Question

What factors led President Truman to support the creation of Israel in 1948?

Answer 1

Creation of Israel:
On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion,the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized the
new nation on the same day. Soon after President Truman took office, he appointed several experts to study the Palestinian issue. Throughout 1947, the United Nations
Special Commission on Palestine examined the Palestinian question and recommended the partition of Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state.
Despite growing conflict between Palestinian Arabs and Palestinian Jews and despite the Department of State’s endorsement of a trusteeship, Truman ultimately decided
to recognize the state Israel.

The factors which led President Truman to support the creation of Israel in 1948 are:
1. President Truman regarded his Secretary of State, General of the Army George C. Marshall, as “the greatest living American.” Yet the two men were on a collision
course over Mideast policy. Marshall firmly opposed American recognition of the new Jewish state.
2. Since at the time a significant number of Jewish Americans opposed Zionism, neither the President nor I believed that Palestine was the key to the Jewish vote.
the key to the Jewish vote in 1948 would not be the Palestine issue, but a continued commitment to liberal political and economic policies.
3. The charge that domestic politics determined our policy on Palestine angered President Truman for the rest of his life. In fact, the President’s policy rested on
the realities of the situation in the region, on America’s moral, ethical, and humanitarian values, on the costs and risks inherent in any other course, and on
America’s national interests.