November 18, 1938 The Jewish Refugee Deception of President D. Roosevelt

“Now that Ambassador Lindsay had logged a complaint, however, [e.g. Secretary of State Cordell] Hull had no choice but to call his ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, father of President John F. Kennedy on the carpet and inquire of him, for the first time, precisely what he had been doing. Kennedy responded without apology that he had, that past Sunday, at luncheon with Colonial Secretary Malcolm MacDonald discussed:

‘Among other subjects … Palestine and the atrocities in Germany. I asked him why in heaven’s name England did not show more interest as she had all the land and if she offered some of it,’ it would be easier to negotiate an agreement with the Germans and raise private moneys for resettlement. ‘I told him it looked to me that everyone was feeling sorry for the Jews but that nobody was offering any solution.’

Kennedy insisted that he had not informed the State Department about the discussions because nothing concrete had come of them. ‘If I had any news of any description concerning this matter which I thought would be of interest to you, you would have had it as you always do from me.

“If I have made any contribution it is that I have urged the British to do something quickly … but then I have been doing that for four months.”

Source: JPK to SS, Nov. 18, 1938, PSF 31, FDRL; David Nasaw, The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy