Gaps in the Phantom's knowledge base are ever appearing, but it astounds him to learn of Harold Ickes, about whom he knew next to nothing, until reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union, a work of fiction by Michael Chabon, an imaging of what would have happened if the plan put forward by Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Interior, to welcome Germany's Jews, who, even in 1939, were being driven from Germany and Poland and who were desperate to find a harbor in the storm.
Known as the Slattery Plan, Secretary Ickes proposed accepting 10,000 immigrants to settle them in Alaska.
What is eerie is reading the reactions to this proposal from newspapers and individuals in Alaska, from people in Washington and around the country. There were some who greeted the idea with openness, in Alaska. We have land, we need people, why not? But there were others who objected to Alaska becoming a "dumping ground" for unwanted people, for "undesirables." Some of these sentiments may have come from people who did not like Jews, in particular, and some may have come from people who feared Alaska would become, as Australia once was, a destination of criminals, low life and bottom of the barrel types. Some said they'd welcome "hardy" souls from Scandinavia, who were used to the cold, but they objected to Jews who "hadn't fitted in or attempted to assimilate in Germany, and that's why they've got into trouble there."
The phantom is reminded how, when he announced he was moving to New Hampshire, a Southerner told him, "Well, you won't have problems with Blacks up there. They can't take the cold."
Roosevelt himself, a hero to many in the generation which came of age in the 1930's and 1940's, especially American Jews, actually said he could see relocating 10,000 people to Alaska--after all sizable groups relocated there from the Oklahoma dust bowl--but Roosevelt said he'd limit the number of Jews to 10%. Both Franklin and Eleanor harbored the genteel antisemitism of their class. They didn't think killing Jews was kosher, but you didn't want one marrying your daughter.
Ickes, apparently, had a deep seated empathy for the tired, the huddled masses, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. He was, at one time, the head of the National Association of Colored People in Chicago.
And he was a Republican, Christian, upper class white guy.
Whenever you read about someone like Ickes, like Thaddeus Stevens, men who were not from an underclass, men who had advantages in life, but for some reason these privileged white men looked at the downtrodden, the rejected, the vilified and said, "No, this is not right. Let us not treat men harshly because they are members of a certain group. Let us judge each man for what he is," well, then you've got, at least in the Phantom's opinion, the makings of a hero.
One reason "Schindler's List" was met in some quarters with hostility is it pictured a man, who was not himself in danger from a pernicious menance, who placed himself in danger, at least minimally, and who tried to do something to help the helpless. Seeing the story of a man who tried to help when most people did nothing, makes all those who did nothing look bad. So there was carping about "Schindler's List." Nobody wants to hear from his grand daughter, who has just seen the movie, "Grand Dad, what did you do to help? Did you help like Schindler?"
Ickes may have done some things we wonder about: He married a twenty-something when he was 60. For all we know, he kicked dogs, hated children, philandered, gambled, drank too much and cheated at bridge. We may never know.
But what we do know about him, we can admire. He was on the right side of history, for all the right reasons.
Problem is, history was on the wrong side of Harold Ickes.
The phantom is reminded how, when he announced he was moving to New Hampshire, a Southerner told him, "Well, you won't have problems with Blacks up there. They can't take the cold."
Roosevelt himself, a hero to many in the generation which came of age in the 1930's and 1940's, especially American Jews, actually said he could see relocating 10,000 people to Alaska--after all sizable groups relocated there from the Oklahoma dust bowl--but Roosevelt said he'd limit the number of Jews to 10%. Both Franklin and Eleanor harbored the genteel antisemitism of their class. They didn't think killing Jews was kosher, but you didn't want one marrying your daughter.
Ickes, apparently, had a deep seated empathy for the tired, the huddled masses, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. He was, at one time, the head of the National Association of Colored People in Chicago.
And he was a Republican, Christian, upper class white guy.
Whenever you read about someone like Ickes, like Thaddeus Stevens, men who were not from an underclass, men who had advantages in life, but for some reason these privileged white men looked at the downtrodden, the rejected, the vilified and said, "No, this is not right. Let us not treat men harshly because they are members of a certain group. Let us judge each man for what he is," well, then you've got, at least in the Phantom's opinion, the makings of a hero.
One reason "Schindler's List" was met in some quarters with hostility is it pictured a man, who was not himself in danger from a pernicious menance, who placed himself in danger, at least minimally, and who tried to do something to help the helpless. Seeing the story of a man who tried to help when most people did nothing, makes all those who did nothing look bad. So there was carping about "Schindler's List." Nobody wants to hear from his grand daughter, who has just seen the movie, "Grand Dad, what did you do to help? Did you help like Schindler?"
Ickes may have done some things we wonder about: He married a twenty-something when he was 60. For all we know, he kicked dogs, hated children, philandered, gambled, drank too much and cheated at bridge. We may never know.
But what we do know about him, we can admire. He was on the right side of history, for all the right reasons.
Problem is, history was on the wrong side of Harold Ickes.
Who knew about Harold Ickes? Who even knows how to pronounce his name?
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