What do you think?
Rate this book
Prelude to Catastrophe: FDR's Jews and the Menace of Nazism
Franklin Roosevelt was the first great hero of American Jews. FDR's promise of economic and social justice was consonant with the mainstays of Jewish culture and with the ethos of the Old Testament and the prophets. And of course these themes were especially resonant during the desperate days of the Great Depression.
The Jews who so deeply admired Roosevelt made up the richest, most influential Jewish community in the world, leaders in government, commerce, and the arts. Yet by the time Franklin Roosevelt died in office, six million European Jews had been murdered by the Nazis while neither FDR nor American Jews lifted much more than a finger to help them. How did the president, the nation he led, and American Jewry allow this to happen? There is no simple answer, but Robert Shogan seeks a partial explanation by examining the behavior of a handful of Jews, so close to Roosevelt and supposedly so influential that they could be considered "the president's Jews."
Most prestigious was Supreme Court justice Louis D. Brandeis. Next was Felix Frankfurter, Harvard law professor and later Supreme Court justice. Sam Rosenman, FDR's chief speechwriter from the time he was governor of New York. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau was an old Dutchess County neighbor of Roosevelt's. Benjamin V. Cohen crafted the major financial reforms of the early New Deal. Their actions, and often inaction, illuminate the strengths and limits of interest-group politics, the system invented by FDR that dominated American politics for the remainder of the century. Taken broadly, the response of the president's Jews to the Nazi threat illustrates with heartbreaking intensity the dilemma of politics—the conflict between conscience and self-interest, between principle and expediency. With 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.
The Jews who so deeply admired Roosevelt made up the richest, most influential Jewish community in the world, leaders in government, commerce, and the arts. Yet by the time Franklin Roosevelt died in office, six million European Jews had been murdered by the Nazis while neither FDR nor American Jews lifted much more than a finger to help them. How did the president, the nation he led, and American Jewry allow this to happen? There is no simple answer, but Robert Shogan seeks a partial explanation by examining the behavior of a handful of Jews, so close to Roosevelt and supposedly so influential that they could be considered "the president's Jews."
Most prestigious was Supreme Court justice Louis D. Brandeis. Next was Felix Frankfurter, Harvard law professor and later Supreme Court justice. Sam Rosenman, FDR's chief speechwriter from the time he was governor of New York. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau was an old Dutchess County neighbor of Roosevelt's. Benjamin V. Cohen crafted the major financial reforms of the early New Deal. Their actions, and often inaction, illuminate the strengths and limits of interest-group politics, the system invented by FDR that dominated American politics for the remainder of the century. Taken broadly, the response of the president's Jews to the Nazi threat illustrates with heartbreaking intensity the dilemma of politics—the conflict between conscience and self-interest, between principle and expediency. With 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 23, 2013
I started reading this for my capstone paper. I finished the book because it was fascinating. Shogan did a great job with material that could have been dry and boring and made it gripping and interesting to read, not at all boring.
FDR and Hitler both came to their office of power in 1933. Hitler began almost immediately to destroy the Jews. FDR on the other hand surrounded himself with Jews and put them into positions of power in his government. On the surface it would seem that having so many Jews in his inner circle would have made him more likely to take action and help the European Jews, it did not.
Of the Jewish men closest to him, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter (who later became a Supreme Court justice), speech writer Sam Rosenman, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and Rabbi Stephen Wise, only Morgenthau advised action.
The State Department holding back cables with pertinent information, antisemitism in the US and abroad, fear of political fall out and a host of so many other pieces kept FDR and the US from doing something to help a people being systematically exterminated.
I was angry and sad and so very disappointed in the leaders of the time for their inaction and political cowardice.
Francis Perkins tried to get something done but was blocked. It took Morgenthau what he called a terrible 18 months to get anything done but even that came 10 years after the start of Hitler's reign of terror.
This isn't just a dry historical tale, it is relevant and well written. And I didn't feel like it was a bash FDR book, just a laying out of the evidence.
FDR and Hitler both came to their office of power in 1933. Hitler began almost immediately to destroy the Jews. FDR on the other hand surrounded himself with Jews and put them into positions of power in his government. On the surface it would seem that having so many Jews in his inner circle would have made him more likely to take action and help the European Jews, it did not.
Of the Jewish men closest to him, Supreme Court justice Louis Brandeis, Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter (who later became a Supreme Court justice), speech writer Sam Rosenman, Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau and Rabbi Stephen Wise, only Morgenthau advised action.
The State Department holding back cables with pertinent information, antisemitism in the US and abroad, fear of political fall out and a host of so many other pieces kept FDR and the US from doing something to help a people being systematically exterminated.
I was angry and sad and so very disappointed in the leaders of the time for their inaction and political cowardice.
Francis Perkins tried to get something done but was blocked. It took Morgenthau what he called a terrible 18 months to get anything done but even that came 10 years after the start of Hitler's reign of terror.
This isn't just a dry historical tale, it is relevant and well written. And I didn't feel like it was a bash FDR book, just a laying out of the evidence.
March 15, 2026
Fascinating insight into the behind the scenes decisions of two administrations regarding the holocaust. One, while the criminality was beginning and ongoing, and the second, principally after it had concluded.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews