-- The central theme of President Roosevelt actively trying to silence his critics in the Jewish community represents a completely new approach in scholarly interpretation of the period. -- The shocking story of how a US president deceived Jewish leaders and manipulated them to silence critics of his response to the Holocaust. -- The author has located hundreds of additional documents not previously cited by other historians, which shed important new light on the Wise-Roosevelt relationship and American Jewish responses to the Holocaust. -- Among the many previously-unpublished revelations contained in this book: * Dismissing Rabbi Wise''s pleas, the Roosevelt administration sent representatives to a pro-Hitler rally in New York City (1933), and to Nazi Party rallies in Nuremberg, Germany, in the 1930s. * The Roosevelt administration pressured Rabbi Wise''s associates to cancel an anti-Hitler rally in Chicago (1934). * President Roosevelt repeatedly censored anti-Nazi speeches that Interior Secretary Harold Ickes intended to deliver in the 1930s. * Rabbi Wise and his colleagues tried to sabotage Jewish activists in Brooklyn who sought to mobilize Jewish political influence in the 1930s. * Dissidents within several of Wise''s own organizations pressed for protests against US refugee policy, but were stifled.

* The Roosevelt administration in effect blackmailed Wise, by threatening to issue an anti-Zionist declaration unless he stopped Jewish groups from agitating for a Jewish state during World War Two. * FDR repeatedly promised Rabbi Wise he would issue statements supporting Zionism, then either broke his promises or delivered significantly watered-down messages. -- Reveals the surprising connection between President Roosevelt''s internment of Japanese Americans and his policy of preventing Jewish refugees from entering the United States. -- Documents Roosevelt''s disturbing private comments about Jews--and how his views influenced his refugee policy. -- Explains why President Roosevelt maintained friendly relations with Nazi Germany in the 1930s--even censoring anti-Hitler remarks by one of his cabinet members--and how he manipulated American Jews to keep quiet about it. -- A fresh and surprising account of the complex relationship between the leader of the Free World and the world''s most influential Jewish leader--and how that relationship affected America''s response to genocide. -- Finally addresses questions that many other historians have shied away from, specifically: * Why did American Jews support FDR so fervently, despite his failure to rescue Jews from the Holocaust? * Why did Roosevelt suppress Jewish refugee immigration far below the amount allowed by law? * Why didn''t U.S.

planes bomb Auschwitz--when they were already bombing other targets fewer than five miles from the gas chambers? * Why did FDR maintain friendly relations with Nazi Germany in the 1930s--even censoring anti-Hitler remarks by his cabinet members? -- Provides new insight into the history of American immigration policy, specifically: * Explores why the Roosevelt administration turned Jewish refugees away, even though US immigration quotas were almost never full. * Chronicles FDR''s refusal to admit Jewish refugees to US territories such as the Virgin Islands. * Describes the little-known loopholes in US immigration law that could have been used to rescue rabbis, professors and students. -- Offers new insight into the history of American Zionism, specifically: * Reveals how FDR undermined efforts for Jewish statehood behind the scenes--and manipulated American Zionist leaders to keep quiet about it. * Documents Roosevelt''s disturbing plan to "spread the Jews thin all over the world," instead of creating a Jewish homeland in Palestine. * Describes the little-known role of the Palestine issue in the 1944 presidential race, as Republicans and Democrats actively competed for Jewish votes for the first time. -- A very important contribution to both American Jewish history and Holocaust studies.