Harry S. Truman, thirty-third President

One page (7 1/4 x 10 1/2 in; 184 x 267 mm) on personal letterhead, Independence, Missouri, 25 March 1970.

"AS FOR YOUR INTEREST IN THE PROCLAMATION OF MAY 14, 1948, ANY DOCUMENT OR STATEMENT ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENT GOES THROUGH A SERIES OF STATEMENTS TO MAKE CERTAIN OF ITS ACCURACY AND CLARITY OF MEANING. I CONTINUE TO HOPE THAT A REIGN OF PEACE WILL SOON COME TO PASS ..."

Truman’s "proclamation of May 14, 1948" officially recognized Israel as an independent state. President Truman was the first head of state to recognize Israel just minutes after the announcement of a U.N. proclamation. Any mention by Truman of his recognition of Israel is extremely rare, but his own handwritten revisions on his original message, held at the National Archives, show that it did not go through the standard vetting process Truman claims here..

His action was controversial, even in his own party. After World War I, Britain controlled Palestine by League of Nations mandate. By 1946, Britain was under pressure to withdraw from Palestine because of attacks by Arab militias and armed Zionist groups. A special United Nations committee recommended the immediate partitioning of Palestine into two states, one for Arabs and the other for Jews, with Jerusalem maintained by the U.N. as an international city. The General Assembly approved the proposal and the British announced they would leave Palestine on May 15, 1948.

Jewish Americans lobbied an old Missouri friend and business partner of Truman, Edward Jacobson (1891-1955), himself a Jew, to persuade Truman to support the proposal. Truman and Jacobson discussed Holocaust revelations as they were made known. Secretary of State George Marshall and many national security experts opposed the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. But Truman acted independently and recognized Israel with his proclamation: “This Government has been informed that a Jewish state has been proclaimed in Palestine, and recognition has been requested by the provisional Government thereof. The United States recognizes the provisional government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.”