The US Presidency and American Jewry from FDR to Trump

Eight decades of presidential policies and how they shaped American Jewish identity and history

The first book to explore how American presidents have responded to and shaped issues central to Jewish Americans across eighty years, The US Presidency and American Jewry from FDR to Trump traces presidential actions and their effects on both American Jewish political life and the evolution of the US-Israel relationship.

Featuring current scholarship by leading historians, the essays in this volume begin by analyzing key episodes from Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s role in US and global responses to the Holocaust and turn to Harry Truman’s policies on safe haven for Holocaust survivors and his support for the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Next, chapters analyze how presidents continued to back Israel while often pursuing policies that frustrated both Israeli and American Jewish communities, reflecting broader Cold War, diplomatic, and regional pressures. The volume concludes with an exploration of how Israel became an increasingly partisan issue in US politics during the administrations of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Together, these chapters offer valuable long-range insight into the complex intersections of presidential leadership, American Jewish history, and US-Israel relations.