Max Lowenthal was a Washington, DC political figure through the 1930s and 40's. During his early days in politics he was an advisor to several United States senators including Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman

Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

. Many of Lowenthal's accomplishments are presumed unknown as some are being discovered through historical research. Lowenthal had an incredibly discreet personality and often refused to take credit for his accomplishments.

Lowenthal assisted Ferdinand Pecora

Ferdinand Pecora

Ferdinand Pecora was an American lawyer and judge who became famous in the 1930s as Chief Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Banking and Currency during its investigation of Wall Street banking and stock brokerage practices.-Early career:Ferdinand Pecora was born in Nicosia, Sicily,...

 with Senate committee hearings investigating the causes of the Wall Street Crash of 1929

Wall Street Crash of 1929

The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...

. The hearings launched a major reform of the American financial system.

Lowenthal's best known accomplishment occurred during his term as the chief adviser on Palestine

Palestine

Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....

 to Clark Clifford

Clark Clifford

Clark McAdams Clifford was an American lawyer who served United States Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter, serving as United States Secretary of Defense for Johnson....

, an advisor to President Truman, from 1947-1952. President Truman credited Lowenthal as being the primary force behind the United States recognition of Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

In 1950 he wrote a book about the FBI in which he dealt with issues he felt were still unresolved "although they were brought to light and discussed by statesmen in 1908 and 1909 when the police force now known as the FBI was created."

As late as 1967, Lowenthal denied ever even discussing Israel with President Truman and claimed to have only heard of the partition of Palestine through a secondhand source in the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

.

Sources

• Michael J. Cohen, Truman and Israel, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1990.)
• Ronald Radosh and Allis Radosh, A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel (HarperCollins, 2009)

External links

• Finding aid to Max Lowenthal papers, 1910-1971 held at the University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...