{"id":191191,"date":"2026-06-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/?p=191191"},"modified":"2026-07-09T10:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T07:53:34","slug":"recognizing_israel_harry_truman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/en\/recognizing_israel_harry_truman\/","title":{"rendered":"Recognizing Israel: Harry Truman&#8217;s Historic Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In 2008, Michael Oren was taken on a two-hour flight from Ben-Gurion Airport to somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea, landing aboard the USS <em>Harry S. Truman<\/em>, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A historian later appointed Israel\u2019s ambassador to the United States and then elected to the Knesset, Oren visited the ship to give a lecture on America\u2019s involvement in the Middle East and its support for Israeli statehood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The countries\u2019 multifaceted alliance today began with one official act: President Truman\u2019s granting diplomatic recognition to Israel on May 14, 1948, shortly after David Ben-Gurion proclaimed statehood. The U.S. thus became the first country to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Whether or Not to Recognize Israel: Harry Truman&#039;s HUGE Decision\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZONdis-96MU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are thankful to President Truman for having acted promptly with courage and dignity on the day of Israel\u2019s Liberation,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/detroitjn\/1948\/05\/21\/01\/?srpos=18&amp;e=-05-1948--07-1948--en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI-truman+1948+-------------1\">opined Detroit\u2019s <em>Jewish News.<\/em><\/a> &nbsp;<em>The Jewish Community Bulletin of Northern California<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/jweekly\/1948\/05\/21\/article\/28\/?srpos=24&amp;e=15-05-1948-05-06-1948--en-20--21--img-txIN%7CtxTI-truman+israel+-------------1\">reported that a telegram<\/a> sent by the rabbi of a San Francisco synagogue to the White House read in part, \u201cYour action, Mr. President, makes me proud to be an American.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before Oren\u2019s lecture, his hosts showed him an exhibit on Truman, who occupied the White House from 1945 to 1953. It included a section on Truman\u2019s statehood decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe U.S. Navy recognizes Truman\u2019s recognition of Israel as one of the president\u2019s greatest accomplishments. Isn\u2019t that interesting?\u201d Oren said of the visit. \u201cI think that\u2019s what Truman is remembered for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being aboard the ship \u201cwas one of the most extraordinary events of my life. I mean it,\u201d Oren said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paper on which the short statement was typed and then signed by Truman is now housed at the National Library of Israel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"472\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-472x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191201\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-472x600.jpg 472w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-236x300.jpg 236w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-768x976.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-1208x1536.jpg 1208w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-1611x2048.jpg 1611w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit1-scaled.jpg 2014w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 472px) 100vw, 472px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/archives\/NNL_ARCHIVE_AL997012556674505171\/NLI\">Harry Truman&#8217;s signed statement containing the de facto recognition of Israel by the U.S.<\/a> &#8211; From the National Library of Israel collections, photo by Hanna Taieb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The document reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-style-default is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof.<br>The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><br>Harry Truman<br>Approved,<br>May 14, 1948.<br>6:11<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>The signed statement contains four more of Truman\u2019s handwritten notations: two changes to the typed text, his affirming of the wording \u201cApproved\u201d and his recording of the time of day: 6:11, which he changed from 6:10 p.m. Washington time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another item in the Library collections is a formerly &#8220;Top Secret&#8221; typed cable sent by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall to the American embassy in London to state that American recognition of Israel was forthcoming and should be conveyed to Marshall\u2019s British counterpart, Ernest Bevin. Marshall sent the cable despite fiercely objecting to Truman&#8217;s decision to recognize the new state.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"462\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-462x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191204\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-462x600.jpg 462w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-231x300.jpg 231w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-768x997.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-1183x1536.jpg 1183w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-1577x2048.jpg 1577w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/edit2-scaled.jpg 1972w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 462px) 100vw, 462px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8220;we feel that we should grant recognition&#8221; <\/em>&#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/archives\/NNL_ARCHIVE_AL997012556674505171\/NLI\">Secretary of State George C. Marshall&#8217;s cable to London noting that U.S. recognition of Israel was forthcoming<\/a>. The document was sent despite Marshall&#8217;s personal objections to the decision &#8211; From the National Library of Israel collections, photo by Hanna Taieb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"250\" height=\"379\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/general-george-c-marshall-wikicommons.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/general-george-c-marshall-wikicommons.jpeg 250w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/general-george-c-marshall-wikicommons-198x300.jpeg 198w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">General George C. Marshall was Truman&#8217;s Secretary of State between 1947 and 1949<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>A related artifact is a pen, used by Truman to sign the de jure recognition of Israel, in January 1949. Accompanying the pen is a typed letter that Truman sent to his White House aide, David Niles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191192\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-10-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>&#8220;Dear Dave: This is one of the pens that I used to sign the announcement of the de jure recognition to Israel. It gives me real pleasure to be able to send you this memento. With warmest regards, Sincerely yours, Harry Truman&#8221;<\/em> &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/archives\/NNL_ARCHIVE_AL997012494760905171\/NLI\">A pen used by Truman to sign the de jure recognition of Israel in January, 1949, and an accompanying typed letter from Truman to his former aide David Niles<\/a> &#8211; From the National Library of Israel collections, donated by Michael Jesselson. Photo by Hanna Taieb<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Niles, who was Jewish, was one of the few members of Truman&#8217;s staff who supported the president&#8217;s decision, along with White House Counsel Clark Clifford. He was a low-profile figure, somewhat overlooked, but one whose influence should not be discounted. Abba Eban, at the time a top Israeli diplomat at the United Nations, wrote of Niles: &#8220;History will regard him as one of the decisive agents in the restoration of Israel&#8217;s sovereignty with American support.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"970\" height=\"459\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles-970x459.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles-970x459.jpg 970w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles-300x142.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles-768x363.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles-1536x726.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/niles.jpg 1559w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 970px) 100vw, 970px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;<em>One of the foremost architects of American-Israel understanding<\/em>&#8221; &#8211;  Abba Eban on David Niles, who served in the Truman and FDR administrations &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/newspapers\/chncijn\/1952\/10\/09\/01\/article\/9\/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7CtxTI--------------1\">From the October 9, 1952 edition of <em>The Intermountain Jewish News<\/em><\/a>, the Historical Jewish Press Collection at the National Library of Israel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;The path to American recognition of Israel was a long one, stretching back to the end of World War II, and fraught with obstacles laid by, among others, Marshall and other State Department officials, who opposed Jewish statehood. Truman himself vacillated regarding the options for supporting a Jewish homeland: international trusteeship, partition and, ultimately, statehood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things sometimes got nasty. Bevin, the British foreign secretary, intimidated by Arab opposition to Jewish sovereignty, charged that the president preferred that Jewish survivors of World War II be resettled in the Middle East because he, Truman, didn\u2019t want them in New York. Truman sometimes criticized two American rabbis \u2014 Abba Hillel Silver and Stephen Wise \u2014 who lobbied him on Israel\u2019s future, and disparaged American Jews broadly; in a July 29, 1946, cabinet meeting, related in a 2009 book by Allis and Ronald Harosh about the period, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/books\/NNL_ALEPH990026524960205171\/NLI\">A Safe Haven<\/a><\/em>, Truman said of Jews, \u201cJesus Christ couldn\u2019t please them when he was here on earth, so how could anyone expect that I would have any luck?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even Eddie Jacobson, Truman\u2019s lifelong friend, who was Jewish, saw that side of the president. In his 1992 biography, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/books\/NNL_ALEPH990030149170205171\/NLI\">Truman<\/a><\/em>, David McCullough wrote that Jacobson secretly visited the White House on March 13, 1948, to persuade the president to support Jewish statehood. Truman complained of certain American Jews, presumably Silver and Wise, treating him disrespectfully on the matter. Jacobson said he thought then that \u201cmy dear friend \u2026 was at that moment as close to being an antisemite as any man could possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge is wrong, since Truman \u201chad a great aversion to antisemitism,\u201d Oren said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still, Truman\u2019s record was \u201ca mixed bag,\u201d Oren added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truman supported Zionism \u201cout of a deep spiritual, biblical knowledge,\u201d and helped bring Israel into being, but he also imposed a U.S. arms embargo on the vulnerable country \u2014 \u201cthe height of unfairness and cruelty,\u201d Oren explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truman \u201cconsidered recognizing Israel one of the proudest moments of his presidency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-191222\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blog.nli.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ht-15-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dr. Chaim Weizmann (right), President of Israel, presents a Torah scroll to President Truman (left) during a visit to the White House, May 25, 1948, the National Library of Israel collections<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Pressures to accommodate British, Arab and Jewish demands over the Holy Land to America\u2019s strategic interests occurred in the context of Truman\u2019s monumental policy decisions. He gave the order for U.S. pilots to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, formulated the Truman Doctrine to confront Soviet expansion, oversaw the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, desegregated the U.S. military, co-established NATO and dealt with the Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the Middle East, he was determined to be a force for good to advance Jews\u2019 need for security after the Holocaust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was hopeful, he desired, some sort of accommodation between Israel and the Arab states. He never considered this issue to be a priority issue for the United States of America,\u201d said Melvyn Leffler, a University of Virginia history professor and author of a 1992 book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nli.org.il\/en\/books\/NNL_ALEPH997007876799405171\/NLI\"><em>A Preponderance of Power: National Security, The Truman Administration, and the Cold War<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was sensitive to his military and State Department advisors who were very against it [Jewish statehood]. Ultimately, Truman was able to reconcile his humanitarian, religious and political interests with his own understanding of what was in the national security interests of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Isaac Halevi Herzog, Israel\u2019s chief Ashkenazi rabbi and the grandfather of Israel&#8217;s current president, brought Truman to tears during a 1949 meeting by comparing him to ancient Persia\u2019s King Cyrus in helping to restore the Jewish national home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In his farewell address in January 1953, Truman bound the old and renewed Jewish states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe Tigris and the Euphrates Valley can be made to bloom as it did in the time of Babylon and Nineveh. Israel can be made into the country of milk and honey as it was at the time of Joshua,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truman streets can be found today throughout Israel, and a moshav named for him, Kfar Truman, sits near Ben-Gurion Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Truman planned to tour Israel with Jacobson in October 1955. The trip was cancelled when Jacobson died that month. The first head of state to extend diplomatic recognition to Israel would have been the first U.S. president or ex-president to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The president\u2019s legacy is appreciated by Herman Shelanski, a retired vice admiral, who captained the <em>Truman<\/em> at the time Oren visited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was an amazing opportunity for me as a Jew, an American sailor, to be part of this history,\u201d Shelanski said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt allowed me to tell the crew more about that, too \u2014 what it meant to Jewish people in general. \u2026 It was wonderful to create that understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Writer-editor Hillel Kuttler can be reached at <\/em><a href=\"mailto:hk@HilelTheScribeCommunications.com\"><em>hk@HillelTheScribeCommunications.com<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Truman&#8217;s call in May of 1948 could have gone another way, with most of his top advisors objecting to recognition of the Jewish State. Today, the National Library of Israel houses several historic artifacts from the momentous occasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":191207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[217],"tags":[1737,1827,1232,1795,543,1989,1829,6647],"tags2":[2709,3067,2656,2815,2816,2779,6654],"class_list":["post-191191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-land-of-israel","tag-american-jewry","tag-david-ben-gurion","tag-history-of-israel","tag-independence-day","tag-independence-day-1948","tag-israeli-independence-day","tag-israeli-politics","tag-usa-250"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Recognizing Israel: Harry Truman&#039;s Historic Decision<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Truman&#039;s call in May of 1948 could have gone another way, with most of his top advisors objecting to recognition of the Jewish State. 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