Skip to content
Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

Breckinridge Long Photograph and Quotations

Breckenridge Long (1881–1958) served as the Assistant Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was responsible for overseeing immigration and visa policies.

CTSNY_GraphicSeparator_full_2917x200.png

Have just finished Hitler’s Mein Kampf. It is eloquent in opposition to Jewry and to Jews as exponents of Communism & chaos.... My estimate of Hitler as a man rises with the reading of his book.

Excerpt from the diary of Breckinridge Long 

CTSNY_GraphicSeparator_full_2917x200.png

We can delay and effectively stop for a temporary period of indefinite length the number of immigrants into the United States. We could do this by simply advising our consuls to put every obstacle in the way and to require additional evidence and to resort to various administrative devices which would postpone and postpone and postpone the granting of the visas.

Memo from Assistant Secretary of State to State Department Officials on Temporarily Halting Immigration into the United States

Breckenridge Long

Breckinridge Long

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Long, what is one action the U.S. should take to manage immigration during World War II?

2. How did Long's antisemitic views influence the U.S. State Department’s immigration policy, particularly to the plight of Jewish refugees trying to escape Nazi persecution? 

3. In what ways did Long's policies contribute to the United States' limited response to the Holocaust, and how is this viewed in hindsight? 

Sources

Meier, A. (2022, September 23). ‘The God-Damnedest Thing’: The antisemitic plot to thwart U.S. aid to Europe’s Jews and the man who exposed it [Excerpt from the diary of Breckinridge Long]. Politico

State Department Memo on Temporarily Halting Immigration | DocsTeach. (1940, June 26). Www.docsteach.org. https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/memo-temporary-halt-immigration