James Grover McDonald

According to the proposal the High Commission would be an entirely autonomous organization in charge of finding its own funding as it would receive no financial support from the League of Nations, with which it was affiliated.[1] During his time as High Commissioner McDonald sought out numerous avenues for support in his efforts to rescue the suffering German Jews.[2] During his tenure, McDonald became a Zionist, partially as a result of his close ties with Chaim Weizmann and his deputy director Norman Bentwich.[3] Ultimately, McDonald became frustrated with the lack of support and compassion he encountered during his time as High Commissioner for Refugees (Jewish and Others).After being unable to find new homes for numerous displaced Jewish refugees, McDonald resigned his post on December 27, 1935.On his way to take up his appointment, he had a meeting in London with Foreign Secretary Bevin—"I had to tell myself that this was not Hitler seated before me" — at which he provoked Bevin into losing his temper by suggesting that Britain should send a diplomatic representative to Tel Aviv.He argued that this would cause lasting bitterness,[10] but he persistently lobbied the State Department, as well as President Truman personally, for diplomatic recognition.[14] On 29 July 1950, he broke the ban on conducting official business in the city when he held a meeting with David Ben-Gurion to discuss the outbreak of the Korean War.[18] He campaigned for a U.S. loan for the upgrading of Haifa harbour and was involved in the first formal commercial agreement between the two countries — the 1950 Israel–US air treaty.[21] Back in the U.S., he added his name to the list of Zionist groups, 23 October 1953, which issued a statement condemning the threat to cut off aid during the crisis over diverting water from the Jordan River.In his capacity as the League of Nations high commissioner for refugees from 1933 to 1935, he saw firsthand what the Nazis were plotting, and believed - long before many German Jews had internalized the threat - that Hitler would destroy European Jewry.In May 2003, the museum's library director received a letter from the daughter of the man who was going to write McDonald's biography, saying her father had died prematurely and she possessed about 500 pages of the diaries.On August 11, 2022, a historical interpretive double-sided marker was placed at 105 Broadway, Albany, Indiana, honoring the life and legacy of James G. McDonald.Representing the Foreign Policy Association, he met with Nazi officials in 1933, including Adolf Hitler who was quickly rising to power.McDonald warned U.S. leaders about “Impending tragedy” for European Jews and began advocating for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution.(Side 2) James Grover McDonald (Continued from other side) As the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (1933-35) and the chair of President Roosevelt’s refugee advisory committee (1938-45), McDonald battled xenophobia, antisemitism, and restrictive quota systems to find asylum for thousands of persecuted Jews.