Military history of Jewish Americans
Encyclopedia
Jewish Americans have served in the United States armed forces
dating back to before the colonial era, when Jews
have served in militia
s of the Thirteen Colonies
. Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in every major armed conflict to which the United States
has been involved. The Jewish Chaplains Council estimated that there are currently 10,000 known Jewish servicemen and servicewomen on active duty
.
A number of Jewish American servicemen have gained fame due to their military service, and many have received awards and decorations
for distinguished service, valor, or heroism. At least 18 Jewish servicemen were awarded the military's highest award, the Medal of Honor
. Many other American Jews who served in the military later achieved prominence in business, politics, science, entertainment and other fields. American Jews have also been significant in the development of military science
and technology
- including physicist
s Albert Einstein
, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman
, and Edward Teller
, who were important in the Manhattan Project
, which led to the development of the first nuclear weapon
s.
men, and two others who served in an expedition across the Allegheny Mountains.
During the American Revolutionary War
, the Polish-born
Haym Solomon
(1740–1785), who immigrated to New York
and was a friend of George Washington
, was a key financier who helped fund the Continental Army
. Solomon became the agent to the French consul
, as well as the paymaster
for the French forces in North America. In 1781, he began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent for Finance for the Thirteen Colonies
. Often working out of the "London Coffee House" in Philadelphia, at one time Solomon sold about $600,000 in bills of exchange to his clients. At one point, when Washington's war chest and the treasury of the Continental Congress
was completely empty, Washington determined that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington gave him a simple but eloquent order: "Send for Haym Salomon". Haym again came through, and the $20,000 was raised. Washington conducted the Yorktown campaign
, which proved to be the final battle of the Revolution, thanks to Haym Salomon.
Salomon negotiated the sale of a majority of the war aid from France
and Holland, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. Solomon also personally supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison
and James Wilson
. Acting as the patriot he was, he requested below market interest rates, and he never asked for repayment.
Reflecting their pattern of long settlement in both northern and southern cities, Jews served and supported both the Union Army
of the Northern States
as well as the Confederate States Army
of the Southern Confederate States of America
during the American Civil War
. They had generally taken on regional loyalties according to residence. Jews were among the supporters of each side of the American Civil War
. Some 150,000 Jews lives in the United States at the time of the American Civil War, about 0.5 percent of the population. One academic estimate was that at least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union
and Confederate
during the Civil War. Donald Altschiller estimates that at least 10,000 Jews served, about 7,000 for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy, with some 600 Jewish soldiers killed in battle.
Jews also played leadership roles on both sides, with nine Jewish generals and 21 Jewish colonels participating in the war. Judah P. Benjamin
, a non-observant Jew, served as Secretary of State and acting Secretary of War of the Confederacy.
During the war, approximately 7,000 Jews (out of around 150,000 Jews in the United States) fought on the Union side. Two Union Jewish companies
were raised, including Company C of the 82d Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers, made up mostly of recent immigrants from Europe, and the "Perkins Rifles" of Syracuse, New York
. But, most Jews serving in the war served alongside Christian soldiers, many in units such as Company D of the 8th New York National Guard Regiment and the Light Infantry Blues of Richmond.
Four generals are known to have been Jews who served the Union
and attained higher rank in the heat of key battles:
Probably the most notable Jewish figure was Judah P. Benjamin
(1811–1884) who, before the Civil War, was the first Jewish
Cabinet member in a North American government. Benjamin was born a British subject in Saint Croix
to Phillip Benjamin, an English Jew, and his wife, Rebecca Mendes, a Portuguese Jew
(Sephardic). He emigrated with his parents to the U.S. several years later and grew up in North
and South Carolina
. He was considered the "brains of the Confederacy," serving in high office throughout the war: as Confederate Attorney General
in 1861, Secretary of War
in 1861 and 1862, and Secretary of State
from 1862 to 1865. President Jefferson Davis called Benjamin "the most capable statesman I have ever known," but he was subject to "vicious anti-Jewish attacks" as the object of popular discontent after becoming acting Secretary of War
in 1861. He quarreled with the Confederate generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson over strategy. In 1864, as the South's military position became increasingly desperate, Benjamin publicly advocated a plan whereby any slave willing to bear arms for the Confederacy would be emancipated and inducted, but his proposal faced stiff opposition from traditionalists. It was not passed until March 1865, by which time it was too late to salvage the Southern cause.
Other prominent Jewish Confederate figures include Colonel Abraham Charles Myers of Charleston, South Carolina
, the Quartermaster General
of the Confederate States Army
and Dr. David Camden DeLeon, the Surgeon General of the Army. The surgeon Dr. Simon Baruch, father of the financier Bernard Baruch
, served on General Robert E. Lee
's personal staff. His widow became an early member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Major
Raphael J. Moses, a Georgia businessman and later a state representative
, before the war was commissary
officer of Georgia. He carried out the last order of the Confederate government on May 5, 1865, by taking possession of $40,000 in gold and silver bullion from the Confederate treasury and delivering it to defeated Confederate soldiers headed home - following President Jefferson Davis
' instructions. All three of Moses' sons served in the Confederate Army, and one was killed at Seven Pines
, approximately 500,000 American Jews served in the various branches of the United States armed services. Roughly 52,000 of these received U.S. military awards. The historian Solomon Grayzel, in A History of the Jews: From the Babylonian Exile to the Present, records that more than a million Jews were officially enrolled in the fighting forces of the Allies and that the largest number were Jewish Americans. Grayzel gives a number of 550,000 Jews in military service in the United States during World War II out of a total population of 4,770,000 American Jews.
Chaplain Alexander D. Goode
, a rabbi, was one of the "Four Chaplains
" or "Immortal Chaplains", a name given to honor four US military chaplains who sacrificed their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester
by a U-boat off the coast of Newfoundland in February 1943. Goode and the three other chaplains, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Reformed Church in America
, helped to evacuate the ship. When lifejackets ran out, they gave up their own to save more troops. The four sang and prayed as they went down with the ship.
America's rise as a nuclear power resulted directly from the Manhattan Project
, codename for a project during World War II
to develop the first atomic bombs for wartime use. The project's roots began in 1939 when, at the urging of Leó Szilárd
, Albert Einstein
signed the Einstein–Szilárd letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
expressing his concerns that Nazi Germany
may be trying to develop nuclear weapons
.
Albert Einstein
(1879–1955) was a theoretical physicist
and philosopher
, widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. A German
-Swiss
Nobel laureate, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics
. His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein (née Koch). The Einsteins were non-observant Jews.
In 1933, Einstein was compelled to immigrate to the United States due to the rise to power of the Nazis
under Germany's new chancellor, Adolf Hitler
. While visiting American universities in April, 1933, he learned that the new German government had passed a law barring Jews from holding any official positions, including teaching at universities. A month later, the Nazi book burnings
occurred, with Einstein's works being among those burnt, and Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
proclaimed, "Jewish intellectualism is dead." Einstein also learned that his name was on a list of assassination targets, with a "$5,000 bounty on his head". One German magazine included him in a list of enemies of the German regime with the phrase, "not yet hanged".
Leó Szilárd
(1898–1964) was a Jewish Hungarian
physicist
who conceived the nuclear chain reaction
in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor
with Enrico Fermi
, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein
's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. Szilárd left Hungary because of the rising antisemitism under the Horthy
regime, which excluded Jewish students from Hungary's universities.
Szilárd was directly responsible for the creation of the Manhattan Project. He drafted a confidential letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt
explaining the possibility of nuclear weapons, warning of Nazi work on such weapons
and encouraging the US development of a program to create them. During August 1939 he approached his old friend and collaborator Albert Einstein and convinced him to sign the letter, lending his fame to the proposal. The Einstein–Szilárd letter resulted in the establishment of research into nuclear fission by the U.S. government and ultimately to the creation of the Manhattan Project; FDR gave the letter to an aide, General Edwin M. "Pa" Watson with the instruction: "Pa, this requires action!" Later, Szilárd relocated to the University of Chicago
to continue work on the project. There, along with Fermi, he helped to construct the first "neutronic reactor", a uranium and graphite "atomic pile" in which the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved, during 1942. Szilárd became a naturalized citizen of the United States during 1943.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was appointed the scientific director of the Manhattan Project
, the World War II
project that developed the first nuclear weapon
s. He is often referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb". Oppenheimer was born to Julius S. Oppenheimer, who had immigrated to the United States from Germany
in 1888 with his parents and become a wealthy Jewish textile importer, and Ella Friedman, a painter.
Among other German scientists forced to flee Germany were fourteen Nobel laureates and 26 of the 60 professors of theoretical physics in the country. Among the scientists who came to the United States or its Allies were Edward Teller
, Niels Bohr
, Enrico Fermi
, Otto Stern
, Victor Weisskopf, Hans Bethe
, and Lise Meitner
, many of whom worked to ensure that the Allies would develop nuclear weapons before the Nazis. With so many Jewish scientists forced to live in the United States, where they often worked together, Einstein wrote to a friend, "For me the most beautiful thing is to be in contact with a few fine Jews—a few millennia of a civilized past do mean something after all." In another letter he writes, "In my whole life I have never felt so Jewish as now." Einstein was offerd a position at the Institute for Advanced Study
at Princeton, New Jersey
,
an affiliation that lasted until his death in 1955.
In the summer of 1939, a few months before the beginning of World War II, Einstein was persuaded to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
and warn him that Nazi Germany
might be developing an atomic bomb
. TEinstein helped strengthen the letter, and he recommended the U.S. begin uranium enrichment and nuclear research. According to F.G. Gosling of the U.S. Department of Energy, Einstein, Szilard, and other refugees including Edward Teller
and Eugene Wigner, "regarded it as their responsibility to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb, and to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon." Gosling adds that "the President was a man of considerable action once he had chosen a direction," and believed that the U.S. "could not take the risk of allowing Hitler" to possess nuclear bombs.
Other weapons historians agree that the letter was "arguably the key stimulus for the U.S. adoption of serious investigations into nuclear weapons on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II". As a result of Einstein's letter, and his meetings with Roosevelt, the U.S. entered the "race" to develop the bomb first, drawing on its "immense material, financial, and scientific resources". Due to the Manhattan Project, it was the only country to succeed in developing an atomic bomb during World War II.
Germany surrendered before atomic weapons could be used against it. Japan was bombed into surrendering
when the United States finally deployed two atomic bombs against it at the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
on August 6 and 9 1945.
concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employs hydrogen fusion to generate neutron
s.
(1908 – 2003) and Stanislaw Ulam. Teller was born in Budapest
, Austria-Hungary
to a Jewish family. He left Hungary in 1926 partly due to the antisemitic numerus clausus
rule under Horthy
's regime. He became a physicist
, and was later known as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title.
Teller emigrated to the United States
in the 1930s, and was an early member of the Manhattan Project
charged with developing the first atomic bombs. During this time he made a serious push to develop the first fusion
-based weapons as well, but these were deferred until after World War II
. After his controversial testimony in the security clearance
hearing of his former Los Alamos
colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller was ostracized by much of the scientific community. He continued to find support from the U.S. government and military research establishment, particularly for his advocacy for nuclear energy
development, a strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorous nuclear testing
program. He was a co-founder of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL), and was both its director and associate director for many years.
In the 1980s, Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative
(SDI), derided by critics as "Star Wars," the concept of using ground and satellite-based lasers, particle beams and missiles to destroy incoming Soviet ICBMs. Teller lobbied with government agencies—and got the sanction of President Ronald Reagan
—for a plan to develop a system using elaborate satellite
s which used atomic weapons to fire X-ray
lasers at incoming missiles— as part of a broader scientific research program into defenses against nuclear weapons. Teller's own comments on the role of lasers in SDI, as disclosed in live panel discussions, were published, and are available, in two laser conference proceedings.
The Strategic Defense Initiative
was created by U.S. President Ronald Reagan
on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States
from attack by strategic nuclear
ballistic missile
s. Supporters of SDI claimed it helped contribute to the fall of the Soviet Union by the so-called strategy of technology
, which was a prevalent doctrine at the time. While SDI was a source of disagreement between the United States and the Soviet Union a summit led to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
, which some have claimed was an outgrowth of USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev
's fear of SDI. In 1991 President George H. W. Bush
shifted the focus of SDI from defense of North America against large scale strikes to a system focusing on theater missile defense called Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS). In 1993 President Bill Clinton
changed its name to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
(BMDO) and its emphasis was shifted to theater missile defense and from global to regional coverage. BMDO was renamed to the Missile Defense Agency
in 2002.
mathematician
of Polish Jewish
origin, who participated in the Manhattan Project
and originated the Teller–Ulam design of thermonuclear weapons. He also invented nuclear pulse propulsion
and developed a number of mathematical tools in number theory
, set theory
, ergodic theory
and algebraic topology
. Ulam was born in Lwów
Galicia to a wealthy Polish-Jewish banking and timber-processing family who were part of the large Jewish minority population of the city. Lwów (now Lviv
, Ukraine
) was then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
; from 1918 until 1939 it was in the Second Polish Republic
.
(1792–1862) was the first Jewish-American Commodore of the United States Navy
and a veteran of the War of 1812
. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank of Admiral
. During his tenure, he ended the Navy's practice of flogging
, and prevailed against the antisemitic
bigotry he faced among his fellow naval officers. His service is memorialized through the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Hyman George Rickover
(1900–1986), was born to Abraham Rickover and Rachel (née
Unger) Rickover, a Jewish family in Maków Mazowiecki
Poland
, at that time under Russian rule. He rose to a four-star admiral
in the United States Navy
who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors
. He was known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines
, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers.
With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities, and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving naval officer in U.S. history with 63 years active duty.
Jeremy Michael Boorda
(1939–1996) was an admiral
of the United States Navy
and the 25th Chief of Naval Operations
(CNO). Boorda is the only CNO to have risen to the position from the enlisted ranks. He was born on November 26, 1939, in South Bend, Indiana, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He dropped out of high school when he was seventeen years old and joined the Navy. This was the beginning of his naval career of 40 years. Boorda kept his Jewish roots private: "Although Boorda was not a practicing Jew and in fact raised his children as Protestants, he was born to two Jewish parents and had a bar mitzvah. He did not in any way emphasize his Jewish roots or his Jewishness, said Rabbi Aaron Landes, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral...virtually no one knew that Boorda, who became the first enlisted man to rise to the Navy's highest post of chief of naval operations, was born a Jew...Among Boorda's ancestors were a cantor
and a Chasidic
family, Landes said."
Boorda believed that "people should have the opportunity to excel, and be all they can be, even if they don't get a perfect or traditional start." He committed suicide at the age of 57 in 1996. He was disturbed by pending questions about Vietnam War combat ribbons he wore; he had not had service there and was not entitled to wear them. Researchers have noted that "the most important reason that no one paid attention to Boorda's Jewish background was that...being Jewish is no longer an issue in the military."
(born February 15, 1929) served as US Secretary of Defense
from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford
. He became America's first Secretary of Energy under Jimmy Carter
. While Secretary of Defense, he opposed amnesty for draft resisters, and pressed for development of more sophisticated nuclear weapon
systems. Additionally, his support for the A-10
and the lightweight fighter program (later the F-16) helped ensure that they were carried to completion. Schlesinger was born in New York City
, the son of Rhea Lillian, a Russian Jewish immigrant, and Julius Schlesinger, an Austrian Jew
. In 1960 he published The Political Economy of National Security. In 1963 he moved to the Rand Corporation, where he worked until 1969, in the later years as director of strategic studies.
(born September 19, 1927) was US U.S. Secretary of Defense
from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President
Jimmy Carter
. Brown is a Jewish American born in New York City
to Gertrude Cohen and A. H. Brown. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering
and Secretary of the Air Force. While Secretary of Defense, he insisted in laying the groundwork for the Camp David accords
. He took part in the strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union
and supported (unsuccessfully), ratification of the SALT II treaty. He advocated détente
with the Soviet Union
.
(born August 28, 1940) was a Republican
who served as Secretary of Defense
(1997–2001) under Democratic
President
Bill Clinton
. His father, Reuben Cohen, was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while his mother, Clara, was of Protestant
Irish
ancestry; the two owned the Bangor Rye Bread Co. Cohen attended Hebrew school
as a child. When he was told that he would have to undergo a conversion ceremony
(see Matrilineality in Judaism
), however, he decided not to follow through with his Bar Mitzvah. Instead, he followed his mother's example in refusing to convert to Judaism and became a Christian, specifically within the Unitarian Universalist tradition.
. Some notable examples have been the following:
(born May 27, 1923) is a German
Jewish American political scientist, diplomat
, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
. He served as the eighth US National Security Advisor
(1969–1975) and later concurrently as the fifty sixth US Secretary of State
(1973–1977) in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon
and Gerald Ford
. After his term, his opinion was still sought out by many following presidents.
Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth
, Bavaria
, Weimar Republic
to a family of German Jews. His father, Louis Kissinger (1887–1982) was a schoolteacher. His mother, Paula Stern Kissinger (1901–1998), was a homemaker. The surname Kissinger was adopted in 1817 by his great-great-grandfather Meyer Löb, after the city of Bad Kissingen
. In 1938, fleeing Nazi
persecution, his family moved to New York
. He never lost his pronounced Frankish
accent
, due to childhood shyness that made him hesitant to speak.
A proponent of Realpolitik
, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente
with the Soviet Union
, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China
, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords
, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War
. His role in the bombing of Cambodia
and other American interventions abroad during this period remains controversial.
(born July 27, 1938) was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
from 1994 to 1995 and Director of Central Intelligence
(DCI) from May 10, 1995 until December 14, 1996. Deutch was born in Brussels
, Belgium
, to a Russian Jewish father.
communists
who were executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage
. Ethel Greenglass was born in New York City
to a Jewish family. Julius Rosenberg was also born to a family of Jewish immigrants in New York City. The charges against them related to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union
. This was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history. Because the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons
did not operate an electric chair
at the time, the Rosenbergs were transferred to the New York State-run Sing Sing Correctional Facility
in Ossining
for execution. The couple were executed at sundown in the electric chair on June 19, 1953.
(born August 7, 1954 in Galveston
, Texas
) is a former civilian intelligence
analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel
. He received a life sentence in 1987. Israel granted Pollard citizenship in 1995, while publicly denying, until 1998, that he was an Israeli spy. Israeli activist groups, as well as high-profile Israeli politicians, have lobbied for his release. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
has voiced particularly strong support for Pollard, visiting the convicted spy in prison in 2002. Pollard's case was later linked to that of Ben-Ami Kadish
, another U.S. national who pleaded guilty to charges of passing classified information to Israel in the same period.
s in all sectors. Chaplains are drawn from all Jewish denominations
including Reform
, Conservative
, and Orthodox
Judaism
.
The Board of Delegates of American Israelites, organized in 1859 shortly before the Civil War, was the first American civic defense organization for Jews.
s to be ordained Christian ministers, making rabbi
s ineligible to serve. The Board of Delegates of American Israelites lobbied the government and organized a petition
drive to change the law. On July 12, 1862, Congress reversed itself and changed the law to permit non-Christian clergy to serve as chaplains. In Bangor, Maine
, 200 non-Jews signed the petition, although only three Jews lived in the community. Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Philadelphia was the first rabbi appointed as a military chaplain.
. It is an agency of the Jewish Community Center
(JCC) association, and serves as the endorsing body for Jewish military chaplains who serve in the US Armed Forces and VA
chaplaincy services.
The JWB Jewish Chaplains Council consists of sixteen rabbi
s, four each from the Rabbinical Assembly
(Conservative
), the Rabbinical Council of America
(Orthodox
), and the Central Conference of American Rabbis
(Reform
), plus four active duty Jewish chaplains representing the Chaplains Advisory Group (CAG). As of 2010, the Council serves approximately 37 full-time Jewish military and Veterans Administration chaplains, 55 chaplain reservists
, more than 88 military lay leaders, and thousands of Jews at more than 500 military installations and VA medical centers.
. For example Rabbi Herschel Schacter
was a chaplain in the Third Army's VIII Corps
. and was the first US Army Chaplain to enter and participate in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp
in 1945 and later aided in the resettlement of displaced person
s.
had historical importance for two reasons. First, four days after the attack, then-Vice President George H. W. Bush
led a White House team to visit the scene of the attack, and asked Resnicoff -- then one of the chaplains for the U.S. Sixth Fleet -- to write a report for President Ronald Reagan
. Resnicoff had arrived in Beirut on Friday, October 21, to lead a memorial service for a young Marine killed by sniper fire (then only the fifth death of American forces present as part of the international peace-keeping force). He refused to accept transportation back to Sixth Fleet Headquarters in Gaeta, Italy the next day because it was Shabbat
, the Jewish Sabbath, and so ended up being on the scene the morning of October 23, when the attack occurred. When Regan received the report, he decided to use it as his keynote speech to the 20,000 attendees of the "Baptist Fundamentalist '84" convention, led by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell
. Rabbi David Lapp, then-Director of the National Jewish Welfare Board
Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy, said that many rabbis had quoted Presidents, but that this may have been the first time in history that a President had quoted a rabbi -- certainly, the first time that an entire speech of a President was attributed to a rabbi.
Secondly, one story from the aftermath of the attack was instrumental in terms of changing military policies regarding the wearing of kippot, head-coverings, for Jews in uniform. The "religious apparel amendment," allowing kippot, had twice failed to pass. But during the rescue efforts following the bombing, Catholic Chaplain Fr. George Pucciarelli tore a piece of his camouflage uniform off to use as a makeshift kippa for Resnicoff, who had discarded his kippa when it became blood-soaked after being used to wipe the faces of wounded Marines. When that story was read into the Congressional Record, both the Senate and House passed the Religious Apparel Amendment, which then laid the groundwork for Department of Defense Directive (now Instruction) 1300.17, "Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Service."
This story of the "camouflage kippah" was retold at many levels, in addition to Reagan's speech, including another event involving involving a meeting between Reagan and the "American Friends of Lubavitch." During the group's visit to the White House, Reagan recounted the Beirut story, and then asked the rabbis to explain to him the religious meaning of the kippah. Rabbi Abraham Shemtov
, the leader of the group, responded, "Mr. President, the kippah to us is a sign of reverence." Rabbi Feller, another member of the group, continued, "We place the kippah on the very highest point of our being—on our head, the vessel of our intellect—to tell ourselves and the world that there is something which is above man's intellect:the infinite Wisdom of God."
, also known as the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel is the Jewish chapel at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland
. The center is named in honor of Commodore Uriah P. Levy
(1792–1862), the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy
, who is famous for refusing to flog his sailors. The Levy Center contains a 410-seat synagogue
, fellowship hall, Character Learning Center, classrooms, Brigade’s social director offices, academic board, and the Academy’s Honor Board.
The Levy Center cost $8 million. Approximately $1.8 million was paid for with military construction funds. The remaining amount was paid for by private donations raised by the Friends of the Jewish Chapel, headed by Jewish alumni of the academy and others. It was given to the Academy upon completion. The building was dedicated in September 2005.
The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
(also referred to as the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., the Jewish War Veterans, or the JWV) is an American Jewish
veterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an estimated 37,000 members.
The Jewish War Veterans were established in 1896. The group holds a congressional charter
under Title 36 of the United States Code
.
In the preamble
to its National Constitution the purpose of the JWV is stated:
The National Museum of American Jewish Military History
(NMAJMH), founded in 1958, is in Washington, D.C.
, documents and preserves "the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States...[and to educate] the public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices made by Jewish Americans who served in the armed forces."
The museum operates under the auspices of the Jewish War Veterans (JWV), USA
, National Memorial, Inc. (NMI), located at 1811 R St., NW, Washington, DC, in the Dupont Circle area. The building also houses the JWV National Headquarters.
This perception was so widespread and long-lasting that author Mark Twain
, in his 1899 article Concerning the Jews
, criticized the American Jews for their lack of patriotism and willingness to serve. However, when presented with statistics proving Jewish participation throughout American military history, Twain withdrew his remark, and contradicted the misperception in his 1904 The American Jew as Soldier.
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
dating back to before the colonial era, when Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
have served in militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
s of the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
. Jewish military personnel have served in all branches of the armed forces and in every major armed conflict to which the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
has been involved. The Jewish Chaplains Council estimated that there are currently 10,000 known Jewish servicemen and servicewomen on active duty
Active duty
Active duty refers to a full-time occupation as part of a military force, as opposed to reserve duty.-Pakistan:The Pakistan Armed Forces are one of the largest active service forces in the world with almost 610,000 full time personnel due to the complex and volatile nature of Pakistan's...
.
A number of Jewish American servicemen have gained fame due to their military service, and many have received awards and decorations
Awards and decorations of the United States military
Awards and decorations of the United States Military are military decorations which recognize service and personal accomplishments while a member of the United States armed forces...
for distinguished service, valor, or heroism. At least 18 Jewish servicemen were awarded the military's highest award, the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. Many other American Jews who served in the military later achieved prominence in business, politics, science, entertainment and other fields. American Jews have also been significant in the development of military science
Military science
Military science is the process of translating national defence policy to produce military capability by employing military scientists, including theorists, researchers, experimental scientists, applied scientists, designers, engineers, test technicians, and military personnel responsible for...
and technology
Military technology
Military technology is the collection of equipment, vehicles, structures and communication systems that are designed for use in warfare. It comprises the kinds of technology that are distinctly military in nature and not civilian in application, usually because they are impractical in civilian...
- including physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
s Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
, and Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
, who were important in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, which led to the development of the first nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s.
French and Indian War
Though the history of Jews in this pre-independence conflict is poorly documented, the 19th-century historian Simon Wolf documented one Jew from New York who became captain of a company of bateauBateau
A bateau or batteau is a shallow-draft, flat-bottomed boat which was used extensively across North America, especially in the colonial period and in the fur trade. It was traditionally pointed at both ends but came in a wide variety of sizes...
men, and two others who served in an expedition across the Allegheny Mountains.
Revolutionary War
American Jews served in numbers disproportionate to their small population of the period. Of an estimated population of 3,000, 160 Jews served on the Colonial side in the conflict. (In 1895, Simon Wolf had counted 46).Haym Solomon
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, the Polish-born
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
Haym Solomon
Haym Solomon
Haym Solomon was a Spanish and Portuguese Jew who immigrated to New York from Poland during the period of the American Revolution, and who became a prime financier of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain.-Early years:Descended from Jewish refugees from...
(1740–1785), who immigrated to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and was a friend of George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
, was a key financier who helped fund the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
. Solomon became the agent to the French consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
, as well as the paymaster
Paymaster
A paymaster often is, but is not required to be, a lawyer . When dealing with commission payments on contracts dealing with large amounts of money , most banks in the United States are very wary of handling such large amounts of money...
for the French forces in North America. In 1781, he began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent for Finance for the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
. Often working out of the "London Coffee House" in Philadelphia, at one time Solomon sold about $600,000 in bills of exchange to his clients. At one point, when Washington's war chest and the treasury of the Continental Congress
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....
was completely empty, Washington determined that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington gave him a simple but eloquent order: "Send for Haym Salomon". Haym again came through, and the $20,000 was raised. Washington conducted the Yorktown campaign
Yorktown campaign
The Yorktown or Virginia campaign was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the decisive Siege of Yorktown in October 1781...
, which proved to be the final battle of the Revolution, thanks to Haym Salomon.
Salomon negotiated the sale of a majority of the war aid from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Holland, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. Solomon also personally supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison
James Madison
James Madison, Jr. was an American statesman and political theorist. He was the fourth President of the United States and is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for being the primary author of the United States Constitution and at first an opponent of, and then a key author of the United...
and James Wilson
James Wilson
James Wilson was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Wilson was elected twice to the Continental Congress, and was a major force in drafting the United States Constitution...
. Acting as the patriot he was, he requested below market interest rates, and he never asked for repayment.
Civil War
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
of the Northern States
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
as well as the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
of the Southern Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. They had generally taken on regional loyalties according to residence. Jews were among the supporters of each side of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Some 150,000 Jews lives in the United States at the time of the American Civil War, about 0.5 percent of the population. One academic estimate was that at least 8,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
and Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
during the Civil War. Donald Altschiller estimates that at least 10,000 Jews served, about 7,000 for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy, with some 600 Jewish soldiers killed in battle.
Jews also played leadership roles on both sides, with nine Jewish generals and 21 Jewish colonels participating in the war. Judah P. Benjamin
Judah P. Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin was an American politician and lawyer. Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moved to the United States with his parents and became a citizen. He later became a citizen of the Confederate States of America. After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moved to...
, a non-observant Jew, served as Secretary of State and acting Secretary of War of the Confederacy.
Jews and the Union
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
were raised, including Company C of the 82d Regiment of the Illinois Volunteers, made up mostly of recent immigrants from Europe, and the "Perkins Rifles" of Syracuse, New York
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
. But, most Jews serving in the war served alongside Christian soldiers, many in units such as Company D of the 8th New York National Guard Regiment and the Light Infantry Blues of Richmond.
Four generals are known to have been Jews who served the Union
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...
and attained higher rank in the heat of key battles:
- BrevetBrevet (military)In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
General Leopold Blumenberg: When the Civil War erupted, his unit was called upon to do battle in the Battle of AntietamBattle of AntietamThe Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...
against the Confederate Army led by General Robert E. LeeRobert E. LeeRobert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
. Major Leopold Blumenberg was severely wounded. He was appointed a brevet general, an honorary rank without any an increase in pay or in authority. Because of his wounds, Blumenberg was appointed a Provost MarshalProvost MarshalThe Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...
for the 3rd District of Maryland in May 1865. He was mustered out of the Army in January 1865, and President Lincoln appointed him superintendent of the Warehouses at the Baltimore custom house. - BrevetBrevet (military)In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
Brigadier General Frederick KneflerFrederick KneflerFrederick Knefler served in the Union Army in the U.S. Civil War, joining as a first lieutenant in May 1861 and mustering out as a Brevet Brigadier General on June 11, 1865.-Early life:...
's father, Dr. Nathan Knefler, was one of the founders of the Indianapolis Hebrew CongregationIndianapolis Hebrew CongregationThe Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation is a Reform Jewish synagogue in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the oldest synagogue in Indianapolis. -History:...
, the first synagogue in the city. He was commissioned as a first lieutenant of the 11th Indiana Infantry11th Regiment Indiana InfantryThe 11th Indiana Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-3 Month:The 11th Indiana was organized in Indianapolis, Indiana with Lew Wallace as colonel and George McGinnis as lieutenant colonel...
. In 1861 he was promoted to captain. He served as a major and assistant adjutant general on the staff of Major General Lew WallaceLew WallaceLewis "Lew" Wallace was an American lawyer, Union general in the American Civil War, territorial governor and statesman, politician and author...
and appointed captain of the 79th Indiana79th Regiment Indiana InfantryThe 79th Regiment Indiana Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 79th Indiana Infantry was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana from August 20 through September 2, 1862 and mustered in for a three year enlistment on September 2, 1862...
. He led them into battle at the battles of PerryvilleBattle of PerryvilleThe Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive during the American Civil War. Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Mississippi won a...
, MurfreesboroBattle of Stones RiverThe Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro , was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War...
and in the TullahomaTullahoma CampaignThe Tullahoma Campaign or Middle Tennessee Campaign was fought between June 24 and July 3, 1863, during the American Civil War. The Union Army of the Cumberland, commanded by Maj. Gen. William S...
and ChickamaugaChickamauga CampaignThe Chickamauga Campaign was a series of battles fought in northwestern Georgia from August 21 to September 20, 1863, between the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee.-Background:...
campaigns. In the Chattanooga CampaignChattanooga CampaignThe Chattanooga Campaign was a series of maneuvers and battles in October and November 1863, during the American Civil War. Following the defeat of Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans's Union Army of the Cumberland at the Battle of Chickamauga in September, the Confederate Army of Tennessee under Gen...
he led the charge at Missionary RidgeBattle of Missionary RidgeThe Battle of Missionary Ridge was fought November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Missionary Ridge and defeated the...
. On March 1865 he was appointed a Brevet Brigadier General for bravery and meritorious services. - BrevetBrevet (military)In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
Brigadier General Edward S. SalomonEdward S. SalomonEdward Selig Salomon was a German immigrant to the United States who served as a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War and later became governor of Washington Territory and a California legislator....
was the commander of the 82nd Illinois82nd Illinois Volunteer Infantry RegimentThe 82nd Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, known as the "2nd Hecker Regiment," was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. It was one of the three "German" regiments furnished to the Union by Illinois...
which included more than 100 Jews, when the Confederate and Union armies collided and battled at the Battle of GettysburgBattle of GettysburgThe Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
July 1–3, 1863. His ability to lead men was quickly recognized and he rapidly rose through the ranks. Salomon received a brevet promotion to brigadier general in March 1865. After the Battle of AtlantaBattle of AtlantaThe Battle of Atlanta was a battle of the Atlanta Campaign fought during the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply center of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William T. Sherman overwhelmed...
, Colonel John Cleveland Robinson recognized the feats of Colonel Salomon when he wrote: "I consider Colonel Salomon one of the most deserving officers. His regiment is deserving of high praise. In a point of discipline it is second to none in the corps." - BrevetBrevet (military)In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
Major General Frederick C. SalomonFrederick C. SalomonFrederick C. Salomon was a German immigrant to the United States who served as a Union brigadier general in the American Civil War.-Biography:He was born in Stroebeck near Halberstadt, Prussia...
enlisted in the Union Army in 1861. He was commissioned as a captain in the 5th Missouri Volunteers. He was appointed as a colonel in the 9th Wisconsin Infantry9th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry RegimentThe 9th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Service:The 9th Wisconsin was raised at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and mustered into Federal service October 26, 1861....
. In June 1862 he was promoted to brigadier general and was assigned to command a brigade. He made an unsuccessful attempt to capture Newtonia, MissouriNewtonia, MissouriNewtonia is a village in Newton County, Missouri, United States. The population was 199 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Joplin, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. Newtonia was the site of the Battles of Newtonia. Newtonia has some Antebellum houses, such as the Ritchey Mansion, as well...
. His unit battled the Confederate Army to defend HelenaBattle of HelenaThe Battle of Helena was a land battle of the American Civil War fought on July 4, 1863, at Helena, Arkansas. Overshadowed by the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the Battle of Helena secured eastern Arkansas for the Union.- Union forces :...
and Jenkins FerryBattle of Jenkins' FerryThe Battle of Jenkins' Ferry was fought April 30, 1864, in Grant County, Arkansas during the American Civil War. It was the climactic battle of the Camden Expedition, which was a part of the Union Army’s failed Red River Campaign. Each side sustained a large number of casualties, especially...
. He served to the end of the war and he received the brevet of major general in March 1865.
Jews and the Confederacy
During the war, approximately 3,000 Jews (out of a total of about 150,000 Jews in the United States and the Confederacy) fought on the Confederate side. Although antisemitism was widespread in the South, with Jews often labeled malingerers and unprincipled speculators, many Jews also served on the Confederate side.Probably the most notable Jewish figure was Judah P. Benjamin
Judah P. Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin was an American politician and lawyer. Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moved to the United States with his parents and became a citizen. He later became a citizen of the Confederate States of America. After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moved to...
(1811–1884) who, before the Civil War, was the first Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
Cabinet member in a North American government. Benjamin was born a British subject in Saint Croix
Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of...
to Phillip Benjamin, an English Jew, and his wife, Rebecca Mendes, a Portuguese Jew
Spanish and Portuguese Jews
Spanish and Portuguese Jews are a distinctive sub-group of Sephardim who have their main ethnic origins within the Jewish communities of the Iberian peninsula and who shaped communities mainly in Western Europe and the Americas from the late 16th century on...
(Sephardic). He emigrated with his parents to the U.S. several years later and grew up in North
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
and South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. He was considered the "brains of the Confederacy," serving in high office throughout the war: as Confederate Attorney General
Confederate States Attorney General
The Attorney General of the Confederate States of America was a member of the Confederate cabinet. His duties were exactly the same as the duties of the United States Attorney General.-List:# Judah P. Benjamin # Wade Keyes...
in 1861, Secretary of War
Confederate States Secretary of War
The Confederate States Secretary of War was a member of the Confederate States President's Cabinet during the Civil War. The Secretary of War led the Confederate States Department of War. The position ended in May 1865 when the Confederacy crumbled during John C. Breckinridge's tenure of the...
in 1861 and 1862, and Secretary of State
Confederate States Secretary of State
The Confederate States Secretary of State was the head of the Confederate States State Department from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. There were three people who served the position in this time. The department crumbled with the Confederate States of America in May 1865, marking the...
from 1862 to 1865. President Jefferson Davis called Benjamin "the most capable statesman I have ever known," but he was subject to "vicious anti-Jewish attacks" as the object of popular discontent after becoming acting Secretary of War
Confederate States Secretary of War
The Confederate States Secretary of War was a member of the Confederate States President's Cabinet during the Civil War. The Secretary of War led the Confederate States Department of War. The position ended in May 1865 when the Confederacy crumbled during John C. Breckinridge's tenure of the...
in 1861. He quarreled with the Confederate generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson over strategy. In 1864, as the South's military position became increasingly desperate, Benjamin publicly advocated a plan whereby any slave willing to bear arms for the Confederacy would be emancipated and inducted, but his proposal faced stiff opposition from traditionalists. It was not passed until March 1865, by which time it was too late to salvage the Southern cause.
Other prominent Jewish Confederate figures include Colonel Abraham Charles Myers of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, the Quartermaster General
Quartermaster general
A Quartermaster general is the staff officer in charge of supplies for a whole army.- The United Kingdom :In the United Kingdom, the Quartermaster-General to the Forces is one of the most senior generals in the British Army...
of the Confederate States Army
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
and Dr. David Camden DeLeon, the Surgeon General of the Army. The surgeon Dr. Simon Baruch, father of the financier Bernard Baruch
Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch was an American financier, stock-market speculator, statesman, and political consultant. After his success in business, he devoted his time toward advising U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt on economic matters and became a philanthropist.-Early life...
, served on General Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
's personal staff. His widow became an early member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.
Major
Major (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...
Raphael J. Moses, a Georgia businessman and later a state representative
Georgia House of Representatives
The Georgia House of Representatives is the lower house of the Georgia General Assembly of the U.S. state of Georgia.-Composition:...
, before the war was commissary
Commissary
A commissary is someone delegated by a superior to execute a duty or an office; in a formal, legal context, one who has received power from a legitimate superior authority to pass judgment in a certain cause or to take information concerning it.-Word history:...
officer of Georgia. He carried out the last order of the Confederate government on May 5, 1865, by taking possession of $40,000 in gold and silver bullion from the Confederate treasury and delivering it to defeated Confederate soldiers headed home - following President Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...
' instructions. All three of Moses' sons served in the Confederate Army, and one was killed at Seven Pines
Battle of Seven Pines
The Battle of Seven Pines, also known as the Battle of Fair Oaks or Fair Oaks Station, took place on May 31 and June 1, 1862, in Henrico County, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive up the Virginia Peninsula by Union Maj. Gen....
Half a million Jewish soldiers
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, approximately 500,000 American Jews served in the various branches of the United States armed services. Roughly 52,000 of these received U.S. military awards. The historian Solomon Grayzel, in A History of the Jews: From the Babylonian Exile to the Present, records that more than a million Jews were officially enrolled in the fighting forces of the Allies and that the largest number were Jewish Americans. Grayzel gives a number of 550,000 Jews in military service in the United States during World War II out of a total population of 4,770,000 American Jews.
Rabbi Goode and the "Immortal Chaplains"
Alexander D. Goode
Alexander D. Goode was a rabbi and a lieutenant in the United States Army. He was one of the Four Chaplains who gave their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester during World War II...
, a rabbi, was one of the "Four Chaplains
Four Chaplains
The Four Chaplains, also sometimes referred to as the "Immortal Chaplains," were four United States Army chaplains who gave their lives to save other civilian and military personnel during the sinking of the troop ship USAT Dorchester during World War II. They helped other soldiers board lifeboats...
" or "Immortal Chaplains", a name given to honor four US military chaplains who sacrificed their lives to save other soldiers during the sinking of the USAT Dorchester
USAT Dorchester
USAT Dorchester was a United States Army Transport ship that was sunk by a torpedo from a German U-boat on February 3, 1943, during World War II...
by a U-boat off the coast of Newfoundland in February 1943. Goode and the three other chaplains, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Reformed Church in America
Reformed Church in America
The Reformed Church in America is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 170,000 members, with the total declining in recent decades. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church. In 1819, it...
, helped to evacuate the ship. When lifejackets ran out, they gave up their own to save more troops. The four sang and prayed as they went down with the ship.
Jewish scientists and the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, codename for a project during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to develop the first atomic bombs for wartime use. The project's roots began in 1939 when, at the urging of Leó Szilárd
Leó Szilárd
Leó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
, Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
signed the Einstein–Szilárd letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
expressing his concerns that Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
may be trying to develop nuclear weapons
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
(1879–1955) was a theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
and philosopher
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. A German
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
-Swiss
History of the Jews in Switzerland
Jews and Judaism have been present in the territory of what is now Switzerland since before the emergence of the medieval Old Swiss Confederacy.In contemporary Switzerland, the official census of the year 2000 reports close to 18,000 adherents of Judaism living in Switzerland . About half of them...
Nobel laureate, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics
Modern physics
The term modern physics refers to the post-Newtonian conception of physics. The term implies that classical descriptions of phenomena are lacking, and that an accurate, "modern", description of reality requires theories to incorporate elements of quantum mechanics or Einsteinian relativity, or both...
. His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein (née Koch). The Einsteins were non-observant Jews.
In 1933, Einstein was compelled to immigrate to the United States due to the rise to power of the Nazis
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
under Germany's new chancellor, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. While visiting American universities in April, 1933, he learned that the new German government had passed a law barring Jews from holding any official positions, including teaching at universities. A month later, the Nazi book burnings
Nazi book burnings
The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the authorities of Nazi Germany to ceremonially burn all books in Germany which did not correspond with Nazi ideology.-The book-burning campaign:...
occurred, with Einstein's works being among those burnt, and Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
proclaimed, "Jewish intellectualism is dead." Einstein also learned that his name was on a list of assassination targets, with a "$5,000 bounty on his head". One German magazine included him in a list of enemies of the German regime with the phrase, "not yet hanged".
Leó Szilárd
Leó Szilárd
Leó Szilárd was an Austro-Hungarian physicist and inventor who conceived the nuclear chain reaction in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor with Enrico Fermi, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb...
(1898–1964) was a Jewish Hungarian
History of the Jews in Hungary
Hungarian Jews have existed since at least the 11th century. After struggling against discrimination throughout the Middle Ages, by the early 20th century the community grew to be 5% of Hungary's population , and were prominent in science, the arts and business...
physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
who conceived the nuclear chain reaction
Nuclear chain reaction
A nuclear chain reaction occurs when one nuclear reaction causes an average of one or more nuclear reactions, thus leading to a self-propagating number of these reactions. The specific nuclear reaction may be the fission of heavy isotopes or the fusion of light isotopes...
in 1933, patented the idea of a nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
with Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, and in late 1939 wrote the letter for Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
's signature that resulted in the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb. Szilárd left Hungary because of the rising antisemitism under the Horthy
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
regime, which excluded Jewish students from Hungary's universities.
Szilárd was directly responsible for the creation of the Manhattan Project. He drafted a confidential letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
explaining the possibility of nuclear weapons, warning of Nazi work on such weapons
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
and encouraging the US development of a program to create them. During August 1939 he approached his old friend and collaborator Albert Einstein and convinced him to sign the letter, lending his fame to the proposal. The Einstein–Szilárd letter resulted in the establishment of research into nuclear fission by the U.S. government and ultimately to the creation of the Manhattan Project; FDR gave the letter to an aide, General Edwin M. "Pa" Watson with the instruction: "Pa, this requires action!" Later, Szilárd relocated to the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
to continue work on the project. There, along with Fermi, he helped to construct the first "neutronic reactor", a uranium and graphite "atomic pile" in which the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved, during 1942. Szilárd became a naturalized citizen of the United States during 1943.
J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–1967) was appointed the scientific director of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
project that developed the first nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
s. He is often referred to as the "father of the atomic bomb". Oppenheimer was born to Julius S. Oppenheimer, who had immigrated to the United States from Germany
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
in 1888 with his parents and become a wealthy Jewish textile importer, and Ella Friedman, a painter.
Among other German scientists forced to flee Germany were fourteen Nobel laureates and 26 of the 60 professors of theoretical physics in the country. Among the scientists who came to the United States or its Allies were Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
, Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
, Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi
Enrico Fermi was an Italian-born, naturalized American physicist particularly known for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, Chicago Pile-1, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
, Otto Stern
Otto Stern
Otto Stern was a German physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.-Biography:Stern was born in Sohrau, now Żory in the German Empire's Kingdom of Prussia and studied at Breslau, now Wrocław in Lower Silesia....
, Victor Weisskopf, Hans Bethe
Hans Bethe
Hans Albrecht Bethe was a German-American nuclear physicist, and Nobel laureate in physics for his work on the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis. A versatile theoretical physicist, Bethe also made important contributions to quantum electrodynamics, nuclear physics, solid-state physics and...
, and Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner
Lise Meitner FRS was an Austrian-born, later Swedish, physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. Meitner was part of the team that discovered nuclear fission, an achievement for which her colleague Otto Hahn was awarded the Nobel Prize...
, many of whom worked to ensure that the Allies would develop nuclear weapons before the Nazis. With so many Jewish scientists forced to live in the United States, where they often worked together, Einstein wrote to a friend, "For me the most beautiful thing is to be in contact with a few fine Jews—a few millennia of a civilized past do mean something after all." In another letter he writes, "In my whole life I have never felt so Jewish as now." Einstein was offerd a position at the Institute for Advanced Study
Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States, is an independent postgraduate center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It was founded in 1930 by Abraham Flexner...
at Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
,
an affiliation that lasted until his death in 1955.
In the summer of 1939, a few months before the beginning of World War II, Einstein was persuaded to write a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and warn him that Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
might be developing an atomic bomb
German nuclear energy project
The German nuclear energy project, , was an attempted clandestine scientific effort led by Germany to develop and produce the atomic weapons during the events involving the World War II...
. TEinstein helped strengthen the letter, and he recommended the U.S. begin uranium enrichment and nuclear research. According to F.G. Gosling of the U.S. Department of Energy, Einstein, Szilard, and other refugees including Edward Teller
Edward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
and Eugene Wigner, "regarded it as their responsibility to alert Americans to the possibility that German scientists might win the race to build an atomic bomb, and to warn that Hitler would be more than willing to resort to such a weapon." Gosling adds that "the President was a man of considerable action once he had chosen a direction," and believed that the U.S. "could not take the risk of allowing Hitler" to possess nuclear bombs.
Other weapons historians agree that the letter was "arguably the key stimulus for the U.S. adoption of serious investigations into nuclear weapons on the eve of the U.S. entry into World War II". As a result of Einstein's letter, and his meetings with Roosevelt, the U.S. entered the "race" to develop the bomb first, drawing on its "immense material, financial, and scientific resources". Due to the Manhattan Project, it was the only country to succeed in developing an atomic bomb during World War II.
Germany surrendered before atomic weapons could be used against it. Japan was bombed into surrendering
Victory over Japan Day
Victory over Japan Day is a name chosen for the day on which the Surrender of Japan occurred, effectively ending World War II, and subsequent anniversaries of that event...
when the United States finally deployed two atomic bombs against it at the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
on August 6 and 9 1945.
Korean and Vietnam Wars
Jewish Americans continued to serve in the following two major wars, both of which involved the use of conscripted troops. Over 150,000 Jewish Americans (men and women) served in the Korean War. In Vietnam, 30,000 served.Jewish scientists and the Hydrogen bomb and SDI
Key Jewish-born scientists ensured that the United States became the first and most dominant hydrogen bomb power, not long after having played key roles in the development of the first atomic bombs. Also known as the Teller–Ulam design that is the nuclear weapon designNuclear weapon design
Nuclear weapon designs are physical, chemical, and engineering arrangements that cause the physics package of a nuclear weapon to detonate. There are three basic design types...
concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employs hydrogen fusion to generate neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
s.
Edward Teller
The Teller–Ulam design is named for its inventors and creators Edward TellerEdward Teller
Edward Teller was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist, known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title. Teller made numerous contributions to nuclear and molecular physics, spectroscopy , and surface physics...
(1908 – 2003) and Stanislaw Ulam. Teller was born in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
to a Jewish family. He left Hungary in 1926 partly due to the antisemitic numerus clausus
Numerus clausus
Numerus clausus is one of many methods used to limit the number of students who may study at a university. In many cases, the goal of the numerus clausus is simply to limit the number of students to the maximum feasible in some particularly sought-after areas of studies.However, in some cases,...
rule under Horthy
Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944. Horthy was styled "His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary" .Admiral Horthy was an officer of the...
's regime. He became a physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, and was later known as "the father of the hydrogen bomb," even though he did not care for the title.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1930s, and was an early member of the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
charged with developing the first atomic bombs. During this time he made a serious push to develop the first fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
-based weapons as well, but these were deferred until after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. After his controversial testimony in the security clearance
Security clearance
A security clearance is a status granted to individuals allowing them access to classified information, i.e., state secrets, or to restricted areas after completion of a thorough background check. The term "security clearance" is also sometimes used in private organizations that have a formal...
hearing of his former Los Alamos
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
colleague J. Robert Oppenheimer, Teller was ostracized by much of the scientific community. He continued to find support from the U.S. government and military research establishment, particularly for his advocacy for nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
development, a strong nuclear arsenal, and a vigorous nuclear testing
Nuclear testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
program. He was a co-founder of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , just outside Livermore, California, is a Federally Funded Research and Development Center founded by the University of California in 1952...
(LLNL), and was both its director and associate director for many years.
In the 1980s, Teller began a strong campaign for what was later called the Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
(SDI), derided by critics as "Star Wars," the concept of using ground and satellite-based lasers, particle beams and missiles to destroy incoming Soviet ICBMs. Teller lobbied with government agencies—and got the sanction of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
—for a plan to develop a system using elaborate satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
s which used atomic weapons to fire X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
lasers at incoming missiles— as part of a broader scientific research program into defenses against nuclear weapons. Teller's own comments on the role of lasers in SDI, as disclosed in live panel discussions, were published, and are available, in two laser conference proceedings.
The Strategic Defense Initiative
Strategic Defense Initiative
The Strategic Defense Initiative was proposed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States from attack by strategic nuclear ballistic missiles. The initiative focused on strategic defense rather than the prior strategic...
was created by U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
on March 23, 1983 to use ground and space-based systems to protect the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
from attack by strategic nuclear
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
ballistic missile
Ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
s. Supporters of SDI claimed it helped contribute to the fall of the Soviet Union by the so-called strategy of technology
Strategy of Technology
The Strategy of Technology doctrine involves a country using its advantage in technology to create and deploy weapons of sufficient power and numbers so as to overawe or beggar its opponents, forcing them to spend their limited resources on developing hi-tech countermeasures and straining their...
, which was a prevalent doctrine at the time. While SDI was a source of disagreement between the United States and the Soviet Union a summit led to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is a 1987 agreement between the United States and the Soviet Union. Signed in Washington, D.C. by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev on December 8, 1987, it was ratified by the United States Senate on May 27, 1988 and...
, which some have claimed was an outgrowth of USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
's fear of SDI. In 1991 President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
shifted the focus of SDI from defense of North America against large scale strikes to a system focusing on theater missile defense called Global Protection Against Limited Strikes (GPALS). In 1993 President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
changed its name to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization was an agency of the United States Department of Defense that began on 20 May 1974 with the responsibility for all U.S. ballistic missile defense efforts. It evolved from the SAFEGUARD System Organization. The original mission of BMDO was comparable to...
(BMDO) and its emphasis was shifted to theater missile defense and from global to regional coverage. BMDO was renamed to the Missile Defense Agency
Missile Defense Agency
The Missile Defense Agency is the section of the United States government's Department of Defense responsible for developing a layered defense against ballistic missiles. The agency has its origins in the Strategic Defense Initiative, which was established in 1983 and was headed by Lt...
in 2002.
Stanislaw Ulam
Stanislaw Marcin Ulam (1909 – 1984) was an AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
mathematician
Mathematician
A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
of Polish Jewish
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
origin, who participated in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
and originated the Teller–Ulam design of thermonuclear weapons. He also invented nuclear pulse propulsion
Nuclear pulse propulsion
Nuclear pulse propulsion is a proposed method of spacecraft propulsion that uses nuclear explosions for thrust. It was first developed as Project Orion by DARPA, after a suggestion by Stanislaw Ulam in 1947...
and developed a number of mathematical tools in number theory
Number theory
Number theory is a branch of pure mathematics devoted primarily to the study of the integers. Number theorists study prime numbers as well...
, set theory
Set theory
Set theory is the branch of mathematics that studies sets, which are collections of objects. Although any type of object can be collected into a set, set theory is applied most often to objects that are relevant to mathematics...
, ergodic theory
Ergodic theory
Ergodic theory is a branch of mathematics that studies dynamical systems with an invariant measure and related problems. Its initial development was motivated by problems of statistical physics....
and algebraic topology
Algebraic topology
Algebraic topology is a branch of mathematics which uses tools from abstract algebra to study topological spaces. The basic goal is to find algebraic invariants that classify topological spaces up to homeomorphism, though usually most classify up to homotopy equivalence.Although algebraic topology...
. Ulam was born in Lwów
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
Galicia to a wealthy Polish-Jewish banking and timber-processing family who were part of the large Jewish minority population of the city. Lwów (now Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) was then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
; from 1918 until 1939 it was in the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
.
Commodore Uriah P. Levy
Uriah Phillips LevyUriah P. Levy
Uriah Phillips Levy was the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a major philanthropist. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank of Admiral...
(1792–1862) was the first Jewish-American Commodore of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and a veteran of the War of 1812
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...
. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank of Admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
. During his tenure, he ended the Navy's practice of flogging
Flagellation
Flagellation or flogging is the act of methodically beating or whipping the human body. Specialised implements for it include rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails and the sjambok...
, and prevailed against the antisemitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
bigotry he faced among his fellow naval officers. His service is memorialized through the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel at the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.
Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman George Rickover
Hyman G. Rickover
Hyman George Rickover was a four-star admiral of the United States Navy who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors...
(1900–1986), was born to Abraham Rickover and Rachel (née
NEE
NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...
Unger) Rickover, a Jewish family in Maków Mazowiecki
Maków Mazowiecki
Maków Mazowiecki is a town in Poland, in the Masovian Voivodship. It is the powiat capital of Maków County . Its population is 10,850....
Poland
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
, at that time under Russian rule. He rose to a four-star admiral
Admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, admiral is a four-star flag officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below Fleet Admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health...
in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
who directed the original development of naval nuclear propulsion and controlled its operations for three decades as director of Naval Reactors
Naval Reactors
Naval Reactors is an umbrella term for the U.S. government office that has comprehensive responsibility for the continued safe and reliable operation of the United States Navy's nuclear propulsion program and thus for United States Naval reactors...
. He was known as the "Father of the Nuclear Navy", which as of July 2007 had produced 200 nuclear-powered submarines
Submarines in the United States Navy
There are two major types of submarines in the United States Navy: ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines. In the U.S. Navy, all combatant submarines are nuclear-powered. Ballistic subs have a single, strategic mission: carrying nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missiles...
, and 23 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and cruisers.
With his unique personality, political connections, responsibilities, and depth of knowledge regarding naval nuclear propulsion, Rickover became the longest-serving naval officer in U.S. history with 63 years active duty.
Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda
Jeremy Michael Boorda
Jeremy Michael Boorda was an admiral of the United States Navy and the 25th Chief of Naval Operations . Boorda is the only CNO to have risen to the position from the enlisted ranks.-Early life and education :...
(1939–1996) was an admiral
Admiral (United States)
In the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard and the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, admiral is a four-star flag officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. Admiral ranks above vice admiral and below Fleet Admiral in the Navy; the Coast Guard and the Public Health...
of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and the 25th Chief of Naval Operations
Chief of Naval Operations
The Chief of Naval Operations is a statutory office held by a four-star admiral in the United States Navy, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Navy. The office is a military adviser and deputy to the Secretary of the Navy...
(CNO). Boorda is the only CNO to have risen to the position from the enlisted ranks. He was born on November 26, 1939, in South Bend, Indiana, to a Jewish family. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He dropped out of high school when he was seventeen years old and joined the Navy. This was the beginning of his naval career of 40 years. Boorda kept his Jewish roots private: "Although Boorda was not a practicing Jew and in fact raised his children as Protestants, he was born to two Jewish parents and had a bar mitzvah. He did not in any way emphasize his Jewish roots or his Jewishness, said Rabbi Aaron Landes, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral...virtually no one knew that Boorda, who became the first enlisted man to rise to the Navy's highest post of chief of naval operations, was born a Jew...Among Boorda's ancestors were a cantor
Cantor
Cantor is surname of:* Andrés Cantor , Spanish-language soccer announcer* Anthony Cantor , British diplomat* Arthur Cantor , American theatrical producer* Aviva Cantor , American journalist, lecturer and author...
and a Chasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
family, Landes said."
Boorda believed that "people should have the opportunity to excel, and be all they can be, even if they don't get a perfect or traditional start." He committed suicide at the age of 57 in 1996. He was disturbed by pending questions about Vietnam War combat ribbons he wore; he had not had service there and was not entitled to wear them. Researchers have noted that "the most important reason that no one paid attention to Boorda's Jewish background was that...being Jewish is no longer an issue in the military."
James R. Schlesinger
James Rodney SchlesingerJames R. Schlesinger
Dr. James Rodney Schlesinger is an American politician. He is best known for serving as Secretary of Defense from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
(born February 15, 1929) served as US Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
from 1973 to 1975 under Presidents Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. He became America's first Secretary of Energy under Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. While Secretary of Defense, he opposed amnesty for draft resisters, and pressed for development of more sophisticated nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
systems. Additionally, his support for the A-10
A-10 Thunderbolt II
The Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II is an American single-seat, twin-engine, straight-wing jet aircraft developed by Fairchild-Republic in the early 1970s. The A-10 was designed for a United States Air Force requirement to provide close air support for ground forces by attacking tanks,...
and the lightweight fighter program (later the F-16) helped ensure that they were carried to completion. Schlesinger was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, the son of Rhea Lillian, a Russian Jewish immigrant, and Julius Schlesinger, an Austrian Jew
History of the Jews in Austria
The history of the Jews in Austria likely originates in an exodus of Jews from the Roman occupation of Israel. During the course of many centuries, the political status of the community rose and fell many times: during certain periods, the Jewish community prospered and enjoyed political equality,...
. In 1960 he published The Political Economy of National Security. In 1963 he moved to the Rand Corporation, where he worked until 1969, in the later years as director of strategic studies.
Harold Brown
Harold BrownHarold Brown (Secretary of Defense)
Harold Brown , American scientist, was U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President Jimmy Carter. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering and Secretary of the Air Force.While Secretary of Defense, he...
(born September 19, 1927) was US U.S. Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
from 1977 to 1981 in the cabinet of President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
. Brown is a Jewish American born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to Gertrude Cohen and A. H. Brown. He had previously served in the Lyndon Johnson administration as Director of Defense Research and Engineering
Director of Defense Research and Engineering
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering ASD is a senior official of the United States Department of Defense. The ASD and the office s/he heads are charged with the development and oversight of DoD technology strategy for the DoD. The ASD reports to the Under Secretary of...
and Secretary of the Air Force. While Secretary of Defense, he insisted in laying the groundwork for the Camp David accords
Camp David Accords
The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on September 17, 1978, following thirteen days of secret negotiations at Camp David. The two framework agreements were signed at the White House, and were witnessed by United States...
. He took part in the strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and supported (unsuccessfully), ratification of the SALT II treaty. He advocated détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
William Cohen
William Sebastian CohenWilliam Cohen
William Sebastian Cohen is an author and American politician from the U.S. state of Maine. A Republican, Cohen served as Secretary of Defense under Democratic President Bill Clinton.-Early life and education:...
(born August 28, 1940) was a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
who served as Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
(1997–2001) under Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. His father, Reuben Cohen, was a Russian Jewish immigrant, while his mother, Clara, was of Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
ancestry; the two owned the Bangor Rye Bread Co. Cohen attended Hebrew school
Hebrew school
Hebrew school can be either the Jewish equivalent of Sunday school - an educational regimen separate from secular education, focusing on topics of Jewish history and learning the Hebrew language, or a primary, secondary or college level educational institution where some or all of the classes are...
as a child. When he was told that he would have to undergo a conversion ceremony
Conversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
(see Matrilineality in Judaism
Matrilineality in Judaism
Matrilineality in Judaism is the view that people born of a Jewish mother are themselves Jewish. The Torah does not explicitly discuss the conferring of Jewish status through matrilineality, and in apparent contrast to this position, the Tanakh provides many examples of Israelite men whose...
), however, he decided not to follow through with his Bar Mitzvah. Instead, he followed his mother's example in refusing to convert to Judaism and became a Christian, specifically within the Unitarian Universalist tradition.
Intelligence work serving America
There have been notable examples of those who have risen in the service of American intelligence and national securityNational security
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state through the use of economic, diplomacy, power projection and political power. The concept developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II...
. Some notable examples have been the following:
Henry Kissinger
Henry Alfred KissingerHenry Kissinger
Heinz Alfred "Henry" Kissinger is a German-born American academic, political scientist, diplomat, and businessman. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as National Security Advisor and later concurrently as Secretary of State in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon and...
(born May 27, 1923) is a German
History of the Jews in Germany
The presence of Jews in Germany has been established since the early 4th century. The community prospered under Charlemagne, but suffered during the Crusades...
Jewish American political scientist, diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
. He served as the eighth US National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
(1969–1975) and later concurrently as the fifty sixth US Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
(1973–1977) in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
. After his term, his opinion was still sought out by many following presidents.
Kissinger was born Heinz Alfred Kissinger in Fürth
Fürth
The city of Fürth is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is now contiguous with the larger city of Nuremberg, the centres of the two cities being only 7 km apart....
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
to a family of German Jews. His father, Louis Kissinger (1887–1982) was a schoolteacher. His mother, Paula Stern Kissinger (1901–1998), was a homemaker. The surname Kissinger was adopted in 1817 by his great-great-grandfather Meyer Löb, after the city of Bad Kissingen
Bad Kissingen
Bad Kissingen is a spa town in the Bavarian region of Lower Franconia and is the seat of the district Bad Kissingen. Situated to the south of the Rhön Mountains on the Franconian Saale river, it is a world-famous health resort.- Town structure :...
. In 1938, fleeing Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
persecution, his family moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He never lost his pronounced Frankish
East Franconian German
East Franconian is a dialect which is spoken in northern Bavaria and other areas in Germany around Nuremberg, Bamberg, Coburg, Würzburg, Hof, Bayreuth, Bad Mergentheim, Crailsheim and Suhl...
accent
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
, due to childhood shyness that made him hesitant to speak.
A proponent of Realpolitik
Realpolitik
Realpolitik refers to politics or diplomacy based primarily on power and on practical and material factors and considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises...
, Kissinger played a dominant role in United States foreign policy between 1969 and 1977. During this period, he pioneered the policy of détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
with the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, orchestrated the opening of relations with the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
, and negotiated the Paris Peace Accords
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam...
, ending American involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. His role in the bombing of Cambodia
Operation Menu
Operation Menu was the codename of a covert United States Strategic Air Command bombing campaign conducted in eastern Cambodia and Laos from 18 March 1969 until 26 May 1970, during the Vietnam War...
and other American interventions abroad during this period remains controversial.
John M. Deutch
John Mark DeutchJohn M. Deutch
John Mark Deutch is an American chemist and civil servant. He was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense from 1994 to 1995 and Director of Central Intelligence from May 10, 1995 until December 15, 1996...
(born July 27, 1938) was the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
The Deputy Secretary of Defense is the second-highest ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America. The Deputy Secretary of Defense is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate...
from 1994 to 1995 and Director of Central Intelligence
Director of Central Intelligence
The Office of United States Director of Central Intelligence was the head of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, the principal intelligence advisor to the President and the National Security Council, and the coordinator of intelligence activities among and between the various United...
(DCI) from May 10, 1995 until December 14, 1996. Deutch was born in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, to a Russian Jewish father.
Spies for foreign nations
There have also been those who have betrayed their country for various political and ideological motives by handing over key military and strategic secrets to both America's enemies and friends and they have had to suffer the consequences as well. A few of the most notable have been:Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg (1915–1953) and Julius Rosenberg (1918–1953) were AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
communists
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
who were executed in 1953 for conspiracy to commit espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
. Ethel Greenglass was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to a Jewish family. Julius Rosenberg was also born to a family of Jewish immigrants in New York City. The charges against them related to passing information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. This was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history. Because the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is a federal law enforcement agency subdivision of the United States Department of Justice and is responsible for the administration of the federal prison system. The system also handles prisoners who committed acts considered felonies under the District of Columbia's...
did not operate an electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
at the time, the Rosenbergs were transferred to the New York State-run Sing Sing Correctional Facility
Sing Sing
Sing Sing Correctional Facility is a maximum security prison operated by the New York State Department of Correctional Services in the town of Ossining, New York...
in Ossining
Ossining (town), New York
Ossining is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 37,674 at the 2010 census. It contains two villages, the Village of Ossining and part of Briarcliff Manor, the rest of which is located in the Town of Mount Pleasant....
for execution. The couple were executed at sundown in the electric chair on June 19, 1953.
Jonathan Pollard
Jonathan Jay PollardJonathan Pollard
Jonathan Jay Pollard worked as a civilian intelligence analyst before being convicted of spying for Israel. He received a life sentence in 1987....
(born August 7, 1954 in Galveston
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
) is a former civilian intelligence
Intelligence (information gathering)
Intelligence assessment is the development of forecasts of behaviour or recommended courses of action to the leadership of an organization, based on a wide range of available information sources both overt and covert. Assessments are developed in response to requirements declared by the leadership...
analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He received a life sentence in 1987. Israel granted Pollard citizenship in 1995, while publicly denying, until 1998, that he was an Israeli spy. Israeli activist groups, as well as high-profile Israeli politicians, have lobbied for his release. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin Netanyahu
Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is the current Prime Minister of Israel. He serves also as the Chairman of the Likud Party, as a Knesset member, as the Health Minister of Israel, as the Pensioner Affairs Minister of Israel and as the Economic Strategy Minister of Israel.Netanyahu is the first and, to...
has voiced particularly strong support for Pollard, visiting the convicted spy in prison in 2002. Pollard's case was later linked to that of Ben-Ami Kadish
Ben-ami Kadish
Ben-ami Kadish is a former U.S. Army mechanical engineer. He pleaded guilty in December 2008 to being an "unregistered agent for Israel", and admitted to disclosing classified U.S. documents to Israel in the 1980s. His unauthorized disclosure of classified U.S...
, another U.S. national who pleaded guilty to charges of passing classified information to Israel in the same period.
Chaplaincy
The United States military has a long-standing and strong tradition of supporting Jewish military chaplainMilitary chaplain
A military chaplain is a chaplain who ministers to soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and other members of the military. In many countries, chaplains also minister to the family members of military personnel, to civilian noncombatants working for military organizations and to civilians within the...
s in all sectors. Chaplains are drawn from all Jewish denominations
Jewish denominations
Jewish religious movements , sometimes called "denominations" or "branches", include different groups which have developed among Jews from ancient times and especially in the modern era among Ashkenazi Jews living in anglophone countries...
including Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
, Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
, and Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
.
The Board of Delegates of American Israelites, organized in 1859 shortly before the Civil War, was the first American civic defense organization for Jews.
Civil War
On July 22, 1861, the North's Congress passed legislature requiring all chaplainChaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...
s to be ordained Christian ministers, making rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s ineligible to serve. The Board of Delegates of American Israelites lobbied the government and organized a petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
drive to change the law. On July 12, 1862, Congress reversed itself and changed the law to permit non-Christian clergy to serve as chaplains. In Bangor, Maine
Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
, 200 non-Jews signed the petition, although only three Jews lived in the community. Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Philadelphia was the first rabbi appointed as a military chaplain.
JWB Jewish Chaplains Council
The JWB (Jewish Welfare Board) Jewish Chaplains Council was founded in 1917 as the Chaplains' Committee of the Jewish Welfare BoardNational Jewish Welfare Board
The National Jewish Welfare Board was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany. The organization was charged with recruiting and training rabbis for military service, as well as providing support materials to these newly commissioned chaplains...
. It is an agency of the Jewish Community Center
Jewish Community Center
A Jewish Community Center or Jewish Community Centre is a general recreational, social and fraternal organization serving the Jewish community in a number of cities...
(JCC) association, and serves as the endorsing body for Jewish military chaplains who serve in the US Armed Forces and VA
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is a government-run military veteran benefit system with Cabinet-level status. It is the United States government’s second largest department, after the United States Department of Defense...
chaplaincy services.
The JWB Jewish Chaplains Council consists of sixteen rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s, four each from the Rabbinical Assembly
Rabbinical Assembly
The Rabbinical Assembly is the international association of Conservative rabbis. The RA was founded in 1901 to shape the ideology, programs, and practices of the Conservative movement. It publishes prayerbooks and books of Jewish interest, and oversees the work of the Committee on Jewish Law and...
(Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
), the Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbinical Council of America
The Rabbinical Council of America is one of the world's largest organizations of Orthodox rabbis; it is affiliated with The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, more commonly known as the Orthodox Union, or OU...
(Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
), and the Central Conference of American Rabbis
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis , founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada, the CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world....
(Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
), plus four active duty Jewish chaplains representing the Chaplains Advisory Group (CAG). As of 2010, the Council serves approximately 37 full-time Jewish military and Veterans Administration chaplains, 55 chaplain reservists
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
, more than 88 military lay leaders, and thousands of Jews at more than 500 military installations and VA medical centers.
World War II
Many Jewish chaplains served with honor during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. For example Rabbi Herschel Schacter
Herschel Schacter
Herschel Schacter is a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, and a prominent student of the Rav, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.He is also the father of Rabbi Jacob J...
was a chaplain in the Third Army's VIII Corps
VIII Corps (United States)
The U.S. VIII Corps was a corps of the United States Army that saw service during various times over a fifty-year period during the twentieth century. The VIII Corps was organized 26–29 November 1918 in the Regular Army in France and demobilized on 20 April 1919. The VIII Corps was soon...
. and was the first US Army Chaplain to enter and participate in the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald concentration camp was a German Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937, one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps on German soil.Camp prisoners from all over Europe and Russia—Jews, non-Jewish Poles and Slovenes,...
in 1945 and later aided in the resettlement of displaced person
Displaced person
A displaced person is a person who has been forced to leave his or her native place, a phenomenon known as forced migration.- Origin of term :...
s.
Post World War II
Jewish Chaplain Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff's eye-witness report of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing1983 Beirut barracks bombing
The Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...
had historical importance for two reasons. First, four days after the attack, then-Vice President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
led a White House team to visit the scene of the attack, and asked Resnicoff -- then one of the chaplains for the U.S. Sixth Fleet -- to write a report for President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
. Resnicoff had arrived in Beirut on Friday, October 21, to lead a memorial service for a young Marine killed by sniper fire (then only the fifth death of American forces present as part of the international peace-keeping force). He refused to accept transportation back to Sixth Fleet Headquarters in Gaeta, Italy the next day because it was Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, the Jewish Sabbath, and so ended up being on the scene the morning of October 23, when the attack occurred. When Regan received the report, he decided to use it as his keynote speech to the 20,000 attendees of the "Baptist Fundamentalist '84" convention, led by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell
Jerry Falwell
Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. was an evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist, and a conservative commentator from the United States. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church, a megachurch in Lynchburg, Virginia...
. Rabbi David Lapp, then-Director of the National Jewish Welfare Board
National Jewish Welfare Board
The National Jewish Welfare Board was formed on April 9, 1917, three days after the United States declared war on Germany. The organization was charged with recruiting and training rabbis for military service, as well as providing support materials to these newly commissioned chaplains...
Commission on Jewish Chaplaincy, said that many rabbis had quoted Presidents, but that this may have been the first time in history that a President had quoted a rabbi -- certainly, the first time that an entire speech of a President was attributed to a rabbi.
Secondly, one story from the aftermath of the attack was instrumental in terms of changing military policies regarding the wearing of kippot, head-coverings, for Jews in uniform. The "religious apparel amendment," allowing kippot, had twice failed to pass. But during the rescue efforts following the bombing, Catholic Chaplain Fr. George Pucciarelli tore a piece of his camouflage uniform off to use as a makeshift kippa for Resnicoff, who had discarded his kippa when it became blood-soaked after being used to wipe the faces of wounded Marines. When that story was read into the Congressional Record, both the Senate and House passed the Religious Apparel Amendment, which then laid the groundwork for Department of Defense Directive (now Instruction) 1300.17, "Accommodation of Religious Practices Within the Military Service."
This story of the "camouflage kippah" was retold at many levels, in addition to Reagan's speech, including another event involving involving a meeting between Reagan and the "American Friends of Lubavitch." During the group's visit to the White House, Reagan recounted the Beirut story, and then asked the rabbis to explain to him the religious meaning of the kippah. Rabbi Abraham Shemtov
Abraham Shemtov
Rabbi Abraham Shemtov is a leading Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi who was one of the closest confidants of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson....
, the leader of the group, responded, "Mr. President, the kippah to us is a sign of reverence." Rabbi Feller, another member of the group, continued, "We place the kippah on the very highest point of our being—on our head, the vessel of our intellect—to tell ourselves and the world that there is something which is above man's intellect:the infinite Wisdom of God."
Naval Academy Jewish Chapel
The Naval Academy Jewish ChapelNaval Academy Jewish Chapel
The Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel is the Jewish chapel at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. The center is named in honor of Commodore Uriah P. Levy , the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy, who is famous for refusing to flog his sailors...
, also known as the Commodore Uriah P. Levy Center and Jewish Chapel is the Jewish chapel at the United States Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis, Maryland
Annapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland, as well as the county seat of Anne Arundel County. It had a population of 38,394 at the 2010 census and is situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east of Washington, D.C. Annapolis is...
. The center is named in honor of Commodore Uriah P. Levy
Uriah P. Levy
Uriah Phillips Levy was the first Jewish Commodore of the United States Navy, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a major philanthropist. At the time, Commodore was the highest rank obtainable in the U.S. Navy and would be roughly equivalent to the modern-day rank of Admiral...
(1792–1862), the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, who is famous for refusing to flog his sailors. The Levy Center contains a 410-seat synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, fellowship hall, Character Learning Center, classrooms, Brigade’s social director offices, academic board, and the Academy’s Honor Board.
The Levy Center cost $8 million. Approximately $1.8 million was paid for with military construction funds. The remaining amount was paid for by private donations raised by the Friends of the Jewish Chapel, headed by Jewish alumni of the academy and others. It was given to the Academy upon completion. The building was dedicated in September 2005.
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America is an American Jewish veterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an estimated 37,000 members.-History and purpose:The Jewish War Veterans were established in 1896...
(also referred to as the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., the Jewish War Veterans, or the JWV) is an American Jewish
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
veterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an estimated 37,000 members.
The Jewish War Veterans were established in 1896. The group holds a congressional charter
Congressional charter
A congressional charter is a law passed by the United States Congress that states the mission, authority and activities of a group. Congress issued federal charters from 1791 until 1992 under Title 36 of the United States Code....
under Title 36 of the United States Code
Title 36 of the United States Code
Title 36 of the United States Code outlines the role of Patriotic Societies and Observances in the United States Code.*Subtitle I—Patriotic and National Observances and Ceremonies*Subtitle II—Patriotic and National Organizations...
.
In the preamble
Preamble
A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subject of the statute...
to its National Constitution the purpose of the JWV is stated:
- To maintain true allegianceAllegianceAn allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed by a subject or a citizen to his/her state or sovereign.-Etymology:From Middle English ligeaunce . The al- prefix was probably added through confusion with another legal term, allegeance, an "allegation"...
to the United States of AmericaUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
; to foster and perpetuate true Americanism; to combat whatever tends to impair the efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; to uphold the fair name of the Jew and fight his or her battles wherever unjustly assailed; to encourage the doctrine of universal liberty, equal rights, and full justice to all men and women; to combat the powers of bigotryBigotryA bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
and darkness wherever originating and whatever their target; to preserve the spirit of comradeship by mutual helpfulness to comrades and their families; to cooperate with and support existing educational institutions and establish educational institutions, and to foster the education of ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen, and our members in the ideals and principles of Americanism; to instill love of country and flag, and to promote sound minds and bodies in our members and our youth; to preserve the memories and records of patriotic service performed by the men and women of our faith; to honor their memory and shield from neglect the graves of our heroic dead.
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
The National Museum of American Jewish Military History was founded September 2, 1958, in Washington, D.C., to document and preserve "the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States...[and to educate] the public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices...
(NMAJMH), founded in 1958, is in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, documents and preserves "the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States...[and to educate] the public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices made by Jewish Americans who served in the armed forces."
The museum operates under the auspices of the Jewish War Veterans (JWV), USA
Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America is an American Jewish veterans' organization, and the oldest veterans group in the United States. It has an estimated 37,000 members.-History and purpose:The Jewish War Veterans were established in 1896...
, National Memorial, Inc. (NMI), located at 1811 R St., NW, Washington, DC, in the Dupont Circle area. The building also houses the JWV National Headquarters.
Misconceptions of Jewish service
The early history of Jewish service was complicated by American assumptions that Jews were unwilling or unable to serve in the military. This perception was to last for centuries, and it was in response to an 1891 article in the North American Review regarding the perceived lack of Jews in the military that historian Simon Wolf compiled his 1895 work The American Jew as patriot, soldier and citizen.This perception was so widespread and long-lasting that author Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, in his 1899 article Concerning the Jews
Concerning the Jews
Concerning the Jews is a short essay by Mark Twain. Twain had lived in Austria during 1896, and opined that the Habsburg empire used scapegoats to maintain unity in their immensely diverse empire, namely Jews...
, criticized the American Jews for their lack of patriotism and willingness to serve. However, when presented with statistics proving Jewish participation throughout American military history, Twain withdrew his remark, and contradicted the misperception in his 1904 The American Jew as Soldier.
See also
- History of the Jews in the United StatesHistory of the Jews in the United StatesThe history of the Jews in the United States , has been part of the American national fabric since colonial times.Until the 1830s the Jewish community of Charleston, South Carolina was the most numerous in North America. With the large scale immigration of Jews from Germany in the 19th century,...
- Jewish Institute for National Security AffairsJewish Institute for National Security AffairsThe Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think-tank focusing on issues of United States and Israel in national security. JINSA's stated aim is threefold: to ensure a strong and effective U.S...
- List of Jewish Americans in the military
- List of Jewish American generals and admirals
- List of Jewish Medal of Honor recipients
- United States military chaplain symbolsUnited States military chaplain symbolsReligious symbolism in the United States military includes the use of religious symbols for military chaplain insignia, uniforms, emblems, flags, and chapels; symbolic gestures, actions, and words used in military rituals and ceremonies; and religious symbols or designations used in areas such as...
External links
- Florida Atlantic University Libraries: Jewish Generals and Admirals in America's Military
- Jews in America's Military (fau.edu) (35 pages)
- Jewish-American History Foundation: Jewish Civil War Veterans Database
- Museum of Jewish Heritage: American Jews in the Second World War
- Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
- (Jewish Welfare Board) JWB Jewish Chaplains Council
- Jews in Green: The Ultimate Resource for Jews in the U.S. Armed Forces
- National Museum of American Jewish Military History