Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust [Paperback]

Impossible for me to agree with the Cohen review. Franklin D Roosevelt was as interested in saving the Jews as I am in saving the Australian Funnel-Web Spider. Why, if FDR claimed that so "many of my friends are Jewish", was he busy during the pre-war years lobbying to keep Jews out of Harvard? That alone is an indication of his aims - leaving aside the manner in which America - led by FDR - watched while most of Europe's Jews were stripped of citizenship, livelihood, professions, all human dignity; then starved, ghettoized, and finally murdered in cold blood. Wake up: This man and his people allowed 75% of Europe's Jews to be annihilated while they certainly had more than enough power to stop the persecution and the process. Sheila McLaren.

There has long been a myth that Franklin D. Roosevelt in effect ignored the Jews of Europe in 1933-45 when in fact he might well have saved most of them. Older books that treat with the topic have developed this myth to the point that it has become a "popular fact," along with the one about knowing in advance about Pearl Harbor, or giving Eastern Europe away to Stalin without a fight. FDR was hardly perfect and had some serious failures mixed with his monumental successes; but the "popular facts" mentioned above are blatant rubbish, and in the case of the salvation of the Jews, Robert N. Rosen has made a major contribution to the debunking process. (Fortunately, newer general biographies of FDR - e.g. those by Jean Arthur Smith and Conrad Black (both very much worth reading) - are no longer repeating these shabby legends, but they persist nonetheless.)

Rosen's is primarily a scholarly approach: Citations abound and the references used comprise a formidable list indeed. And on that basis alone this is a magnificent first encounter with its topic, especially for one who has the interest and resources to pursue the matter further via the bibliographic material. Though not particularly even-handed in its treatment, Rosen's book nevertheless is very clear when it comes to what Roosevelt tried to do, what he in fact achieved and what he didn't, and in each case why things went as they did. And Rosen is not above faulting FDR in matters where Rosen feels there is fault, though he hardly belabors these elements (as he does in a few cases of the opposite assessment).

But the book is not overly well written for general reading; the style is abrupt, sometimes fairly mechanical, occasionally repetitious, and too often a bit awkward when viewed primarily from a literary vantage. In short, Rosen is a brilliant scholar and a magnificent researcher; he is not however a terribly good writer. (Lord Black has somewhat the same problem in his monumental biography, but not even remotely on the same level.)

In addition there are a few proof-reading lapses that it would be well to fix, lest readers who know better confuse errors of minutiae with errors of real substance. As examples, Governor Herbert Lehman was not "Herman" (p.21); Vice-President John Nance Garner was not "James" (p.135); and Robert H. Jackson was not one of the judges at the Nuremberg Tribunal, he was the chief prosecutor (p.206).

In summary, Rosen's book is a superb treatment of its topic in terms of depth of fact and support for the material, and in solidly-researched debunking of persistent myths that really ought never to have been allowed to grow in the first place. Rosen's work could, however, do with a bit of touch-up in places, and perhaps a bit of help with the mechanics of narrative would have made it a smoother read for the non-scholar.

I've just finished reading "Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust." Therefore, I'm taken aback by the biases some reviewers bring to their critiques of Robert Rosen's invaluable dissertation which provides a comprehensive examination of the voluminous records. For example, it would be interesting to know who wrote the "Reed Business Information" review ignoring historical details that refute the premises of anti-Roosevelt books such as David Wyman's now discredited "The Abandonment of the Jews." It shows that if you're an anti-Roosevelt partisan, the facts don't stand in your way. The Reed review is antithetical to the far more objective analysis by Jay Freeman for the American Library Association. The two cannot be reconciled. "Saving the Jews: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Holocaust" is essential reading for any serious student of this tragic chapter in world history. No one with an open mind can hereafter dispute FDR's long-standing dedication to the Jewish people and his efforts to save as many as he could from Hitler's madness.