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Gordon F. Sander’s terrific May 14 Retropolis column, “Truman’s turn as Israel’s champion,” noted several important influences on President Harry S. Truman that led him to overcome antisemitic prejudice, defy expectations and threats from his own secretary of state, and recognize Israel just 11 minutes after it declared its independence on May 14, 1948. Those factors included his horror at the Holocaust, concern for the plight of Jews in the future, widespread American support for Israel and his close friendship with Eddie Jacobson.
Yet, according to historian Michael Beschloss, there was another important factor that influenced Truman: his knowledge of history. In his 2007 book, “Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989,” Mr. Beschloss recounts that, as a child, Truman had read a book called “Great Men and Famous Women.” It included a chapter on Cyrus the Great, the Persian king who, a year after conquering Babylon in 539 B.C., had allowed the Jews living there in captivity to return to Israel. When, in 1948, Truman found the fate of a revived state of Israel in his hands, he recognized a historical parallel and saw himself as a modern-day Cyrus.
Years later, Jacobson introduced Truman at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, praising him for having “helped create the state of Israel.” An animated Truman practically shoved Jacobson out of the way and exclaimed, “What do you mean ‘helped to create?’ I am Cyrus. I am Cyrus.”
Stephen A. Silver, San Francisco
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