For my "Roosevelt to Reagan" students and anyone else interested in American reaction to the Holocaust

I have just come across the announcement of a symposium that was held in NYC this past Saturday that may answer some of your questions about FDR's inaction on the plight of European Jews during World War II. I only wish I could have gone! Here's the posting copied and in its entirety:

"New research on President Frankin D. Roosevelt's controversial views regarding Jews and other minorities will be presented by scholars at a conference in New York City on September 18, 2011.

The conference, "While Six Million Lived: America and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1939," is the ninth national conference of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies.  It will take place on Sunday, September 18, 2011, at the Fordham University School of Law, 140 West 62 St., New York City, from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Highlights of the conference:

10:00 am - Dr. Rafael Medoff on "FDR, 'Jewish Blood', and Immigration"

10:45 am - A ceremony honoring the leaders of the Virgin Islands for their 1939 effort to aid

Jewish refugees;  U.S. Rep. Donna Christensen (D-Virgin Islands) will accept an award and speak.

11:15 am - Prof. David S. Wyman on "The Search for Havens"

1:00 pm -  "Cartoonists and the Plight of German Jewry, 1933-1939," a panel discussion with cartoon historian Craig Yoe and illustrator Sal Amendola

2:30 pm - Prof. Laurel Leff on "The American Medical Community and Jewish Refugee Doctors"

3:30 pm - Prof. Stephen Norwood on "American Universities and Nazi Germany"

Dr. Ari Babaknia, the eminent physician and scholar, will chair the conference. Prof. Thane Rosenbaum, scholar and novelist (and Fordham faculty member) will serve as Master of Ceremonies.

For more information, please call the Wyman Institute at 202-434-8994 or visit www.WymanInstitute.org." '


I have contacted the conference organizer to see if I can get access to the papers presented. I'll update you as soon as I hear anything. Research that uncovers new ways of considering the actions of historical actors is always exciting!