Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Henry Morgenthau Jr.

Henry Morgenthau, Jr. (May 11, 1891 – February 6, 1967) was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also the father of Robert M. Morgenthau, the current District Attorney of New York County.

1 Early life
2 New Deal
3 Fiscal responsibility
4 Jewish refugees
5 Morgenthau Plan
6 Bretton Woods
7 Legacy
8 External links
9 Notes
10 References
- 10.1 Primary sources

[edit] Early life

Morgenthau was born to Jewish parents in New York City, the son of Henry Morgenthau Sr., a prominent real estate mogul and diplomat and Josephine Sykes. He had three sisters. He attended what is now The Dwight School. Later, he studied architecture and agriculture at Cornell University. In 1913, he met and became friends with Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. During World War I, he worked for the U.S. Farm Administration. In 1929, Roosevelt, as Governor of New York, appointed him chair of the New York State Agricultural Advisory Committee and to the state Conservation Commission.

[edit] New Deal

In 1933, Roosevelt became President and appointed Morgenthau governor of the Federal Farm Board. In 1934, when William H. Woodin resigned through ill-health, Roosevelt appointed Morgenthau Secretary of the Treasury (an act that enraged conservatives). Morgenthau was an orthodox economist who opposed Keynesian economics and disapproved of some elements of Roosevelt's New Deal, but he was a Roosevelt loyalist and retained his office until 1945.

[edit] Fiscal responsibility

Morgenthau's signature, as used on American currency

Morgenthau believed in balanced budgets, stable currency, reduction of the national debt, and the need for more private investment. The Wagner Act regarding labor unions met Morgenthau’s requirement because it strengthened the party’s political base and involved no new spending. Morgenthau accepted Roosevelt’s double budget as legitimate–that is a balanced regular budget, and an “emergency” budget for agencies, like the WPA, PWA and CCC, that would be temporary until full recovery was at hand. He fought against the veterans’ bonus until Congress finally overrode Roosevelt’s veto and gave out $2.2 billion in 1936. His biggest success was the new Social Security program; he managed to reverse the proposals to fund it from general revenue and insisted it be funded by new taxes on employees. Morgenthau insisted on excluding farm workers and domestic servants from Social Security because workers outside industry would not be paying their way.Zelizer 2000

[edit] Jewish refugees

Confronted by the Holocaust, the Anglo-American Alliance moved slowly to meet this unique tragedy during World War II. Refusing the initial appeal of Jewish organizations for Allied countries to deliver food and medicine to the ghettos of Europe, the British and U.S. governments argued that supplies would be diverted for the Germans' personal use or would be granted the Jews just to free the Third Reich from its "responsibility" to feed them. A license granted in December 1942 for such shipments had minimal effect. The World Jewish Congress' subsequent plan to rescue Jews through the use of blocked accounts in Switzerland received the US Treasury Department's approval in mid-1943, but the State Department and the British Foreign Office procrastinated further. Jewish groups failed at times to measure up to the catastrophe, but the fundamental obligation lay with the Allied councils of war, which discriminated in their unwillingness to save a powerless European Jewry. The persistence of Morgenthau and his staff in bypassing State and ultimately confronting Roosevelt in January 1944, along with increasing calls from Congress and the public for a presidential rescue commission, resulted in the executive creation of the US War Refugee Board. The lateness of the hour and Hitler's ruthless determination to complete the murder of all the Jews of Europe made the odds for the new board's success more than questionable. In January 1944, however, Morgenthau succeeded in persuading Roosevelt to allow the creation of a War Refugee Board in the Treasury Department. This allowed an increasing number of Jews to enter the U.S. in 1944 and 1945 - as many as 200,000 Jews were saved in this way (Penkower 1980).

Hurwitz (1991) argues that in late 1943, the Treasury Department drafted a report calling for the creation of a special rescue agency for European Jewry. At the same time, several congressmen connected with the "Bergson Boys" introduced a resolution also calling for the creation of such an agency. On 16 January 1944, Morgenthau presented President Roosevelt with the Treasury report, and the president agreed to create the War Refugee Board (WRB), the first major attempt of the United States to deal with the murder of European Jewry. What was the main cause for the creation of the WRB - the actions of Treasury, or the resolution in Congress? Those who claim that the congressional resolution was the decisive factor assert that Roosevelt feared a confrontation with Congress over this issue. However, there is no evidence that such was Roosevelt's reasoning. On the contrary, Congress in those years clearly was both anti-refugee and passive to the plight of European Jewry. Roosevelt's primary motivation must have come from the Treasury Department's prompting.

[edit] Morgenthau Plan

In 1944, Morgenthau proposed the Morgenthau Plan for postwar Germany, calling for Germany to be dismembered, partitioned into separate independent states, stripped of all heavy industry and forced to return to an agrarian economy[1]. The Morgenthau plan is thought to have been devised by Morganthau's deputy, Harry Dexter White. Although a modified draft of Morgenthaus original plan was approved by both Roosevelt and Churchill at the Second Quebec Conference, it was later ostensibly abandoned due to strong opposition from the cabinet and negative public reaction. It never took effect in its original form, but did have influence on the Allied occupation[2].

In wartime Germany, Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels used the plan, with some success, to encourage Germans to persevere in their war efforts so that their country would not be turned into a potato field.[3]

In occupied Germany Morgenthau left a direct legacy through what in OMGUS commonly were called "Morgenthau boys". These were US Treasury officials whom Eisenhower has "loaned" in to the Army of occupation. These people ensured that the occupation directive JCS 1067, which had been heavily influenced by Morgenthau and his plan, was interpreted as strictly as possible. They were most active in the first crucial months of the occupation, but continued their activities for almost two years following the resignation of Morgenthau in mid 1945 and some time later also of their leader Colonel Bernard Bernstein, who was "the repository of the Morgenthau spirit in the army of occupation".^[1]

[edit] Bretton Woods

Morgenthau was a leading participant in the Bretton Woods Conference that established the Bretton Woods system, under which the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the precursor to the World Bank) were created. He resigned in mid-1945, when Truman became President and Morgenthau's advice was no longer sought.

[edit] Legacy

Morgenthau devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy, and also became a financial advisor to Israel. He died in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1967. The 378-foot Coast Guard Cutter Morgenthau is named in his honor.

[edit] External links

Time Magazine Oct. 15, 1945 Morgenthau's Hope Reaction to the publication of Morgenthau's book "Germany is Our Problem" where he promotes the "Morgenthau Plan".
Time Magazine Sep. 22, 1967 Vengeance v. Vision Review of YEARS OF WAR, 1941-1945; FROM THE MORGENTHAU DIARIES by John Morton Blum.
U.S. Treasury - Biography of Secretary Morgenthau

[edit] Notes

^ Vladimir Petrov, Money and conquest; allied occupation currencies in World War II. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press (1967) pg. 228-229

[edit] References

Beschloss, Michael. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. Simon & Schuster. 2002. ISBN 0-684-81027-1. Devotes much attention to Morgenthau Plan
Hurwitz, Ariel. "The Struggle over the Creation of the War Refugee Board (WRB)" Holocaust and Genocide Studies 1991 6(1): 17-31. ISSN 8756-6583
Penkower, Monty Noam. "Jewish Organizations and the Creation of the U.S. War Refugee Board." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 1980 (450): 122-139. ISSN 0002-7162 Fulltext in Jstor
Julian E. Zelizer; "The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal: Fiscal Conservatism and the Roosevelt Administration, 1933-1938." Presidential Studies Quarterly. Volume: 30. Issue: 2. 2000. pp 331+.
Vladimir Petrov, Money and conquest; allied occupation currencies in World War II. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Press (1967)

[edit] Primary sources

Blum, John Morton, ed. From the Morganthau Diaries, a 3 volume narrative of Morganthau's New Deal years (1928-45) based very closely on his diary.; abridged edition: Roosevelt and Morgenthau: A Revision and Condensation of From the Morgenthau Diaries (1972)