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Senator Elbert D. Thomas and the Fate of European Jewry
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PA LME R
Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1883, Elbert Duncan Thomas was raised by parents who immigrated to Utah before 1865. Immersed in his faith as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Thomas served as a missionary in Japan from 1907 to 1912. He grew to love the Japanese people, learned the language, and even translated a Latter-day Saint religious tract into Japanese; his time in Japan was instrumental in him becoming an internationalist.1 The political scientist Frank Jonas described Thomas as “soft-spoken and mild-mannered,” and the Mormon Democrat from Utah served in the United States Senate from 1933 to 1951.2 Although Thomas had a small Jewish constituency, consisting of approximately 1,400 people, he had developed a sympathetic outlook toward Jewry some twenty years earlier, following a 1912 visit to Palestine.3 Senator Thomas was an intriguing person: he was an ardent Zionist, and he frequently championed Jewish causes. A backer of the New Deal who was generally loyal to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), Thomas supported an increase in the number of refugees admitted into the United States, even though FDR and many members of Congress were more reserved or opposed such measures. During his tenure in the Senate, Thomas became an outspoken advocate for European Jews and the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. An approachable senator, Thomas occupied a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his entire term of service. This proved to be a good omen for several Jewish organizations. He was also an internationalist, a factor that influenced his views on Jewry. Although a dearth of published literature exists on Thomas and the Holocaust, both Israeli and American scholars have written about him. They generally conclude that Thomas’s religious and moral convictions, as well as political considerations, motivated him to help Jewish peoples.4 These scholars note that the United States responded inadequately to the Holocaust and that Thomas advocated for stronger actions, favoring rescue and the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. For example, Thomas supported Hillel Kook’s nonsectarian pressure group
