against finance capital in one way or the other. how much is political and how much isn't? it probably varies from case to case so the question is how do you -- that? it's a debt resistors operations manual. you can download it. we have been doing a campaign where we buy up debt, debt collectors buy up debt at 5 cents on the dollar. they are willing to write off this debt but there are just not willing to write it off for you. ..

these guys are thinking about how to send off social movements all the time. how to offset that possibility. i think there's -- again, which is one of the arguments i make. in a way, just our potential -- and that sort of not quite articulated you see in all that default, for example, is bringing the system down. america for today is what they call guard labor. already boar -- labor which is basically security, manage jeerial, keeping people in line

or doing things to terrify people. that's why you have security guards everywhere. it never used to be the case. it's expensive. so, like, in order to prevent any mass movement from themselves bankrupting and destroying capitalism. we have the paradoxical situation the one vict they won they manage to convince us it's possible. in the cost of doing so they destroyed the system. it's crumbling before us. the only victory we can't imagine anything else. >> time for one more quick question and a signing in the back of the hall here. thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> yeah, this is possibly incredibly off topic. i was reading in -- your dad wrote a thing . >> so you a copy of that. >> a little monograph in the spanish revolution, the currency they used -- .

>> my dad did that. >> am i remembering that? >> yes. my father fought in the spanish civil war. he was proven -- that's why i say that is most people don't think it's bad. they think it's crazy. i want to work. my father lived in the city on the principle. i was never brought up to think it was crazy. but anyway, yes. he later in life became -- he bought all the coins when they were cheap all the german barons had to sell them off world war ii and got interested in money and put together a giant collection of emergency paper money. he knew a lot of anarchist. he was sympathetic. he actually wrote the book -- so far there is a book i think he wrote it on emergency paper money and the article on anarchist money and the experiment they did.

are they going to use money or not? how will it be allocated? >> where can i find a copy of that? >> i've been trying to figure out myself. i have a few in my closet. [laughter] i -- it was never actually found. his name is kenneth. if anybody is the -- the book is listed in c-span, might be time to release it. [laughter] >> fantastic. thank you all so much. thank you to thomas and david. thank you for coming. let's give them a nice hand. [applause] [applause] you're watching 48 hours of non-fiction authors and books. on c-span2's booktv. one of the problems when the judges are appointing the public defenders is that the public defenders' job is reliant on the

approval, and judges are judged on their efficiency often. how fast do they process cases? how quickly do they get through the docket? so they're going want to public defender that goes along and gets along and does the bidding. that is a real challenge, and in new orleans for a long time, the system was also that one public defender was assigned to one courtroom. and the same judge. they were always arguing before the same judge. and the problem with that is that they were then kind of trading clients in a way. like, okay, you know, my private paying client, you know, you kind of let me spend a little time and take his case to trial. i'll persuade this client to plead guilty. there was a sort of trade-off going you could cash in the favors only on some ever your clients.

it made for a corrupt system down there. >> if you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. karen hupert on the right to free represenation. sunday on 9:00 an after words. now on booktv dennis bryan talking about the support given to jews and israel by american president. going back many decades. this lasts about an hour. [applause] thank you very much. my publish ear's name is gefan. the headquarter are in jerusalem. when i finished the manuscript to the book, i sent it to allen, hoping he would give a brief comment my publisher could use. instead of which he wrote complete preface on part of it was that he was shocked having

read my book. he believed he was widely read in american history and jewish history and yet he found so much in this book that he had no idea about before. incidentally, he's writing his autobiography at the moment, which should be fascinated. i'll be using my notes a lot, i want to make sure i get the facts absolutely right, and i will be leaving the notes behind after after words. anybody who is interested can check up on it. israel's founding fathers, moses and joshua, his second in command, inspiring america's founding fathers to a remarkable degree. like most americans, having been brought up in the bible, there was a history of the jewish especially the escape from egypt to freedom in a land of -- they saw their own history as

remarkably like that of the jewishs to the extraordinary extent. they compared their enemy, the british king george iii to the enemy of the jews pharaoh. they compared their leader, george washington, to moses, and even saw a parallel between the atlantic ocean and the red sea. both bodies of water were a problem, they were also a portway to freedom. finally, they compared their third teen colonies with the twelve jewish tribes that eventually united and flourished. it's not surprising when they had to choose the great seal which was to be on the official government documents in the future, thomas jefferson should choose a theme straight out of the bible. he suggested moses leading the children of israel through the wilderness on the way to the

promise land. benjamin franklin proposed a scene from exes -- they chose the bald eagle for the great seal. however, the liberty bell became the symbol of the american revolution. with it a quotation from the bible, liberty throughout all the land and inhabit assistant. in 1917 world world war i the british government expressed support for jewish homeland in palestinian. then contemporary american president, woodrow wilson, supported the declaration. so has every president since that time.

these, i describe in the book, as in the original meaning of the word they were in favor of a safe and secure jewish homeland in palestinian. and since 1948, in israel itself, in fact these were supporters of the declaration. the book explains in details about how and why they consciously followed the projewish, proisrael policies. and how the bible, had such a powerful influence on their critical thinking and decisions. here are a few excerpt from the book which i focus on fourteen of the forty-four presidents. it doesn't mean that the other thirty are not equally fascinating. washington, one of my many

surprises in working on the book is how historians and the american revolution and biographers in washington fail to recognize the importance of a jew named solomon to the very existence of america. he is either ignored or dumped in a -- [inaudible] yet, the fact is he was vital to the success of the american revolution. without solomon, it is conceivable that america would still be a british colony. it is almost certain without him, washington would have lost the war. what is the evidence to this? i leave all the notes behind for anybody who wants to take up on them. to set the scene, washington lost two recent battles to the british. a quarter of the 20,000 troops had died of disease or exposure

to the bitter winter. it would -- it was hard to walk bare feet in the snow. about a thousand would not be paid in a year. until two of the leaders were shot on the spot. others were leaving in droves. washington was also desperately short of arms and equipment, which several european countries were secretly willing to sell him. but he hen't -- hasn't the money to pay for them. that's when the jewish immigrant from poll land came to the rescue providing the equipment. washington attacked the british at worktown and won the war. solomon was not only vital to the existence, but the survival. in the early days, it faced bankruptcy sei. solomon came to the rescue

again. solomon is missing for most books in american history or the footnote. how is he celebrated otherwise? there's a statute of him in chicago standing next to president washington. a u.s. stamp bears his name, and a u.s. postage stamp was issued with his portrait on it. as for the man himself, he gave -- [inaudible] below the prevailing ranks and died a pauper. excuse me. -- [inaudible] >> i have some of my own, as a matter of fact. maybe it'll get better because of it. as for president washington, he was -- he set the tone in his relationship with jews, which

most future presidents adopted. many assured of rhode island synagogue congregation that bigotry would not be tolerated in america. it reads this letter every year of the time he sent it. president john adams, the second president, greatly admired the jews he knew personally, and the jewish warriors and prophet he read about in the bible. he explains why he was a zionist and a militant one at that. in 1880, ninety years, almost a century before theodore launched the world zionist organization. he spelled out the own view. in election of the prominent jew who wanted to create a promised

land for the jews in america -- [inaudible] quote, i could wish it in my heart, that you would be the head of a hundred thousand israel and making a cob quest of the country and restoring your nation to the dominion of it. for i really wish the jews again at judea and an independent nation. excuse me. no other american president has praised jews more enfactically, them memorably. it took him twelve words. quote, the hebrews have done to civilized man than any other nation, quote. martin van buren, he was actively involved in saving jews from being massacred in syria. the ordeal began in 1840, when

an italian servant reported missing. somebody suggested they be murdered. although there was no suspect, the cry went up, the jews did it. the government then arrested and im-- imprisoned most of the male jewish population in damascus, all the cities rabbis, jewish grave diggers, and even young jewish schoolboys. they then began to torture the rabbis, forcing their wives and daughters to watch. excuse me. but the they killed them all and maimed them for life. when americans jews told van buren about the ongoing massacre, he went in to action. he, together with british and

european leaders, pressured syria to stop the massacre and to free the surviving prisoners. for syrian government eventually admitted they had no absolutely no evidence against the jews, incidentally the murders of the priests and servant, if in fact they were murders, were never solved. fortunately, in syria today there are either none or very few jews. abraham lincoln -- his close friend and political -- political adviser was none other than dr. zach, a jewish -- who took care of lincoln's feet. he was a pee

a christian zionist said he hoped oppressed jews in turkey and russia would be e emancipated by returning them to the national home in palestinian. lincoln replied, quote, it is a noble dream shared by many americans, end quote. during the civil war, lincoln appointed eight jewish juniors to the union army. the confederate had not one jewish general. during the same war, general grant ordered all from the areas where he claimed jewish traders were impeding the movement of union troops. this spurred incense jewish delegation to go to the white house and ask lincoln for his protection. to their delight, he he replied the children of israel were driven from the happy land, and

they shall have my protection at once. he was as good as his word and the order was canceled. another one of lincoln's pro-jewish action was make it possible for the first time for rabbi to become army chaplain. now -- [inaudible] comes to the picture. several american presidents had helped the amazing levy to become the first jew against tremendous odds to reach the highest rank of rom door, which in -- commodore, which is in today's is a admiral. during the spectacular career, because of the navy's anti-semitism, the court-martial many time. he told lincoln he wished to fight for the union forces. instead knowing of levies' record of being court-martial

himself so many times, lincoln appointed him on the u.s. navy court-martial board. here's is a strange one. andrew johnson, who was lincoln's vice president. the only outspoken antisemitic president. the only one who never spent a single they in school. he was also an alcoholic; however, after assuming the presidency, he did one pro-jewish act. he repeeved the jewish soldier who was sentenced to death. he may have done more. i couldn't find in the records. teddy roosevelt in 1912, which i believe is the year the organization was founded. an assassination attempt left teddy roosevelt with a bullet in the chest. nevertheless, he insisted on making a speech that lasted for an hour and a half before going to the hospital. he also displayed courage as

leader of the rough risers during the spanish-american war in encouraged when he saw it, he told a friend the jewish fighters under his command in the rough riding had shown the most astonishing courage. as new york's police commissioner, after he found that almost all cops were irish, he encouraged jews and women to join thercefo years later, the german politician arrived in new york to get antisemitic lectures. because of the first amendment he couldn't stoph m the germanimed the ews never worked. what tr did was assign four jewish cops to protect the man around the clock which delighted the jewish community. the man himself got a negative ep inudin a baa

of rot eneggs where he was shortly after killed in car crash. did you know the teddy bear is named after teddy roosevelt? during the bear hunt in which he took part they couldn't find any bears. someone captured a wounded young bear and proposed freeing it to let tr hunt it. instead he had to quickly put it out of the misery. the a jewish woman who ran a brooklyn toy store read about it and made a toy bearand put in the store window. it was a tremendous success. she asked tr if she could name it after him. he agreed and the teddy bear was born. it was used as an republican symbol in the 1994 presidential campaign. as an example of tr's generosity, after winning the noble peace prize, he gave 10%

of it or $4 ,000 to the jewish welfare board. during world war i, friend, an irishman in a british army would be the famous lion hunter that was a film made about his life called "ghost in the darkness," i believe. he lead them to victory against palestinian in world war i. the newly created leader was the first organized jewish fighting force in 2,000 years. a volunteer force, it was composed of jewish refew agree from palestinian, jews from london, england, the colonel was for the jews what -- [inaudible] was for the arabs. tr wrote to patternson letter partly them on the reads, refring to bible,

quote, to have the sons of israel -- [inaudible] under all leadership is something worthwhile. fina august of 1980, at the end of world war i he wrote, jews should be given palestine. the syrian christians protect it, and the arabs made independent. now we come to her bertd hoover. herbert hoover, like tr was a zionist who made the following proposal, quote, palestine should be turned oveorewish immigrant in search of homeland. this might be the model immigration of history transferring arab to a arab nation restoring agricultural prosperity to the ancient

valuety of the tigers, and providing persecuted jews with a refuge and beacon. it would be a solution by engineers instead of by conflict. as you probably know, hoover had been a successful mining engineer. franklin fdr, most of all, if not all historians agree that no leader of any country did enough to help europe's endangered juice during world war ii, but fdidr most. in january of 1943, over two years before the end of the war, he created the american refewee board. according to the holocaust museum it saved as many as 200,000 jews from the nazi. he was being criticized for

bombing concentration camps and saying the way to save the jews is to concentrate on winning the war. but in fact, the rtf did twice accidentally bomb while attacking nearby military targets. and the outcome was disastrous. the first time august 24,4, 384 prisoners were killed, and about 400 seriously wounded. the second time on february 9, 1945, 316 prisoners were killed and 88 guards. awe 340 pisser ins killed. rarely if ever mentioned in fdr biography is that he liking as the predecessor was zionist.

for example, this is what he told his jewish friend, neighbor, and treasury secretary on december 4, 1942, quote, i would put a barbed wire around palestine, and i would begin to move the arabs out. i would provide land in some other part of the middle east and i know there are plenty of places. imov an arab -- we begin to bring in another jewish family. and king of saudi arabia.

the kig told the er that for a muslim to kill ajew, it ensured him immediate entrance to heaven and the presence of god. had the british warned fdr about him, it would have saved him the stressful journey to persuade the big got -- had the ailing fdr known it was an impossible quest he surely would canceled the trip and lengthened his life. a r onstonished me about truman was this. as a poi, he had willingly helped his neighbor, an orthodox jewish family with the chorus. in high school he wrote an essy supporting shy low's action -- shy his business partner and

close friend, eddie jacobson was a jew. in the white house he treated the jewish af h ith respect and consideration. harry truman, against the fear of most of the cabinet had helped the jews get the homeland back. yet his wife, and mother-in-law were hard call antisemimites would not allow a jew in their home. not even his friend eddie jay cobbson. was more surprised -- would you call this harry henpecked. as for his own slur the action speak louders that night words is up to you to decide.

ike, a he was known, started without strange ideas about jew. as a child in a fundamentalist christian home and avid bible leader he believed there was no jews on earth. .e never knowingly met o and with the bible as his only source of information he believed all jews were angels in heaven. again, he soon was correctly informed. at the ends of world war ii he inspected a concentration camp and was horrified. ..

in the 1950s, he supported the jewish te egyptian leader nasser against israel france and britain, forcing them to stop fighting egypt when they were winning and aligned nasa to align the war. this is not very well-known. near the end of his life ike

admitted to a friend that he had made a big mistake initiative supported the allies and not the objections including israel. lbj. i was very surprised to learn that lyndon johnson said quote don't ever go against israel because israel is a nation was given to us by god. they are the only nation god recognized as his own. they are god's people. if you read the chapter on lbj in my book you will find he lived up to her wishes so much so that he liked turman supported israel against the overwhelming opposition of his own cabinet. but it wasn't only the mission that moved him. when the russian leader asked president johnson why he supported israel with a few million people against hundreds of millions of arabs he replied, because it's the right thing to

do. shortly after becoming president lbj was the guest of honor and then boston texas gogue where it was revealed that he had saved 42 jews in germany and what was known as operation texas. he was sent to save hundreds more although he -- was not conclusive. a now famous jew who claimed the lbj saved his life was eric lance dorf who became the conductor of the ausn symphony. jimmy carter. one page. [laughter] there are many more in the book. an interesting character. there is little doubt that he favored the palesti t i also believe he was genuinely committed to israel surviving and cursing. once for example when israel was

in danger of attack he provided the israelis with top-secret defense equipment which he did not even share with any of his close allies. that is all about him for the moment. ronald reagan, he made sure he could -- during world war ii, his job was to process films taken by u.s. army cameramen. one of the new stones showed a concentration camp. he took a copy of this home and kept it. at a dinner for a movie producer and his wife were guests, they expressed their belief that atrocities were allied -- bill clinton.

several years before he became president his friend and baptist minister predicted that he would become president. that's interesting. he said when he did god would never forgive him if he didn't stand by israel. one of the many things clinton did to help israel was to work exhaustively with arafat to agree to a peace agreement. eventually he blamed the palestinian leader and one his efforts failed saying arafat was impossible to deal with. i imagine that until now, it's rare ifnot unknown if the leader of one country to express his love for another. clinton said he loved -- was grief-stricken when he was assassinated. i hope this paper turning isn't coming too much on the mic. no president worked harder and was more -- than clinton did try

to broker peace in the middle east and during his deliberations he usually had a bible in his overalls. finally the 44th president barack obama. robert gates former director of the cia of the s defense secretary and the republican to boot said this about obama in 2011. president obama is the eighth president i worked for and i believe the relationship between america and israel has never been stronger. despite this remarkable record, when i was working on this book in 2012, only 8% of israelis thought obama was pro-israel. r threcent visit in 2013,

a poll by israel democracy institute and tel aviv democracy showed it has increased to 18%. yet every -- is made as a politician has been pro-israel. i would like to mention -- that accused israel of targeting civilians in gaza following countless attacks from gaza on israel. colonel richard kemp and former commander of british forces in afghanistan told u.n. and 2009 quote during the fighting in gaza, the israeli defense force, i'm sorry, i'll put it this way. during the fighting in gaza the israeli defense forces quote did

more to safeguard the rights of civilians in the conflicte than any otherrmy in the history of warfare. obama's u.n. representative called the report quote unbalanced, one-sided and basically unacceptable unquote. go it's felt complained that the israeli government had not cooperated with him, committing that he had had not interviewed any israeli officers in the core. however he eventually agreed with president obama that is anti-israeli report had been badly flawed. the record shows that of the president's who have consistently supported israel, economically, militarily and diplomatically obama ranks among

the to i think i'm losing my voice. in conclusion, i suggest that apart from mutual self-interest, there are three main reasons why american presidents have supported jews and israel. one sympathy, to empathy and three admiration. polls show that presidents follow the views of the american people and the overwhelmingly support jews in israel against the many mutual enemies. most well-informed non-jewish americans know that the jews have suffered and triumphed throughout recent history and share with them the same bible, the same moral values and the same determination to defend democracy. although jews are only about 2% of the american population, they

have won nobel prizes in every category in all proportion to their number you may remember president john adams believed that jews had done more to civilized man than any other nation. nobel prize winners continue to show that jews in medical breakthroughs alone continue to do more for the advancement of humanity than any other people. these are some of the many reasons that almost without exception of american presidents have supported and will continue to give ironclad support to jews and to israel. finally since israel's creation in 1948, american presidents have shown that when the chips are down, israel remains the only country in the middle east

that they can trust. thank you very much. [applause] i welcome your questions and if you raise your hands the microphone will be brought to you. >> while we are waiting for a couple of hands to raise maybe you could give us more information on jimmy carter since you kind of rushed over him. >> jimmy carter, the strange thing about jimmy carter he organized a group and of course it seemed incredible to me that the design is the horrific phony russian propaganda that is so anti-jewish to israel. this group that is supposed to solidify and help jews in the middle east has remained. it seems that he is so if you

are sympathetic towards him you would say the man fought for the undeog which the jews were for so long but he seems very much pro-palestinian without really being anti-israel or anti-jewish. i know he put -- read a book in which there was -- he made a mistake and he admitted that was a mistake. but i honestly think from reading a lot about him and what he said and did that it's a very difficult position to be in, very much pro-israel and pro-palestinian but with a bias going towards the arabs. i am sure many of you would disagree with me and you may be right. >> i have a couple of questions for you. during the revolutionary and civil war, general robert e.

lee's doctor was jewish and he was the one that asks for him to go to stonewall jackson when he got shot. also he became the head of the red cross. he started civilization there and the death rate in the confederate army was close to half of what it was in the union requirement. that is one thing. see what was the last thing you said? >> the death rate in the confederate army was a lot lower than the death rate in the union army. they were not using sterilization in the union army at that time. the other thing i'm would like to mention is and a lot of things you mentioned here at the time of the war, winston churchill was also a zionist and he did a lot for israel.

in fact he went to a couple of countries and said this will be israel and some of those arabian kings said they wanted to speak to him the next day. he said the next day the arabians came to him and said he refused to recognize the state of israel. after the first world war, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. he did not say that when they were giving him land and part of jordan today was the part that was supposed to have gone to palestine and was never given to palestine. part of israel is the part that churchill wanted to give to israel. >> everything you say is absolutely correct. the adjusting thing about winston churchill was i was so young newspaper reporter in the beginning of world war ii and

there was a lot f reporting about winston churchill being pro-jewish for israel. i wrote to a jewish member of parliament. he was quite famous in his day called a manual shin well. i just wrote and said why do you think churchill is so pro-jewish? in the wrote back, because he is intelligent. [laughter] in fact he went with lawrence of arabia to palestine after world war i. [inaudible] >> he was in he wiseman very much and apparently an english bishop said something derogatory about wiseman. lawrence of arabia wrote a letter and it's uncertain whether he sent it or not in which he wrote and said you are

not fit to wear wiseman's shoes. churchmen -- churchill was very pro-jewish and he had a slight change of thought when a friend of his was assassinated by two jewish young men in egypt, yeah. actually when churchill went to the lawrence of arabia who assted visor in the middle east, a group of herbst would shoot and kill off the jews which lawrence knew what they were saying and he didn't tell churchill what they were saying. there is somebody over there asking for a microphone. >> i would like to know how you research the book. did you realize -- rely solely on historic documents were for you able to conduct personal

interviews with their subjects? >> i did a lot of interviews and a lot of research in the various presidential libraries which brings thing out to from time to time new material. one of the secret documents about the british colonel who spoke had been secret up until then, so it was mostly reading dozens of biographies about these people and the president's biographies themselves. and research in every sort of corner i could. for example henry morgenthau who quoted at dr. saying he wanted to put barbed wire around the country. it was in organ paul's diary which wouldn't be accessible

normally was one of the archives i found. >> i have a question about the st. loui over the years i he heard many conflicting stories about fdr pass role and what he knew and what he didn't know. two of my college professors 20 2020 years apart said if only harry truman had been in the white house the st. louis would have landed in the united states. i do know that there was some individual rather prominent in the state department who is very anti-semitic and he was the one who influenced who whoever had to be implants to keep the st. louis away. to what degree did fdr know are not now what was going on with respect to the st. louis? brokerage from was the assistant secretary of state. very anti-semitic and he lied to congress when there were

meetings about letting morgenthau in. what fdr did, he allowed several thousand jewish to stay who had overstayed their temporary passport and the passengers on the ship went to european places where they thought they would be safe and israel was the only place that they would be. belgium was the other one. fdr heard quite early on from a friend of his, a woman who is a medical doctor saying how badly do not cease rorty treating the jews but i think this man brokerage long had a lot of power and obviously fdr did not do enough. no, he did not do enough. no one did enough obviously. >> i had a family member on the st. louis.

fdr was certainly not a -- and according to this relative who left germany, came to america, was denied freedom here and asylum here went to britain, got his ph.d., came back to the u.s. when harry truman was president. he was welcomed and ended up being the chief of the industrial relations department at cornell university. he tells the story in a family book that we have that the jews knew that fdr was not their friend, that the jews who were in america knew that fdr knew about the concentration camps, knew about the fact that these individuals were fleeing for

their lives and it took the bravery of england to allow this family member to seek asylum. so, i think there is a lot of misinformation about it t.r. in the jewish community. >> what do you think is some of the misinformation? >> the misinformation is that jews and america thought fdr was a hero because he entered the war. but he was no hero to the jewish people in my opinion because of what he didn't do and he allowed the arab state department to set forth the doctrine of the united states while he was president. >> why do you think as a dying man he would travel to the suez canal to try to persuade the king of arabia, saudi arabia to help the jews if heas

>> but he didn't want them in america. go to israel, go to palestine but not here in america. they were not welcome in america. >> i am showing you are right and one reason for that was, his jewish advisers told him if you let all jews and there will be more anti-semitism so he was given bad advice too. the first thing you said about your relative is terrific and what he achieved. i think it's marvelous. fdr will always be controversial in this respect and as i said no one did enough to help. [inaudible] >> he the real hero in american history is to light eisenhower. because dwight eisenhower

demanded that there be films made of auschwitz when it was liberated and he said he was doing it so that did not ayers could never really conquered the idea that the holocaust happened. he was a hero. he should be a hero to the american jewish community. >> when he was in north africa they tried to say he was jewish because he appeared jewish. publicity had to do a lot of work persuading the air of us and the leaders that he wasn't jewish. how that was started in fact, the schoolbook said something that he was vaguely jewish or something and i contacted the ike library and they said that was foolish.

they write anything in these magazines about people and it wasn't true. but he was, you are right. but then he supported nassau against israel. ike did. [inaudible] >> yes, it was. that was the suez canal. anyone else? >> first of all i want to commend you for a very fascinating book. i enjoyed the parts that i read and i want to comment on the first president you mentioned mr. washington because i was much too young then. [laughter] but i would like to bring us back to what the young lady was talking about about mr. roosevelt. i know that my mother and father almost as sad shiver which he

was commemorating the dead by 77 days. he had an influence over the jewish people that to this day has never been corrected frankly. the argument about mr. roosevelt, the many authors that have been written about him is that it's true he didn't do much to save the jews. but he did more than anybody else. and that's ridiculous because everybody else did zero. he did very little aside from the st. louis which was incidentally the captain of that ship. once these people were not -- people could see the lights shining in miami and the brother you refuse to let them in.

there quewas noion about it. these people were turned around and sent to belgium finally after he couldn't do any more. they were sent to belgium and portugal and other countries. most of them ended up in concentration camps a lot of them 250 out of the almost 1000 were admitted to england which did save them, many of them. mr. truman. mr. truman 100% correct she was an anti-semite and it's true. other people have verified.

i don't know how much influence she had but let me tell you this. truman was the first to recognize the state of israel. we have to also remember that countries had love interests. they had self-interest. he didn't want the soviet union to be in there. he wanted the united states to have influence in the mideast. one of the reasons was oil. in fact that's a big reason and it has been a big reason for almost 34 years. i did enjoy your book very much. [applause]

>> one other thing about chairman was when he recognizes israel the first president he told was his jewish at eyes or. you did mention some people that i'm interested in them that was kennedy and bush won in two. what can you tell us about them and how they treated the jews? >> he interviewed several of the israelis in the white house. the american secret service information rather said that the jews had an atomic bomb and they were worried about that. he went very easy on people and

other presidents. there are some stuff in the book about that. golda meir was very fond and was convinced he was very pro-israel and what give them as much help as they needed. who was the other president you mentioned? [inaudible] >> he was very -- worked very hard to help the jews to escape to israel. you see is now the beauty king in -- beauty queen israel. the younger bush, the later push was very sympathetic towards his views. so both of the bushes were very pro-jewish and very pro-israel, no question about it. all of the presidents provided israel with arms that they

required. over here. >> hi. i am very interested in why the israelis have such a low approval rate of obama. they really didn't like him. his policies were anti-israel. when you say that he has done so much i personally would like to know exactly what it is.