Israel Independence Day-How Harry Truman Helped God Perform A Miracle

The Jewish State's existence would have been very short-livedThis President didn't make this decision because of politics, but like so many of Truman's policies, he supported Israel because he thought it was the right thing to do. Of course, some attributed Truman's stance to something else.

Based on the Democratic Party's move away from support of the Jewish State over the past decade, it may be reasonable to believe that if  Harry Truman tried to overrule the popular Marshall today, the Democratic party of Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Reps Omar and Tlaib, and the Farrakhan supporting Congressional Black Caucus might try to impeach their own President. At the very least, they would certainly vehemently object. The Democrats might even have tried to negate the U.N. Partition Plan, as most in the State Department recommended to Truman in 1948.  But a move like repealing the partition plan wasn't Harry Truman's style.

"What I am trying to do is make the whole world safe for Jews," Harry Truman wrote as he agonized over his decision to recognize a Jewish state and end the British Mandate over Palestine,

Secretary of State George Marshall (Time's 1947 Man of the Year) was an international hero who was just as opposed to the creation of Israel just as forcefully as Truman, was for it. Truman who became president after FDR died, had no voter base and was infinitely less popular than Marshall.

Clark M. Clifford, Special Counsel to the president, remembered the internal Truman administration fight regarding the recognition of the Jewish State, and the final discussion in the Oval Office. The meeting turned out to be a fierce battle with Clifford and the President on one side, Marshall and Undersecretary of State Robert Lovett on the other.  Undersecretary of State Lovett first argued Truman was supporting Israel solely for political gain and he warned the President the move would lose more votes than it would gain.

When that didn't work, Lovett tried another approach -the red scare ( in other words, those Jews are a bunch of commies).

Clark Clifford, who recommended that the President recognize the nascent State recalled the argument:

Mr. President, to recognize the Jewish state prematurely would be buying a pig in a poke. How do we know what kind of Jewish state will be set up? We have many reports from British and American intelligence agents that Soviets are sending Jews and Communist agents into Palestine from the Black Sea area.

Lovett read some of these intelligence reports to the group. Clifford said he found them ridiculous, and no evidence ever turned up to support them; in fact, Jews were fleeing communism throughout Eastern Europe at that very moment.”

Marshall Threatens Truman

When Lovett was done speaking, it was the "hero" Marshall's turn.  Clifford described the remarks:

I had noticed Marshall’s face reddening with suppressed anger as I talked. When I finished, he exploded: “Mr. President, I thought this meeting was called to consider an important and complicated problem in foreign policy. I don’t even know why Clifford is here. He is a domestic adviser, and this is a foreign policy matter.”

I would never forget President Truman’s characteristically simple reply: “Well, General, he’s here because I asked him to be here.”

Marshall, scarcely concealing his ire, shot back, “These considerations have nothing to do with the issue. I fear that the only reason Clifford is here is that he is pressing a political consideration with regard to this issue. I don’t think politics should play any part in this.”

Lovett chirped in by accusing Truman of only trying to get the Jewish vote (a charge that angered Truman to his dying day).

“It would be highly injurious to the United Nations to announce the recognition of the Jewish state even before it had come into existence and while the General Assembly is still considering the question. [At the time the UN was considering withdrawel of the partition plan]  Furthermore, such a move would be injurious to the prestige of the President. It is obviously designed to win the Jewish vote, but in my opinion, it would lose more votes than it would gain.” Lovett had finally brought to the surface the root cause of Marshall’s fury – his view that the position I presented was dictated by domestic political considera­tions, specifically a quest for Jewish votes.

Marshall piped in with a political threat:

He was still furious. Speaking with barely contained rage and more than a hint of self-righ­teousness, he made the mostremarkablethreat Clifford says he ever heard anyone make directly to a President:

“If you follow Clifford’s advice and if I were to vote in the election, I would vote against you.

Everyone in the room was stunned. Here was the indispensable symbol of continuity [from FDR] whom President Truman revered and needed, making a threat that, if it became public, could virtually seal the dissolution of the Truman Administration and send the Western Alliance, then in the process of creation, into disarray before it had been fully structured.

Marshall’s statement fell short of an explicit threat to resign, but it came very close. General Marshall’s position was grossly unfair.

Israel Is Declared And Truman Acts

But Truman's mind was made up– he was going to do the right thing. At 4 p.m. Friday, May 14, 1948, just before the start of the Jewish Sabbath, David Ben Gurion read a 979-word declaration of independence in front of a small audience at the Tel Aviv Art Museum (see video below). He finished in his usual terse manner. "The State of Israel is established! The meeting is ended."

A few hours later, at midnight, British rule over Palestine lapsed--11 minutes later White House spokesman Charlie Ross announced U.S. recognition.

How Did Israel Get Its Name?

Notice how Truman first wrote "new Jewish State" and then crossed it out and hand wrote "new state of Israel'? That's because no one knew what the new state's name would be.  According to Martin Kramer, other contenders included

• Judea- "The geographic Judea was too small, and not slated to be in the state," and its citizens would be known as Yehudim which is the Hebrew name for Jews.  That wouldn't sit well with the Arab residents.
• Zion-"Zion is the name of a hill overlooking Jerusalem" Per the original UN partition plan it was an internationally controlled city (which ended up being controlled by Jordan from 1948-1967). Also if named Zion, there would be confusion between the people who supported establishing a Jewish state in the holy land (Zionists) and the actual residents of the new state.
• Ever- Someone proposed “Ever”—the root of the word “Ivri,” which means Hebrew. That option had no supporters (thank God!)

Two days before the news state was declared the cabinet-in waiting, known as  the People’s Administration took a vote:

It was Mr. Ben-Gurion who first suggested “Israel.” It seemed strange at the beginning, and the proposal was received coolly. But members tried pronouncing “Israel Government,” “Israel Army,” “Israel citizen,” “Israel consul” to see how it sounded. Most were unenthusiastic, but there were only 48 hours left and much urgent work to be done, and the matter was put to a vote. Seven of the ten members present voted for “Israel."

Truman Honored As A Tool of God

When Israel's Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog visited the White House after Israel's independence declaration, he told Truman, "God put you in your mother's womb so that you would be the instrument to bring the rebirth of Israel after 2000 years."

In 1961 long after he was out of office, Truman met with Israeli PM David Ben Gurion in N.Y. In writing about the meeting, Ben Gurion explained:

At our last meeting, after a very interesting talk, just before [the President] left me – it was in a New York hotel suite – I told him that as a foreigner I could not judge what would be his place in American history; but his helpfulness to us, his constant sympathy with our aims in Israel, his courageous decision to recognize our new state so quickly and his steadfast support since then had given him an immortal place in Jewish history.

As I said that, tears suddenly sprang to his eyes. And his eyes were still wet when he bade me goodbye. I had rarely seen anyone so moved. I tried to hold him for a few minutes until he had become more composed, for I recalled that the hotel corridors were full of waiting journalists and photographers. He left.

A little while later, I too had to go out, and a correspondent came to me to ask, “Why was President Truman in tears when he left you?” I believe that I know. These were the tears of a man who had been subjected to calumny and vilification, who had persisted against powerful forces within his own Administration determined to defeat him. These were the tears of a man who had fought ably and honorably for a humanitarian goal to which he was deeply committed. These were tears of thanksgiving that his God had seen fit to bless his labors with success.

Truman was a president who judged not whether things would make America popular in the Arab world. His decision was based on whether it was the right thing for the U.S. The man from Independence, Mo. knew the best thing for America's future was to grab the moral leadership position of the entire world.

An Important Partnership For Both Countries

Beyond morality, Truman's recognition was the right move for America

Since the creation of Israel, while the U.S. has provided Israel with vital economic and military support, what most people don't understand is that it is a two-way street. Israel has contributed to American security through counterterrorism training, intelligence sharing, and military innovations as unmanned aerial vehicles and missile defense.

Israel has also shared with Americans advances in the high-tech, medical sectors that have helped maintain American economic competitiveness and communications. Israel's breakthroughs in irrigation technology have helped American farmers to feed the world. There is so much more--but that is a different post.

Today, the political descendants of Harry Truman appease the extreme leftists who have gained control of their party by opposing the Jewish State. Today's Democrat party is controlled by anti-Israel leftists who may have tried to impeach Truman if he decided to recognize the new State of Israel today, or maybe they would only try to "string him up."

But thankfully, as part of the miracle of the reestablishment of the Jewish State after two-thousand years, God put Harry Truman in the White House to recognize Israel.

Below is a video of Israel's National Anthem, Hatikvah which means The Hope.  The creation of the Jewish State of Israel seventy-three years ago was the culmination of two thousand years of hope and prayers by the Jewish people. And it's also proof that God still does miracles.

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