Sign into an existing account

On 27 January 1944, the US House of Representatives adopts a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.

Before the discussion proceedings, Ranulf Compton, a Representative from Connecticut, delivers a speech:
˝Mr. Speaker, it is a signal honor as well as a moral duty to be the joint author and sponsor of House Resolution 419, simultaneously introduced by the Honorable James A. Wright, member from Pennsylvania on the majority side of the House... I am most happy to be privileged as a member of Congress to take some action looking toward the abrogation of the British White Paper which attempts to hold the Jewish people as a permanent minority in Palestine and which precludes the relief to the suffering Jew... It is also my hope that this concerted joint action... will spur the administration to pursue an aggressive policy toward that end.

Let no one say this is not our business to interfere with Great Britain in this matter. Decidedly, it is our affair...
Subsequently, Great Britain became the trustee - mark you, the trustee - for 52 nations of the League of Nations in establishing a Jewish national home in Palestine. We must not forget that in 1922 a joint congressional resolution favoring the establishment of a Jewish home for the Jewish people in Palestine was adopted unanimously, and we must not forget that in 1924 a special treaty between England and the United States gave special significance and sanction to the mandate for Palestine... This is ample reason, if there were no humanitarian ones, for us to actively and energetically insist that Great Britain abrogate the British White Paper...

...Let me say in conclusion that literally thousands of my constituents in Connecticut, both Jew and gentile, have urged me to lend assistance to any action that might speed the day when Palestine would once more be a haven for the Jew...˝

The resolution is adopted following a short discussion. However, in March, the War Department will request Congress to shelve it temporarily to avoid stirring up Arab unrest in light of wartime considerations.