thegreatdivide wrote on Nov 13
th, 2025 at 11:26am:
Quote:Doc Evatt had ensured that the UNSCOP Partition decision won out over the other option. He cajoled Truman to support partition even against Truman's own administration, which vehemently opposed it. Truman, for his part, blackmailed every nation he could at the UN, particularly the Philippines, African states, and South American states, with economic and aid consequences if they did not vote for partition, to help ensure a 2/3 majority for partition. Stalin was for partition (so that was the Soviet bloc sorted), as was France.
Ah.....Truman versus his own administration...the plot thickens. Thanks.
Any clues why Truman was so aligned with the Evatt plan, against the (anti-Jewish/anti-Zionist?) US administration?
Doc Evatt had close Australian Jewish friends and was very much interested in helping Jews fleeing Europe and those already in Palestine, so he set about covertly assisting the Zionist cause, even over his instructions from the Australian government to remain impartial.
Truman was not anti-Jewish and had some heart for their plight in Europe, but he was hindered by his administration, particularly the State Department, whose seniors resented Jewish influence in the US, were outright Jew-haters - a common sensibility in late-40s US - and did not want to offend the new Arab states and risk an oil embargo backlash.
Evatt's influence on Truman was predicated on Truman's own leanings towards assisting Jews and, as Evatt suggested, avoiding a mass immigration of Jews into the US, which he feared would damage his presidency in the minds of the American people.
To this day, Jewish-Israeli scholars are convinced that without Evatt's help, partition would not even have been put to the vote in the UN.