abdullah of Jordan 204 XIX. Crowded Months 217 XX. Israel Prepares 225 BOOK THREE The New State XXI. Ben-Gurion Weizmann 241 XXII. Sharett et al.-Natural Leaders 259 XXIII. Isaiah Fulfilled The Ingathering of the Exiles 273 XXIV. The Future 282 Index 299 Preface For as much as many have taken in hand to draw up a narra tive concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, even as they delivered them unto us who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word y it seemed good to me also . . . to write. LUKE 1 1-3 THIS is a personal book a personal report on my experience and impressions during more than two years as the first United States Ambassador to the new State of Israel. The opinionsexpressed are wholly mine no one else has any responsibility for them. I have tried to avoid thrashing out old straw from which so many writers have gleaned rich harvests. Thus I have re frained from retelling the stories of Israels heroic defense, its improvisation of Army, Navy and Air Force, the miracles of transforming deserts into orchards, the spectacular change of the physical face of the land, the beauty of mountain, valley and sea, the rise of communal settlements and of socialized industry. Only the highest literary artistry could advantage ously weave new variations on these well-known themes. I have discreetly avoided them. Whether I have been discreet and helpful in the dissemina tion of knowledge is for the reader to judge. Many who have occupied public office have written books. At what point such writers use of knowledge gained in official position constitutes an indiscretion, an impropriety or worse is often a moot ques tion. For my part I have included only such information as will, in my opinion, be of assistance to our government and people in their dealings with our many complex relations in the Middle East. In those frequent cases where our national interest could Xii MY MISSION IN ISRAEL not be injured, and where public understanding would be increased, I have not hesitated to utilize knowledge gained, from either official or unofficial sources. I have felt justified in using official documents which, though classified as confi dential or even secret, when issued, have since been declassi fied in fact by the passage of time. My personal diary dictated almost daily to my secretary or to my daughter from the time of the Presidents call to duty until my resignationhas been drawn upon frequently to document my recollections of major events. Occasional extracts from the diary are used to give a more vivid impression of the drama in which I played a role. These quotations though not originally intended for publication are given, except for typo graphical corrections, as they were written. My estimates of individuals are personal and are based almost exclusively on my own experience with them...

This volume, the third in a series of James G. McDonald s edited diaries and papers, covers his work from 1945, with the formation of the Anglo-American Committee, through 1947, with the United Nations' decision to partition Palestine between Jews and Arabs. The "Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry Regarding the Problems of European Jewry and Palestine" was a group charged with finding a solution to the problem of European Jewish Refugees in the context of the increasingly unstable British Mandate in Palestine. McDonald s diaries and papers offer the most thorough personal account we have of the Committee and the politics surrounding it. His diary is part travelogue through the desolation of postwar Europe and a Middle East being transformed by new Jewish settlements and growing Arab intransigence. McDonald maintained discreet contact with Zionist and moderate Arab leaders throughout the Committee s hearings and deliberations. He was instrumental in the recommendation that 100,000 Jewish refugees enter Palestine and won President Truman s trust in order to counter attempts to nullify the report s recommendations."

New evidence presented in Refugees and Rescue challenges widely held opinions about Franklin D. Roosevelt's views on the rescue of European Jews before and during the Holocaust. The struggles of presidential confidant James G. McDonald, who resigned as League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 1935, and his allies to transfer many of the otherwise doomed are disclosed here for the first time. Although McDonald's efforts as chairman of FDR's advisory committee on refugees from May 1938 until nearly the end of the war were hampered by the pervasive antisemitic attitudes of those years, fears about security, and changing presidential wartime priorities, tens of thousands did find haven. McDonald's 1935 1936 diary entries and the other primary sources presented here offer new insights into these conflicts and into Roosevelt's inconsistent attitudes toward the "Jewish question" in Europe.

Following the lauded Advocate for the Doomed (IUP, 2007), this is the second of a projected three-volume work that will significantly revise views of the Holocaust, its antecedents, and its aftermath."

The private diary of James G. McDonald (1886 1964) offers a unique and hitherto unknown source on the early history of the Nazi regime and the Roosevelt administration s reactions to Nazi persecution of German Jews. Considered for the post of U.S. ambassador to Germany at the start of FDR s presidency, McDonald traveled to Germany in 1932 and met with Hitler soon after the Nazis came to power. Fearing Nazi intentions to remove or destroy Jews in Germany, in 1933 he became League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and sought aid from the international community to resettle outside the Reich Jews and others persecuted there. In late 1935 he resigned in protest at the lack of support for his work.

This is the eagerly awaited first of a projected three-volume work that will significantly revise the ways that scholars and the world view the antecedents of the Holocaust, the Shoah itself, and its aftermath."