In some ways, Franklin Roosevelt was undoubtedly a visionary leader in his time. But, tragically, as far as saving Jews from the Holocaust, he seems to have succumbed to the anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant sentiment then rampant in the USA. To quote from Wyman’s painful-to-read but indispensable book:
“Two or three clear statements from Franklin Roosevelt [in late 1942] would have moved this news [of Hitler’s plan to annihilate the Jews] into public view and kept it there for some time. But the President was not so inclined, nor did Washington reporters press him. In retrospect, it seems almost unbelievable that in Roosevelt’s press conferences (normally held twice a week) not one word was spoken about the mass killing of European Jews until almost a year later. The President had nothing to say to reporters on the matter, and no correspondent asked him about it.”
lessthanamegabyte 