Harry Truman and the recognition of the State of Israel. Historical documents / Gniewomir Pieńkowski

Co-existence of the Jewish and Arab Nation was doomed to change into a conflict because in the past and nowadays these two nations claimed their rights to the same part of territory and their own holy places. It was the reason why in the 19th and 20th century the confrontation of civilization took place in the Middle East. Morever, the Arab and the Jewish people began cooperation with France and Great Britain, which gave them hopes to establish an independent Arab and Jewish country. In spite of the hopes given to both countries the western powers' main goal was to intentionally antagonize both sides of the conflict and never fulfill their promises.

In the pre- mandatory time the conflict began strengthening. The First World War strenghtened the disruption between the Arab Nation and Jewish immigrants. The Second World War did not bring a solution to the Arab – Jewish conflict in Palestine either. On the contrary, the war and terror intensified.

The hotbed of the fierce conflict which turned into the war was establishing an independent State of Israel in 1948. The young country became an icon of democracy and the guard of western powers' interests (especially American). The Cold War put the local Arab – Jewish conflict in international dimension which was interpreted as a clash between American Imperialism represented by Israel and Arab Independence Movement supported by USSR. The Middle East affairs clearly influenced the construction of the American “Surrounding Doctrine” of the USSR. That was the time when military base were installed in fundamental countries like Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The grounds of the political and social system and structures of governments were created in 1948. The work on the country constitution was postponed because of the military operation led by Israel Defence Forces (IDF) from the first part of May 1948. The Arab countries have never accepted Israel even though in 1948 -149 Israel was approved by fifty countries and in May 1949 it joined the United Nations (UN).

Military struggle in the State of Israel began in 1947 directly after announcing the UN resolution. At the same time riots started to appear on the Palestine territory which transformed into a domestic war between Jewish and Arab people. In January 1948 the Arab – Jewish conflict reached panarabian dimension. That was the time when Israel began its fight for survival. Israel Army revised its strategy. The situation was getting worse and worse. On May 15 in 1948 Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, Iraqi and Egyptian armies invaded the State of Israel one day before its proclamation.

In this publication I presented materials from Harry Truman Archives. They show the previously mentioned historical events in Israel from the US government prospect. I hope that, this publication will look at the Middle East Conflict and American – Israeli relations from a new perspective and become contribution to a numerous of valuable research.

1. Correspondence between Senator Harry S. Truman and others re: creation of Jewish Army (May 7, 1943) 7

2. Edward Stettinius to Harry S. Truman(April 18, 1945) 20

3. Joseph Grew to Harry S. Truman (May 1, 1945) 22

4. Joseph Grew to Harry S. Truman (May 28,1945) 26

5. Samuel Rosenman to Harry S. Truman (October 17, 1945) 28

6. Statement by President (November 13, 1945) 31

7. Proposal, Lessing J. Rosenwald to Harry S. Truman (December 4, 1945) 34

8. Loy Henderson to Matthew Connelly (December 11, 1945) 38

9. Press Release (January 7, 1946) 41

10. Executive Order 9682 ( January 19, 1946) 45

11. Correspondence between Emanuel Celler and Harry S. Truman (March 20, 1946) 48

12. David Niles to Matthew Connelly (May 1, 1946) 52

13. Assorted Members of the U.S. Senate to Harry S. Truman (June 20, 1946) 54

14. Joint Chiefs of Staff to State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (June 21, 1946) 58

15. Prime Minister Attlee to Harry S. Truman (July 25, 1946) 61

16. Correspondence between William L. Clayton and Harry S. Truman (September 12, 1946) 63

17. David Niles to Harry S. Truman (May 12, 1947) 69

18. Harry S. Truman diary entry (July 21, 1947) 72

19. Correspondence between Harry S. Truman and Eddie Jacobson (October 8, 1947) 76

20. Correspondence between Elbert Thomas and Harry S. Truman (November 15, 1947) 80

21. Memo, re: de jure recognition of Israel (ca. 1948) 83

22. Memo from Frank P. Corrigan, summary of Palestine Problem (ca. 1948) 95

23. Draft of "The Position of the United States with Respect to Palestine" (February 17, 1948) 98

24. Harry S. Truman to Eddie Jacobson (February 27, 1948) 112

25. Correspondence between Francis J. Myers and Harry S. Truman (March 4, 1948) 114

26. Robert Nathan to Robert Lovett (March 24, 1948) 118

27. Statement by the President (March 25, 1948) 123

28. Anonymous paper re: General Marshall and negotiation with Jews (March 26, 1948) 125

29. Action on the General Assembly's Resolution and Draft of proposed remarks by Ambassador Austin (April 19, 1948) 130

30. Freda Kirchwey to Chaim Weizmann (April 20, 1948) 145

31. Max Lowenthal to Clark Clifford (ca. May, 1948) 147

32. Correspondence between Arthur Klein and Harry S. Truman (May 3, 1948) 154

33. Robert McClintock to Clark Clifford (May 4, 1948) 160

34. Correspondence between Dean Alfange, Harry Vaughan, and Harry S. Truman ( May 5, 1948) 173

35. Moshe Shertok to George C. Marshall (May 7, 1948) 178

36. Assorted members of the House of Representatives to Harry S. Truman (May 7, 1948) 180

37. Memo of conversation with Dean Rusk (May 8, 1948) 186

38. Memo supporting a Statement by Truman recognizing Israel (May 9, 1948) 189

39. Telegram, Philip J. Schupler to Harry S. Truman (May 9, 1948) 198

40. Freda Kirchwey to Harry S. Truman(May 10, 1948) 202

41. Correspondence between Bartley C. Crum and Harry S. Truman (May 11, 1948) 208

42. Department of State to Harry S. Truman (May 11, 1948) 212

43. Harry S. Truman to Joseph Guffey, with attatchedcorrespondence (May 12, 1948) 215

44. Diary of Eben Ayers, pages 97-100 (May 12, 1948) 218

45. Correspondence between Rabbi Samuel Thurman and Harry S. Truman (May 13, 1948) 224

46. Correspondence between Chaim Weizmann and Harry S. Truman (May 13, 1948) 230

47. Correspondence between Eliahu Epstein, Chaim Weizmann, and Harry S. Truman, with relatedmaterial (May 14, 1948) 234

48. Copy of Cable, Eliahu Epstein to MosheShertok (May 14, 1948) 247

49. Draft of recognition of Israel (May 14, 1948) 249

50. Eliahu Epstein to Harry S. Truman with attatchments re: recognition of Israel (May 14, 1948) 251

51. Correspondencebetween James Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (May 15, 1948) 256

52. Marshall Carter to MatthewConnelly, with attachedtelegraphmessage, Warren Austin to George Marshall (May 20, 1948) 259

53. Chaim Weizmann to Harry S. Truman (May 26, 1948) 264

54. Map, "PalestineMilitarySituation (June 11, 1948) 266

55. Memo and pressrelease, Robert Lovett to Harry S. Truman (June 15, 1948) 268

56. Freda Kirchwey to Harry S. Truman (June 19, 1948) 272

57. David Niles to Clark Clifford, with attachment (June 21, 1948) 275

58. David Niles to Matthew J. Connelly (July 21, 1948) 281

59. Samuel Rosenman to Clark Clifford (July 30, 1948) 286

60. Sol Bloom to Harry S. Truman (August 3, 1948) 289

61. Edward Jacobson to Chaim Weizmann (August 6, 1948) 294

62. Correspondence between Eliahu Epstein and Clark Clifford (August 9, 1948) 296

63. George Marshall to Harry S. Truman (August 16, 1948) 300

64. Telegrams between Robert Lovett, George Marshall, and Harry S. Truman (ca. September, 1948) 304

65. George Marshall to Harry S. Truman (September 8, 1948) 311

66. Memo to George Marshall and Explanatory notes by William Franklin (September 11, 1948) 315

67. Telegram, McDonald to Secretary of State (September 12, 1948 ) 323

68. Telegram, Bart Crum to Clark Clifford (September 28, 1948 ) 328

69. Telegram, Freda Kirchwey to J. Howard McGrath (October 1, 1948) 330

70. Telegram, Clark Clifford to Harry S. Truman (October 23, 1948) 333

71. Copy, Harry S. Truman to Chaim Weizmann (November 29, 1948) 335

72. Harry S. Truman to Chaim Weizmann (November 29, 1948) 338

73. Draft telegram from to American Embassy, Tel Aviv (ca. 1949) 341

74. Press Release ( January 31, 1949) 347

75. Telegram, McDonald to Dean Acheson (February 8, 1949) 349

76. Dean Acheson to Harry S. Truman (February 16, 1949) 351

77. Map, "Palestine Military Situation" (April 6, 1949) 353

78. Chaim Weizmann to Harry S. Truman (June 24, 1949) 355

79. Eddie Jacobson to Josef Cohn (April 1, 1952) 360

80. Chronology of eventsrelating to Palestine and the recognition of Israel, 1945-1949 by Eddie Jacobson, with notes by Frank Adler (July 28, 1974) 376