An enduring mystery in the story of giant combines of capital and indus­ LOUIS America and the Holy Land is why try. In his private life he was the typi­ Louis Dembitz Brandeis became a Zi­ cal assimilated Jew, totally unlettered BRANDEIS, onist. It was a strangely impulsive step in the Talmud or any formal religious for him, well into middle age, on the instruction. He never attended syna­ ARTHUrf eve of World War I. Given the times gogue; his relatives had married Gen­ and his reputation, Zionism was not tiles without inhibition. As he later BALFOUR AND the sort of cause that would come nat­ told British Foreign Secretary Lord urally to him. Doubts about his mo­ Balfour during one of their long and tives were raised from the start and mellow conversations, his entire life A DECLARATION have lingered on, half a century after "had been free from Jewish contacts his death. But whatever his motiva­ or traditions." Brandeis 's speeches THAT MADE tion, Brandeis 's act was to transform were full of literary allusions, but they the Jewish national cause in the rarely came from the Bible and those HISTORY American mind. that did were as likely to be from the The story of how a New Testament as from the Old. His Brandeis was born in Louisville, brother-in-law was Felix Adler, chance encounter Kentucky, in 1856. Both mother and founder of the Society for Ethical Cul­ on Cape Cod led to father, natives of Prague, came from ture, but even that offshoot of emanci­ dignified and emancipated families; pated Judaism held no interest for one of the most they transplanted the cultivated air of him. their upbringing, and their new home It is in the influence of another rela­ consequential in America remained a place where tive that may be found the first clue to documents of the learning was respected. As a teen­ Brandeis 's belated interest in the Jew­ ager, Brandeis went to Europe for two ish destiny. His maternal uncle Lewis 20th century years of rigorous study at Dresden's Dembitz, an eminent legal scholar and Annen Realschule, then made his way an abolitionist in the Kentucky bor­ at the age of 18 to Harvard Law School derland, conveyed the sense of the without even earning an undergrad­ world to his nephew. The young Bran­ uate degree. deis called him "a living university"; The intellectual intensity of Cam­ he took up the legal profession under bridge was captivating. Instead of his uncle's influence and formally returning to Kentucky, Brandeis changed his middle name from David founded a Boston law firm with a to Dembitz. That this awesome uncle classmate of the most proper New happened to be a devout Jewish na­ England lineage. This was in 1879. tionalist, long before the cause had Their practice flourished. By the age gained any prominence, could hardly of 34 Brandeis had achieved financial have been overlooked. independence and was free to devote Whatever talk may have passed be­ the bulk of his energies to causes that tween mentor and protégé on the pros­ genuinely stirred his interest. pect of Jewish restoration, the subject Brandeis was the prototype of the never affected Brandeis 's early career. public interest lawyer, known in his As late as 1905, he was a prophet of day as the "people's advocate," cham­ the melting-pot vision for America, pion of the minimum wage and the dismissing any role for the "hyphen­ rights of the workingman against the ated American"—the Protestant- American, the Catholic-American, Peter Grose is Senior Fellow and Di­ the Jewish-American. Then, in 1907, rector of Middle Eastern Studies at the Dembitz died. Within three years, Council on Foreign Relations. He was still feeling his loss, Brandeis found a New York Times foreign correspon­ himself enmeshed in the affairs of a dent and editorial writer for many type of Jew quite new to him, the years, and spent a year on the Policy working-class immigrants from East­ Planning Staff of the State Depart­ ern Europe, so different in so many ment. His article "Truman and Is­ ways from the upper-class German- rael" appeared in MOMENT in June Jewish society of Boston and Uptown 1983. Copyright ©1983 by Peter New York. A garment workers' strike Grose. From Israel In the Mind of in 1910 brought Brandeis to New York America, to be published this month as an arbitrator. The experience seems by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. to have had a profound effect. "I am

Moroni/27 inclined to think there is more to hope the first time, was a sign of the enthu­ for in the Russian Jews than from the siasm that could lead a man into a Bavarian and other Germans," he cause; significantly, it was not a point wrote his father. of ideology or traditional European Zi­ Brandeis's task was to mediate be­ onist principle that caught his interest, tween nouveau riche garment manu­ but a practical, pragmatic project al­ facturers, who were Jewish, and their ready underway. Ever the foe of "big­ workers, also Jewish. "What struck ness" in social and economic affairs, me most was that each side had a great touched already by a belief in the Jew­ capacity for placing themselves in the ish capacity for self-government, other fellow's shoes," he recalled Brandeis was drawn by the prospect long afterward. "Each side was will­ of a small, dynamic, progressive ing to admit the reality of the other Jewish community in the land of fellow's predicament." It occurred to Palestine. Brandeis that in the Jewish character might lie some special genius for The sequence of what happened next democratic self-government. is important for an understanding of In December 1910, Brandeis was the controversy that later developed interviewed by a Jewish newspaper over Brandeis's "conversion." A editor named Jacob De Haas. A dec­ foray into national politics reached a ade before, De Haas had been a close dead end in the spring of 1912 when aide of Herzl, and the founder of po­ Brandeis's favorite, the Progressive litical Zionism had sent him to Amer­ Robert La Follette, failed in his drive ica to mobilize the Jews to the cause. for the Republican presidential nomi­ De Haas made little headway at first nation. During the summer Brandeis and drifted into pursuits more lucra­ met the Democratic candidate, Wood- tive than grass-roots political action, row Wilson, and decided to throw but he never overlooked an opportu­ himself into Wilson's campaign nity to carry out Herzl's mission. instead. As Brandeis recited his melting-pot On Cape Cod, where Brandeis philosophy, De Haas asked about Zi­ spent almost every August of his adult onism. "I have a great deal of sympa­ life, who should arrive to talk about thy for the movement and am deeply Democratic Party fund raising but the interested in the outcome," Brandeis eager journalist De Haas. Their osten­ replied casually. "These so-called sible business completed, Brandeis dreamers are entitled to the respect was driving his visitor to the train sta­ and appreciation of the entire Jewish tion when De Haas casually referred people." De Haas grabbed at his to the late Lewis Dembitz. "He was a chance and put the headline in the noble Jew," De Haas remembers say­ Boston Jewish Advocate: BRANDEIS ing, and the remark caught Brandeis SYMPATHIZES WITH ZIONISM. Brandeis's up short—what did he mean by that? remarks reflected his warm feelings And what was the man Herzl like, toward the cause of his late uncle and whom De Haas had served in his his own attitudes toward the Eastern younger days? Brandeis turned the car European Jewish communities where around, urged De Haas back home for Zionism was making such headway. lunch and more talk. From this con­ But what he actually said in that inter­ versation, August 13, 1912, is tradi­ view hardly justifies the headline's de­ tionally dated Brandeis's finitive tone. For months to come, "conversion" to Zionism. Brandeis had little contact with Nothing could be done immediately Zionism. Top: Lewis Dembiti (courtesy American Jewish Historical Society; Watt ham. Mass., in the heat of a presidential campaign. Early in 1912, he found himself in a Bottom: Jacob De Haas (Zionist Archives and Library} Brandeis figured high on the list of casual dinner-table conversation potential Cabinet members after Wil­ about an agricultural experiment sta­ son's election, first for the post of At­ tion in Palestine. "The talk was the torney General, then Secretary of most thrillingly interesting I have ever Commerce; Wilson was eager to have heard," Brandeis wrote to his brother, this brilliant mind at his side. But he "showing the possibilities of scientific took the political precaution of agriculture and utilization of arid or sounding out the Jewish community, supposedly exhausted land. " Here, for as he knew it, for its reaction to the

267 Moment possible appointment. From Jacob long letter giving the story as he had set out to obtain proper Jewish cre­ Schiff and the magnates of the Ameri­ heard it from one of his sympathetic dentials after his rejection for the Wil­ can Jewish Committee came back the contacts in the American Jewish son Cabinet, he would hardly have word that Brandeis, whatever else he Committee. espoused a cause which had virtually might be in American life, was not a Brandeis, Taft declared, no standing, was even considered re­ "representative Jew. " This was a code pugnant, among the influential Jews phrase. A "representative Jew" would "was no Jew until he was rejected by of the country. Being a Zionist in 1913 bring with him significant Jewish Wilson as Attorney General, because was no positive recommendation community support; no such support the leading Jews of the country told among men of influence. And even could be anticipated from appointment Wilson that Brandeis was not a repre­ when the popular mood had changed of a Jew who was not "represent­ sentative Jew. Since that time, Bran­ by 1916, largely because of Brandeis's ative. " On March 4, 1913, the Wilson deis has adopted Zionism, favors the own efforts, conservatives at the AJC Cabinet was announced, and Brandeis New Jerusalem, and has metaphori­ held to their cynical anti-Brandeis was not a member. cally been recircumcised. He has gone opinions. Sixteen days later Brandeis agreed all over the country making speeches, From his position of Olympian gen­ to introduce a visiting European arousing the Jewish spirit, even wear­ tility, Taft can perhaps be forgiven for Zionist at a public meeting at Boston's ing a hat in the Synagogue while mak­ failing to grasp these internally Jew­ Faneuil Hall; it was his first appear­ ing a speech in order to attract those ish concerns. But modern Israeli ance at a Zionist function. Declining bearded Rabbis. . . . If it were neces­ scholars understand full well the fam­ an invitation to speak himself, Bran­ sary, I am sure he would have grown a ily quarrels that cluttered the path to deis nevertheless listened carefully to beard to convince them that he was a the Jewish State. There must be some the Zionist orator and impulsively Jew of Jews. All this has made it po­ other reason why an analysis that di­ went forward to shake his hand. litically difficult for not only the Jews minishes the stature of Brandeis, even "Thank you," the people on the plat­ but for anybody looking for office in small measure, finds a sympathetic form heard him say, "you have where there are Jews in the constitu­ response. brought me back to my people." On ency, to hesitate about opposing Bran­ Perhaps it is this: Brandeis was a April 17,1913, he formally joined the deis. The humor of the situation I stranger to the European Zionist Zionist Association of Boston. For the cannot, even in the sorrow of the ap­ mainstream, the doctrinal tradition next two and a half years, Louis D. pointment, escape." that culminated in the establishment Brandeis lectured all across the coun­ of Israel. He was a brusque and au­ try, lending his prestige and zeal to the Brandeis's long and distinguished ca­ thoritarian newcomer with ideas of hitherto obscure European ideology of reer in the Supreme Court was not his own. When, belatedly, he em­ Jewish nationalism. In January 1916, troubled by the charge of political op­ braced Zionism, he redefined it to his when Wilson named him Associate portunism, but long after his death his­ own liking. Instead of accepting the Justice of the Supreme Court, the torians began reviving the innuendos, style and outlook of the Russian Pale, Jewish community leaders gave him particularly historians in the State of the root source of Zionist strength, he their unqualified support. What had Israel. American defenders of his attempted to impose the values of changed their minds? memory rushed to his defense, and the American progressives. The grafting The cynical implication in this se­ controversy among scholars has did not take, and today, looking back, quence of events is that Brandeis used simmered ever since. Israelis view Brandeis's Americanized the cause of Zionism for his own po­ The most telling point in Brandeis 's Zionism with bemusement; his short­ litical advancement; checked in his defense involves the contradiction that lived movement is regarded as an political ambitions by his lack of per­ existed within the Jewish communi­ unsympathetic and alien dead end, sonal base in the Jewish community, ty's higher reaches. Notable among and his place in the Zionist pantheon he set about (within sixteen days!) to notables of the Uptown Jews, Jacob is, at best, a modest one. build that base and become a promi­ Schiff would obviously not consider nent "representative Jew." Brandeis a "representative Jew"; Seven years passed before the con­ William Howard Taft, former Presi­ Schiff considered himself the "repre­ frontation between American and Eu­ dent of the United States, was an early sentative Jew. " In their social and eco­ ropean Zionism broke into the open, purveyor of this charge of political op­ nomic outlook, Schiff and the years of world war and upheaval. For portunism. Taft was just the kind of patricians of the American Jewish all the latter-day arguments about political enemy that Brandeis enjoyed Committee were much closer to the whether Brandeis used Zionism to collecting. Champion of me conser­ moneyed anti-Brandeis interests than serve his own interests, no one dis­ vative moneyed interests, head of a they were to the common folk whom putes that Brandeis served Zionism's Republican administration blemished Brandeis championed. For all his ad­ interests at the moment when it most by financial intrigues that Brandeis mitted lack of Jewish associations, needed help. In prosperous neutral had helped to expose, Taft wanted for Brandeis's philosophy drew him far America, he brought visibility, re­ himself the seat on the Supreme closer to the Russian-Jewish immi­ spectability, and, above all, organiza­ Court. When it went instead to his grants than to the likes of Schiff. tional zeal to a near-moribund cause. radical Jewish adversary, Taft wrote a Next, if Brandeis had consciously Zionist membership in America grew

Moment/29 from 20,000 to nearly 200,000 during office. The meeting pledged to raise trative shambles that he had suddenly World War I; even Jacob Schiff found $200,000 for an emergency fund, and agreed to direct. himself willing, by 1918, to raise it formally elected Brandeis chair­ Drawing on all the professional, money for the Jewish colonies in man. Scarcely a year after joining its social and political connections at his Palestine. Boston branch, Brandeis found him­ disposal, Brandeis overturned the To the typical established American self chief executive officer of an inter­ habits of a generation. He closed Jew beyond the Lower East Side, Zi­ national political movement. down the ramshackle old Zionist of­ onism was vaguely unsavory; it His acceptance speech at the Hotel fices on lower Second Avenue and seemed another of those airy fin-de- Marseilles made plain the pragmatic, brought the headquarters into the siècle political movements from a con­ non-doctrinaire approach that would mainstream, to Fifth Avenue and tentious Europe, ill-defined and be his from this point onwards. Eighteenth Street. "He would come to quixotic, played out in endless de­ "Throughout long years which repre­ the Zionist offices in New York early bates, coffeehouse intrigues, obscure sent my own life, I have been to a in the morning and remain for hours, manipulations in a dozen chancel­ great extent separated from Jews," he receiving visitors, questioning them leries. With its Central Office in Ber­ admitted. "I am very ignorant of and assigning tasks," recalls a co­ lin, there was even confusion about things Jewish. But recent experiences, worker. "He would take his coat off, which side Zionism would take as the public and professional, have taught loosen his tie, ruffle his hair, use his empires of Europe slipped toward war. me this: I find Jews possessed of those hands actively and twist his body in August 1914 found Brandeis at his very qualities which we of the 20th the chair as he carried on a hearty dis­ South Yarmouth resort home—the as­ century seek to develop in our struggle cussion with infinite patience." sassination of an Austrian archduke a for justice and democracy; a deep Unabashedly the intellectual snob, month or so before could hardly upset moral feeling which makes them capa­ Brandeis pursued the "college men," the vacation habits of a lifetime. ble of noble acts; a deep sense of the preferably those from Harvard Law, Though officially a member of the brotherhood of man; and a high intelli­ hoping to bring quality and political American Zionist Federation, Bran­ gence, the fruit of three thousand drive to the cause—and offering them deis rejected repeated urgings that he years of civilization. These experi­ the chance to further their own careers assume a post of national leadership, ences have made me feel that the Jew­ in the process. "A summons to meet much to the despair of De Haas and his ish people have something which . . . Brandeis was like nothing else," colleagues. But in his vacation read­ should be saved for the world; that the recalled one young recruit; "to me it ing that month was a hastily assem­ Jewish people should be preserved; was like being invited to meet a Mo­ bled brief on the "Jewish problem," and that it is our duty to pursue that ses, a Jefferson, a Lincoln." Headed and by the end of August, events had method of saving which most prom­ by one so close to the Wilson adminis­ converged upon him in unexpected ises success." tration, the reinvigorated Zionist fashion. This is a far different tone from the movement offered young lawyers In the last days before the outbreak overblown rhetoric and folk mysti­ promising ground for pursuing their of war, Theodor Herzl's successors in cism that the Zionist faithful were professional and political ambitions. England and France had managed to used to hearing. Instead of the usual Felix Frankfurter, Benjamin V. Co­ remove the Zionist Central Office belabored abstractions, Brandeis pro­ hen, Julian Mack—these were just a from Berlin, and De Haas secured its posed leading Zionism toward the few of the young aspirants who fol­ transfer to neutral America. That de­ outcome "which most promises suc­ lowed Brandeis as a Pied Piper to termined newspaperman even had a cess." The Brandeis revolution had prominence. thought about who the new provi­ begun. Brandeis devised an exclusive sional leader of the movement might In the disarray of war, the European channel for exercising his magnetic be. "The welfare of seven-tenths of Zionist leaders were in no position to leadership, parallel to the official net­ the Jewish race" is at issue, he challenge America's provisional lead­ work of Zionist organizations across pleaded, knowing how Brandeis liked ership. Indeed, many cabled their sat­ the country. This was an elitist secret precision of number; toward other isfaction in this distinguished new society called the Parushim, the He­ possible claimants to emergency war­ convert to their cause. No longer did brew word for "Pharisees" and "sepa­ time leadership, De Haas was dis­ Brandeis plead the pressure of other rate," which grew out of Harvard's dainful. "We already know what we work; "Zionist affairs are really the Menorah Society. As the Harvard men can expect of the men of the Schiff important things in life now," he spread out across the land in their pro­ type." Brandeis cut his vacation two wrote his brother. fessional pursuits, their interests in Zi­ days short and set out by overnight Even before letting the delegates onism were kept alive by secretive boat for Manhattan. On August 30, disperse he called for reports on the exchanges and the trappings of a fra­ 1914, at New York's Hotel Mar­ membership of their diverse organiza­ ternal order. Each invited initiate seilles, an extraordinary conference of tions, their budgets, the activities they underwent a solemn ceremony, swear­ 150 American Zionist delegates es­ were prepared to undertake. For two ing the oath "to guard and to obey and tablished the Provisional Executive more days he sat in his room at the Ho­ to keep secret the laws and the labor of for General Zionist Affairs to assume tel Marseilles, interrogating the faith­ the fellowship, its existence and its the functions of the abandoned Berlin ful, briefing himself on the adminis­ aims. "

30/Moment Brandeis himself eventually tired leaders—Kallen has never received gust 1914. Kallen accompanied of the sophomoric trappings of ritual the credit due him for the phenomenal Brandeis on the overnight boat to New and oaths, but he used the Parushim as upsurge of Zionist activity in the Bran­ York on the eve of the Zionist confer­ a private intellectual cadre, a pool of deis years. Son of an Orthodox rabbi, ence that elected him to the manpower for various assignments he attended Harvard, turned secular in chairmanship of the movement. In that might have been smothered by the his interests, and while still an under­ their long conversations emerged the rhetoric and debate of the public Zion­ graduate in 1903 met Brandeis. philosophical underpinnings for ist clubs. "An organization which Though the student and the eminent Brandeisian Zionism. has the aims which we have must be lawyer had many long and mellow First, Brandeis had to modify his anonymous," explained an early re­ talks together about the nature of old faith in the melting-pot vision for cruiter, "must work silently, and man, justice and society, Kallen never America, his scom of "hyphenated through education and infection rather revealed at that time that he had se­ Americans. " Kallen pressed upon him than through force and noise, and can cretly taken up the cause championed another vision, the then-novel idea of gain results only insofar as its stan­ by Herzl in Europe. "cultural pluralism," arguing that dards are made to live in the lives of Kallen left the intellectual comfort America promised opportunity for the people to whom they are brought. of Cambridge for a junior faculty post growth not only for individuals but for But nothing could be more suicidal at Princeton; his appointment there ethnic groups as well. Brandeis did than the announcement of such an was not renewed after it became not resist for long, for exposure to the object, so that the secrecy is known that he was a Jew. He settled as community of Russian immigrants inevitable." instructor of philosophy and psychol­ had shaken his earlier beliefs. On July Stripped of the ritual and regalia, ogy at the University of Wisconsin, 4, 1915, he declared his new convic­ the Parushim were a sort of precursor but there he grew lonely for old tion, his leap from the melting pot to of the informal Zionist discussion friends, and found in the idea of a se­ the salad bowl as the vessel for the groups that coalesced in official Wash­ cret order the chance to maintain Har­ American dream: ington during the 1940s. The mem­ vard associations and assert at the bers set about meeting people of same time his own modern Jewish "America . . . has always declared influence here and there, casually, on identity. herself for equality of nationalities as a friendly basis. They planted sugges­ In 1913, hearing of Brandeis's well as for equality of individuals. tions for action to further the Zionist emerging interest in Zionism, Kallen America has believed that each race cause long before official government wrote to his old mentor about his own had something of peculiar value which planners had come up with anything. philosophy: "In Palestine we aim at a it can contribute. . . . America has al­ For example, as early as November new state and a happier social order. " ways believed that in differentiation, 1915, a leader of the Parushim went No giant corporations would control not in uniformity, lies the path of around suggesting that the British society, there would be no class progress." might gain some benefit from a for­ struggles or predatory wealth. "There mal declaration in support of a Jewish are ... in Jewish Palestine ... ex­ Now the way lay open for Brandeis to national homeland in Palestine. It ploiting and exploited classes," link Jewish group identity, through seemed an unlikely idea at the time. Kallen said. "None of these is neces­ Zionism, with the American dream. sary; all are avoidable by right Assimilation to the majority culture, The leader and guiding spirit of the beginnings." he argued, would be national suicide. Parushim, and one of the most impor­ This was just the kind of progres­ With a stroke of rhetoric he cut tant formative influences on American sive idealism that Brandeis liked. Em­ through the dilemma of dual loyalties. Zionism, was a social philosopher barked on his own search for the "right "Let no American imagine that Zion- named Horace Kallen. Modest and beginnings," he invited his old stu­ self-effacing—a rarity among Zionist dent friend to South Yarmouth in Au­ Conlinued on page 34

Louis Brandeis, Boston lawyer (The Bellman Archive. Inc.)

Moment/31 Continuedfrom page 31 Brandeis rejected that belief. Though he had himself experienced genteel forms of anti-Semitic prejudice in his ism is inconsistent with Patriotism," Boston law practice and from his he declared. "Multiple loyalties are Christian neighbors in the fashionable objectionable only if they are inconsis­ suburb of Dedham, he did not let his tent. ... A man is a better citizen of emotions carry him into a sweeping the United States for being also a loyal judgment on the Jewish fate in Chris­ citizen of his state, and of his city.. . . tendom. Like I. M. Wise, Brandeis There is no inconsistency between always assumed the goodwill of the loyalty to America and loyalty to Christian majority. America may not Jewry. The Jewish spirit... is essen­ have become the new Palestine— tially modern and essentially Brandeis stopped short of Wise on American." that score—but it still offered a wel­ Brandeis delighted in the links of come and an opportunity for Jewish early America with the values of the survival at least as promising as that of Old Testament. The nouveau Brahmin the ancient homeland. of Boston invoked the Puritans, their In short, Brandeisian Zionism stood struggles against nature and mankind for the enrichment of Jewish life in to build their ethical society; "Zionism America as well as in Palestine. Like is the Pilgrim inspiration and impulse American Jews from Mordecai Noah over again," he declared. "The de­ onward, Brandeis never believed that scendants of the Pilgrim fathers a Jew would have to move to Palestine should not find it hard to understand in order to remain a Jew. His Zionism and sympathize with it. " Repeatedly, "was almost entirely philanthropic in as he crossed the country, Brandeis nature," wrote a Jewish leader long merged the American and Jewish after the Brandeisian revolution had heritages. "Only through the enno­ died out. "It was no more than a desire bling effect of [Zionist] strivings can to 'help others. ' They did not feel that we develop the best that is in us, and they needed Zionism for themselves in give to this country the full benefit of any way." I am my brother's keeper, our great inheritance," he concluded. said the Brandeisian, but I am not my "To be good Americans, we must be brother. better Jews, and to be better Jews, we Zionism was a great social experi­ must become Zionists." ment, representing "in Jewish life The more alert in Brandeis's audi­ what Progressivism does in general ences might have noticed the little American life," said Brandeis. It trick in his eloquence, his almost in­ sought to create a model new society terchangeable use of the terms "Jew­ in a small and sacred land, where ex­ ish" and "Zionist" in invoking ancient citing new forms of democratic social values and future destiny. This "care­ institutions could flourish on the soil lessness"—which it certainly was of the ancient heritage, offering equal not—conveniently disregarded the justice, self-government and eco­ struggle going on within Jewry, the nomic opportunity for the common uphill battle that the Zionist minority man in the land of his fathers. And it was fighting to identify its cause with could provide refuge for the Jews of its whole people. His eloquence had a Europe who were not welcome in the devastating effect on the Jews in his United States. hearing who had not believed that Zi­ onism was what Judaism had to offer Brandeis, the controversial "people's the modern world. advocate," put Zionism on the agenda By rooting his conception of Zion­ of public debate in America, but his ism so firmly in Americanism, Bran­ identification with the Jewish cause deis set himself apart from the also stirred criticism from all the ideology of the European Zionist forces that had long regarded him as a movement. Herzl's Zionism had radical enemy of American capital­ This page: Louis Brandeis. 1914 (Zionist Archives and Library) grown out of a heritage of anti-Sem­ ism. "Brandeis, the Boston butter-in, Facing page: Nathan Straus, Louis Brandeis and Rabbi Wise (The itism, which European Jewry regarded is a high-grade opportunist," com­ Beltman Archive. Inc.) as universal in Christian society. From mented the Los Angeles Times, add­ the security of the goldene medine, ing its hope that Brandeis would

34 /Moment "open real estate offices in Jerusalem ing Uptown for "representative ism. It was just short of two years and thrive there—and stay there, Jews. " A new group seemed to have since he had assumed active above all, stay there." taken charge of the Jewish vote, if leadership. ^ Zionists "believe that the Russian there were such a thing, and with But he remained the power behind Jews should be experimented upon," Brandeis at its head it seemed firmly the scenes of American Zionism. commented I. M. Wise's heirs on the committed to the cause of Zionism. Daily reports from the New York American Israelite. "If Mr. Brandeis Brandeis said his appointment to the headquarters, including financial and one hundred prominent Jews go to Supreme Court proved that "in the statements, went to his Supreme Court Palestine and live, then will their ex­ opinion of the President there is no chambers in Washington. For his as­ ample cause thousands of others to conflict between Zionism and loyalty sociates and successors, he was still follow suit; will the Zionists accept to America." This may have im­ "the chief. " And within a year of his this challenge?" The Israelite, for pressed those who were still troubled arrival in the nation's capital he would one, did not miss the trick in Bran­ about dual loyalties, but it did not im­ be called upon for another act of ser­ deis' rhetoric: "Mr. Brandeis is enti­ press the immigrants down on the vice to Zionism. tled to his opinion that Zionism is the Lower East Side. They muttered about panacea for all Israel's ills. But when a Brandeis betrayal—that, given the Washington was a placid community he says that all those who do not agree chance, he turned his back on his peo­ in those years before the Great War. with him 'are against their own peo­ ple and accepted a position in the Motorcars were rarities, long avenues ple,' he is guilty of uttering that which Gentile power structure. But Brandeis of trees brought beauty and shade is not true and of being grossly imper­ had no intention of turning his back; to leisurely strollers along wide prom­ tinent at the same time. Who is Mr. he fully intended to remain at the helm enades. The business of government Brandeis to judge his brethren?" of the Zionist organization. The fact was civilized and not really time-con­ Brandeis tried to stay aloof from the that he saw no conflict of interest con­ suming, at least compared with what organizational rivalries that had so im­ firmed that his concept of Zionism it would later be; particularly was this mobilized the Zionist movement in was philanthropic at heart. It appar­ so in the realm of foreign affairs. As the prewar decade, the clash of the ently did not occur to him that the glo­ the Old World empires slipped into Uptown Yahudim and the Downtown bal political movement of which he their war, the little club of profes­ Yidden. Coming from neither society, was provisional head could one day— sional diplomats was well ensconced he nevertheless could not long con­ in fact soon—clash with the govern­ in its own sheltered preserve. ceal his contempt for the moneyed ment of the United States. During working hours, gentlemanly magnates of Uptown. He decided to Brandeis's enemies among Jews short, the diplomats inhabited the lend his support to the drive for a and Gentiles came forth during his grandiose granite block next to the democratic body, the American Jew­ confirmation hearings. A rival Zionist White House, four stories of col­ ish Congress, to supplant the Ameri­ leader, Judah Magnes, attacked him umns, porticos and mansard roofs can Jewish Committee (the similarity angrily for his political maneuverings evoking the grandeur of Second Em­ in names was not accidental) in speak­ on the issue of summoning the demo­ pire France. Silent functionaries in ing for American Jewry. The Con­ cratic American Jewish Congress. The cutaway coats strode up and down the gress was just what the Committee Ochs and Sulzberger families' New wide, semicircular stairways with the notables had feared; "the riff-raff and York Times echoed the Uptown estab­ huge bronze balusters, intent upon everybody" were presuming to usurp lishment in urging him, as a sitting obscure missions of presumed import. leadership. The American Jewish Justice of the Supreme Court, to with­ Away from the demands of office, Congress signaled the revolt of Down­ draw from "activities of a political or the most elite of the elite, men like the town; its success caught the attention social nature." Hurt by the criticism, young William Phillips, Joseph Grew of political analysts in Washington and Brandeis resigned on July 21, 1916, and Hugh Gibson would gather at the abroad who were in the habit of look­ from all his posts of authority in Zion­ genteel rooming house at 1718 H

Moment/ 35 Street, in northwest Washington, immigrants from Europe showed no and ended with his suggestion that an where the bachelors among them interest in a modern Christian American group of investors should maintained a pied-à-terre. They called education. obtain an option to buy the Galilee themselves "the Family"; these civil­ The oil and commercial entrepre­ hillside from which Jesus delivered ized young men formed the nucleus of neurs were equally frustrated in their his Sermon on the Mount. Revolutions what would become the Foreign Ser­ attempts to exploit the anarchy of the and coups d'état in the Balkans and vice of the United States. It was a life Ottoman Empire. Bribes and ministra­ the Near East counted for little, in the of comfort and composure. tions to the court of the Sultan by diplomats' view; the map of the Near Occasionally, moments of tension American venture capitalists were ab­ East on the Secretary of State's office intruded. When Britain and France ruptly undermined by the Young Turk wall was full, SO years out of date. found themselves at war in 1914 with coup d'état of 1908, and for all their As long as the various Zionist repre­ the Ottoman Turkish empire, lacklus­ continuing effort, American commer­ sentations to the department dealt ter ally to Germany, neutral America cial interests found themselves regu­ with humanitarian relief matters, as was asked to represent their interests larly outmaneuvered by the wily they generally did under Brandeis's in the obscure Turkish province of Pal­ cartels of Europe. leadership, the diplomats responded estine. Routine operations were But among the diplomatic sympathetically. The State Depart­ hampered by a Turkish ban on interna­ professionals in Washington, the ment protested Turkish attempts to ex­ tional communications in an "enemy" Chrisitian missionaries and the ven­ pel Jewish settlers as potential enemy language, including English. The ture capitalists were respectability it­ aliens; it urged similar measures of American ambassador's complaints self compared with that third group of protection for the Armenian and other elicited a decree from Constantinople concerned Americans. The Zionists minorities. In rare recognition of do­ authorizing use of "the American lan­ made a certain amount of noise, par­ mestic political interests, the depart­ guage," and a missionary publication ticularly after Brandeis took over the ment obliged President Wilson in his heralded the triumph: "Great is movement, but their interest was too 1916 re-election campaign by produc­ diplomacy!" parochial to be taken seriously by the ing a public memorandum of all the in­ The Christian missionaries were makers of foreign policy. As far as the ternational representations made in one of three groups in American soci­ Turkish province of Palestine was con­ defense of Jewish civil rights the ety that paid attention to develop­ cerned, for all except those who world over. The statement had a cer­ ments in the Ottoman lands; the other thrived on romantic travel literature tain effect in metropolitan areas where two were oil men and Jews. about the Holy Land, it was only a the Jewish vote could well be impor­ From its modest beginnings as a ro­ nuisance. tant to the President. mantic crusade, the American mis­ The life of the American consul in But the department cast a wary eye sionary community had grown into a Jerusalem had become tedious, con­ upon any approach from the Zionists formidable educational force in the sumed in petty disputes among rival that implied political engagement. Middle East. Robert College in commercial and religious groups of The Near East Division dismissed one Constantinople, founded in 1863, and Jews claiming the protection of the Zionist proposal in 1913, noting that the Syrian Protestant College, American flag. Under the Ottoman it "would involve American political founded in 1866, later named the system of "capitulations," foreign activity in the Ottoman Empire." American University of Beirut, were consuls were permitted to dispense Even a letter from Brandeis conveying emerging centers of national awaken­ extraterritorial justice among their the Zionist political program in May ing among the diverse minorities un­ own nationals. Whichever rival fac­ 1917 seems to have been ignored by der Ottoman rule. The missionaries tion the hapless consul might choose, the State Department officers respon­ had shed their simplistic fundamental­ partisans of the losers in the United sible for the area. ism and become an establishment of States would bombard the State De­ well-endowed educators. With con­ partment with complaints. To preside over this unruffled foreign tacts at all levels of Ottoman society, The Department of State had cre­ policy establishment came an unruf­ they could rightly claim an expertise ated a Near East Division in 1909, par­ fled Secretary of State. Reserved, in die affairs of the region that eluded allel to the more established divisions proper and conservative, Robert Lan­ the representatives of government and for the Far East and Western Europe. sing may once have had President Wil­ commerce. The sense of politics and geography in son's confidence, but their relation­ One of the minority groups of the those days was such that the new divi­ ship failed to survive the rigors of high Turkish empire, the Jews of Palestine, sion's purview spanned the empires of office. Neither intellectually nor tem­ had lost their appeal to the Christian Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary peramentally could Lansing compete missions. They were so few in num­ and the Ottomans, plus Italy, Greece, for influence with the shrewd and ma­ ber—at the most 80,000 before World the Balkans, Abyssinia, Persia, Egypt nipulative Edward M. House, the re­ War I, compared with the millions of and the French and British colonies in serve colonel from Texas who, surrounding Arabs. More to the point, the Mediterranean. In this galaxy, con­ without title or staff, superseded the these Jews were absolutely intransi­ cerns of Palestine did not loom large. State Department in charting the for­ gent about clinging to their group Secretary of State William Jennings eign policy of the Wilson era. It was identity; even the secular pioneering Bryan's ideas for the Holy Land began through Colonel House, and not Sec-

36/MofiKM retary Lansing, that Britain and the Zi­ the Secretary of State's call, three onists worked on the first great days later, and the two reached rather diplomatic act of the Jewish national absentminded agreement^that Mor­ cause. genthau should be sent off to see what It would become known as the Bal­ he could do. What seemed like a four Declaration. But as it was taking harmless idea quickly turned awkward shape, the Department of State was off as it became apparent what it meant to on another tangent, a venture that left the forces more directly concerned. scarcely a trace in diplomatic history Britain was about to launch an inva­ and served only to renew that old sus­ sion of Turkish Palestine, and separate picion of international Zionism as a peace moves could be inconvenient nefarious conspiracy. for her imperial designs upon the Otto­ The episode began casually man territories. Even more alarmed enough. One day in May 1917, in his were the diverse nationality groups second-floor office overlooking the agitating for postwar liberation from White House gardens, Secretary Lan­ the Turkish yoke—Armenians, Arabs, sing placed a telephone call, then dic­ and Jews—all of whom saw a sepa­ tated a letter (he could never be sure rate peace as a threat to their that Wilson would return his calls). aspirations. "My dear Mr. President: I had yester­ Morgenthau had no sympathy for day two conversations in relation to Zionism, but he agreed to accept as Turkey which are worthy of consider­ traveling companion a protégé of ation ..." Brandeis, a 35 year-old Harvard law The first was with the private secre­ professor named Felix Frankfurter, tary of the United States ambassador, whose presence ensured that the Zion­ just returned from Constantinople— ists were kept fully informed about the Lansing did not note the gentleman's envoy's actions. Britain moved dis­ name. Turkey had broken relations creetly to scotch the American initia­ with the United States the month be­ tive by dispatching an immigrant fore, but the two countries were not chemist from Russia named Chaim formally at war. The secretary's infor­ Weizmann, who was gaining influ­ mation was that the weary Turks ence in the Zionist movement, to in­ might be induced to break with Ger­ tercept the Morgenthau party at many and reach a separate peace. Gibraltar. There he and Frankfurter Could the United States mediate in succeeded in talking the would-be this delicate undertaking? peacemaker out of proceeding any Lansing had been impressed and, further. by chance, he received a second report The whole affair fizzled out, leav­ later the same day, this time from a ing the American diplomatic estab­ man whose name he knew well: Henry lishment convinced that the failure J. Morgenthau, former American am­ was the direct result of a Zionist con­ bassador to the Ottoman Empire. Mor­ spiracy in the imperial chancellories of genthau, then 61, was one of those Europe. Never mind that Morgenthau 19th century German-Jewish immi­ himself was an avowed anti-Zionist; grants who had thrived in the New never mind that the Zionists' opposi­ World; his fortune was secured when tion succeeded only because Britain he managed to buy up promising plots had arranged Weizmann's scuttling er­ of land at the future stops of the rand; never mind that Lansing and his advancing New York City subway advisers had regarded the mission as a system. His appointment to long shot anyway. To1 the; diplomats at Constantinople came in recognition of State, the episode rankled. To them, his financial help to Wilson in the as to Stuyvesant centuries before, it presidential campaign. Though re­ seemed one more ominous proof of tired from diplomacy by 1917, Mor­ that strange power that international genthau remained eager to be of Jewry could call upon to thwart na­ service, and he succeeded in persuad­ tional governments and achieve its ing Lansing that, with his many old own ends. The instincts of anti-Sem­ contacts, he was the man to sound out itism lurking among the class of diplo­ the Turks about peace. mats received a new note of As it happened, Wilson did return encouragement—and just at the mo-

Macnan/37 ment when international Zionism was reasons for learning about Zionism. rope, the leaders of Russian Jewry and poised for a genuine diplomatic The European allies were closing in to others who had gravitated to wartime triumph. deliver the coup de grace to the col­ London, were far ahead of him. Of that greater drama, going on par­ lapsing Ottoman regime; the disposi­ On April 25, 1917, just a few days allel to Lansing's modest efforts, the tion of the Turkish lands, including before he met Balfour, a cable arrived American Secretary of State knew ab­ Palestine, weighed heavily in the cal­ from James de Rothschild, one of the solutely nothing. culations of empire. At the same time, leaders of English Zionism, suggest­ American support for British war ef­ ing a postwar political goal: a Jewish Early in May 1917, the same month forts was a top priority in Whitehall, Palestine under a British protectorate. that Lansing began thinking about which is why Balfour had rushed over Did Brandeis and his American col­ sending Morgenthau to Turkey, two for talks with President Wilson imme­ leagues agree, and could they secure distinguished gentlemen lingered over diately upon America's declaration of President Wilson's endorsement? breakfast at a Washington hotel. They war. Brandeis was uneasy about launching had met a few days before at a formal From what London had learned into this uncharted political territory, White House luncheon, and each had about American political life, the and a quick check with the Zionist his own professional reasons for want­ Jews seemed to offer a promising Provisional Executive in New York ing to pursue a relationship. One man means of promoting pro-British senti­ revealed that they too had given no at the breakfast table was Brandeis; ment. "They are far better organized thought to postwar political planning. the other was His Britannic Majesty's than the Irish and far more formida­ Thus, in his first meeting with Bal­ Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, ble," cabled the British Embassy in four, Brandeis felt at a certain disad­ Arthur James Balfour. Sitting as al­ Washington. "We should be in a posi­ vantage. Early in May the Provisional ways in aristocratic languor, legs tion to get into their good graces. " At Executive hastily discussed how stretched straight out in front, Balfour the head of organized Jewry appeared Brandeis should reply to Rothschild, could not conceal his curiosity about to be this newcomer Brandeis, an inti­ and Brandeis himself went over to the the brilliant, controversial Jew across mate of the President, popular enough White House after lunch on May 4 for the table. "You are one of the Ameri­ with the Jewish masses to make his a 43 minute talk with Wilson. It was cans I had wanted to meet," he said. movement a threat to the supremacy their first substantive conversation Balfour had been well schooled in of the old-line American Jewish Com­ about the politics of Jewish national Jewish history and civilization; to him mittee. The British Foreign Secretary aspirations. When Brandeis met Bal­ the destruction of ancient Judea by the had ample reason to be curious. four a second time, on May 10, he felt legions of Rome stood as "one of the Balfour and Brandeis started their more comfortable about dealing with great wrongs" of history. As early as breakfast with generalities. The specifics. 1906, Balfour had struggled with the American jurist stressed the ethical Balfour had been hesitant to sug­ political dilemma of the Jews. "My purposes and practical aspirations of gest a British protectorate to his anxiety is simply to find some means Zionism, and the power of the dream American contacts, fully mindful of by which the present dreadful state of of a Jewish homeland. He had said it the fears in Wilson's Washington of so large a proportion of the Jewish many times before. Then, as Balfour getting sucked into the imperial rival­ race . . . may be brought to an end," gingerly turned the conversation to­ ries of the European belligerents. he told a meeting of English voters. ward political considerations, Bran­ Moreover, the idea that the Foreign (Balfour was fighting for re-election, deis grew uncomfortable. For the fact Office had been turning over for a year and an opponent in a nearby constitu­ is that, as late as April 1917, Brandeis past was that the United States might ency, Winston Churchill, was making had given no though whatever to the itself be induced to assume a protec­ a big play for the large Jewish vote.) international political consequences of torate over the Holy Land. This would Not that Balfour himself had per­ a Jewish state. Such issues were su­ keep out the French and any other co­ sonal acquaintance with the Jewish perfluous to his concept of Zionism. lonial rival, and Whitehall had people—a companion recalls him To be sure, he had contemplated ap­ every reason to be comfortable with a watching motley crowds of London proaches to the Turkish government benign American presence in the Jews flocking toward a Zionist meet­ about securing leases and concessions neighborhood of the Suez Canal. ing at the Albert Hall, then turning in for Jewish settlement, and he had Fresh from his meeting with Wil­ vague wonderment to ask, "But who pressed Wilson as early as 1914 for son, Brandeis knew just what to say are all these people?" Through his sympathetic consideration of these ef­ about the idea of an American protec­ studies of history and politics, Bal­ forts. But he spoke only in terms of torate. The President and everyone four, like Blackstone, understood bet­ relief for refugees, of capital invest­ else he knew in official Washington ter even than Herzl the symbolic ment and progressive social change were flatly opposed to any United aspirations of Zionism. "If a home among the struggling little Jewish States responsibility for Palestine or was to be found for the Jewish peo­ communities of Palestine. For the Armenia or any of the other Turkish ple, ... it was in vain to seek it any­ rest, the political future of the Arabs territories. Responsibility of empire, where but in Palestine," he said. and the Jews in the Ottoman prov­ under whatever legal guise, was not By the spring of 1917, British di­ ince—that was a matter on which he the vision of Wbodrow Wilson's plomacy had more than philosophical had yet to focus. The Zionists of Eu­ America. As for a British protectorate,

38 /Moment the scheme on which the European Zi­ ment of the Jewish national home in that nothing shall be done which may onists were working, Brandeis was Palestine. The idea had come to them prejudice the civil and religious rights able to promise Wilson's whole­ from an unlikely source. In November of existing non-Jewish communities hearted support, including his readi­ 1915, long before the United States in Palestine, or the rights and political ness to speak out in public at the was involved in the war, the fertile status enjoyed by Jews in any other appropriate time. brain of Horace Kallen out in Madi­ country. " Balfour left Washington deeply sat­ son, Wisconsin, had come up with the isfied with his mission. Brandeis, he idea of an Allied statement support­ Perhaps no other paragraph of the 20th confided to an associate, "was prob­ ing, in whatever veiled way was century has been so exhaustively ana­ ably the most remarkable man" he had deemed necessary, Jewish national lyzed and parsed to its subtlest nu­ met on his visit to the United States, rights in Palestine. Such a statement, ance, of which there are obviously not only for political prowess but for he argued to a British friend (who he many. One early draft spoke of the "high moral tone" on the subject of knew would pass the idea along), "Jewish race," but Zionist lobbyists Palestine. To Brandeis directly, at the "would give a natural outlet for the persuaded the Foreign Office end of their Washington meetings, spontaneous pro-English, French, and draftsmen to substitute "Jewish peo­ Balfour said bluntly, "I am a Zionist." Italian sympathies of the Jewish ple" and thus bypass a controversy be­ As an illustration of back-channel masses." It would help break down tween race and religion. The Zionists diplomacy at its most effective, the America's neutrality, Kallen argued, would have liked Balfour to advocate Balfour-Brandeis encounter was ex­ knowing full well that this was pre­ the "re-establishment" of the Jewish ceptional. A Foreign Minister seeking cisely the aim of British diplomacy. national home, adding the legitimacy understanding on a delicate political Kallen 's idea lit a spark of interest in of ages past to the modem campaign. issue turned not to his official opposite Whitehall. Most significant was the phrase "in number, the Secretary of State, or As charters for a modern nation- Palestine." An earlier draft was more even to the other foreign policy advis­ state go, the 67 words of the Balfour forthright, calling for the "reconsti­ ers known to be close to the President. Declaration of November 1917 are tution of Palestine as a Jewish State. " He sought out instead a member of the surely among the most modest and Acting on a hunch more than any deep judiciary having neither official nor unassuming. Conveyed in the form of reasoning. Lord Milner, an influential unofficial standing in the matter, but a a personal letter from the British For­ member of the War Cabinet, whittled deep personal interest—and the sym­ eign Secretary to a prominent British this unambiguous formulation down pathetic ear of the President. Bran­ Jew, Lord Rothschild, it said: to the final form, "in Palestine," deis, for his part, saw no impropriety which shaped the diplomatic and po­ in discussing a humane, philanthropic "His Majesty's Government view litical struggle for decades to follow. issue. with favor the establishment in Pales­ The promise of a Jewish national Assured of American sympathy, tine of a national home for the Jewish home in Palestine opened the way for British policymakers turned to the people, and will use their best endeav­ the partition of Palestine, and, thereby, next step in their strategy, a public dec­ ors to facilitate the achievement of for Israel's statehood. * laration of support for the establish­ this object, it being clearly understood

V

Balfour (2nd from left) and Lansing i 3rd from left} leaving the State Department, on MUV to While House (The Bettman Anhive. Im.)

Moment/39