April 8, 1943 The USA Restricts Entry of Jewish Refugees

In the midst of months of mass terror against Jews in Rumania, Cavendish W. Cannon of the State Department’s Division of European Affairs spelled out the reasons why the United States should not support a proposal to move 300,000 Jews out of Rumania to safety in Syria or Palestine. He specified, among other problems, that

‘endorsement of such a plan [was] likely to bring about new pressure for asylum in the western hemisphere’ and that, because atrocities were also under way in Hungary ‘a migration of the Rumanian Jews would therefore open the question of similar treatment for Jews in Hungary and, by extension, all countries where there has been intense persecution.’  Cannon added, ‘so far as I know we are not ready to tackle the whole Jewish problem.’

Source: Wyman, David. The Abandonment of the Jews. P 98-100; New York Times April 8, 1943; MD 88II/48-9, Cabinet Com on Refs, 5/31/44; FR 1941, v 2, 875-6, Alexander to Long, 5/7/43; Reams to Stettinius, 10/8/43, BLP, B202 Refs.