Scumbag?

Thus spake Meryl Yourish about Charles Lindbergh in the comments to this post. Yep, Lucky Lindy - the guy who flew "The Spirit of St. Louis" across the Atlantic in 1927 and became an international hero. I'm guessing he didn't start supporting WWII soon enough to suit her, but who knows?

Now let's consider another VIP from the period. He had a St. Louis of his own. That is, a German ship named the St. Louis had 900-odd Jews aboard who were seeking asylum.

Anyway, the Jews aboard originally sought asylum in Cuba, but the Cubans reneged. What did the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt do?

As the St. Louis slowly sailed past the land of the free and the home of the brave, the US send Coast Guard cutters to make certain that the potential immigrants were not able to swim ashore to take refuge in the USA. During this time, Washington and the State Department ignored the situation of the St. Louis, even though the saga was reported in the local press. It seemed that to admit 900 refugees destined for Hitler's gas ovens would harm the security of the "mighty" USA.

Sanctuary was eventually found for the refugees in Britain, France, Belgium and Holland. Although the story may have a happy ending, at this point, the lesson was not lost on Hitler who saw America's unwillingness to help as a sign of weakness.

Unfortunately, those alternate locations weren't good enough for some, who wound up in Nazi death camps anyway. But some good came out of it - FDR could avoid charges that some Jews might draw him into conflict with Germany.< /sarcasm>

Ms. Yourish is Jewish and justly proud of it. If it's anti-Semitic she's all over it. Which makes me wonder - if Lindbergh was a "scumbag", I wonder what she thinks of FDR?