| This work is a qualitative/quantitative study of the treatment in the US press of the Jewish refugee crisis of the 1930s and the Final Solution of the 1940s. In it, 23 of America's daily newspapers are closely examined and relevant articles coded to determine various details such as their frequency, placement, tone, and potential effect. Then, the data is compared to the American policy as it regarded European Jews of the day as well their influence upon opinion leaders and public opinion of the day. Also, it compares the findings and conclusions made here with those found in Deborah Lipstadt's Beyond Belief: The American Press & the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933–1945 .; During the 1930s, there was an evolution of reporting that made the US press, for the most part, able to depict the true nature of Nazi antisemitism. Even so, it was also clear that the press found many other issues of greater importance. Then, during the Final Solution, war news took precedence as very few articles were printed on the plight of European Jews outside of a very short list of American cities. Coverage did increase late in the war with the liberation of the concentration camps, but even here it was presented in an inconsistent manner. It is believed that since there was limited print space for international news in most dailies, that editors and publishers had to choose the articles that were most important to them and their readers. Various forms of antisemitism surely played a part in many of these decisions.; The actions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr, Secretary of War Henry Stimson, as well as other important actors like Breckenridge Long, Wilbur Carr, William Phillips, and John J. McCloy are examined. The actions of American Jews are looked at closely in the context of public opinion and social psychology theory. |
