Want An Eleanor Roosevelt Letter Defending Israel? Bidding Starts At $22,500.
(JTA) — A 1957 letter written by Eleanor Roosevelt in which the former first lady vigorously defends Israel’s actions during the Suez Crisis is being auctioned off.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions in Los Angeles will start the bidding on Thursday at $22,500.
The letter, written on her personal “Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt” letterhead, responds directly to criticism of her newspaper column “My Day,” in which she defends Israel’s actions in the 1956 crisis. It is addressed to Tom Dietrich of Brooklyn.
Roosevelt wrote: “If you follow step by step in the UN and understand the difficulties, you will realize that Israel was not an aggressor. The Charter of the UN allows self defense and Israel’s case was purely one of self defense. / I do not agree with you about the establishment of the state of Israel. The Israelis have a right to their land and I think it is nonsense to suppose that they plan to plunge us into a war. They want peace as much, if not more, than other nations. / We lead in the United Nations, so it would not be a case of our falling for any plot.”
The auction catalog calls the two-page letter an “exceptional letter, with rare content by the First Lady showing her commitment and refusal to equivocate on the state of Israel.”
Contact Haley Cohen at [email protected]
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30