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Teaching the Holocaust and other Genocides

FDR's Public Reaction to Kristallnacht

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President Roosevelt drafted this statement expressing his outrage at Kristallnacht and recalling the American ambassador to Germany. The changes and additions are in the President’s own hand, and the final message was approved by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who placed his initials in the lower right corner. The President read the statement below the draft at his press conference held November 15, 1938.  Note: the statement does not say anything specifically about the violence against the Jews. 

The news of the past few days from Germany has [deeply] schocked public opinion in the United States. Such news from any part of the world would inevitably produce a similar [profound] reaction among American people [in every part of the nation]. With a view to gaining a firsthand picture of the situation in Germany I asked the Secretary of State to [] our Ambassador in Berlin to return at once for report and consultation.

Handwritten note at the bottom, to be added to the official statement, reads,

I myself would scarcely believe that such things could occur in a Twentieth Century civilization.

FDR Public Reaction to Kristallnacht

President Roosevelt's Draft Statement on Kristallnacht

Short Answer Question

1. Based on this document, what was one way President Franklin D. Roosevelt responded to events in Germany following Kristallnacht?

2. Give at least one reason why this statement, which includes President Roosevelt's changes and additions, avoids using direct language about violence against German Jews following Kristallnacht. 

Sources

Significant Documents Collection | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum. (2011). Marist.edu. http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/collections/franklin/?p=collections/findingaid&id=510