McDonald, James Grover

Birth Name McDonald, James Grover [1]
Call Name James
Gender male
Age at Death 78 years

Events

Event Date Place Description Notes Sources
Birth 1886 Coldwater, Ohio, United States of America  

 
Education   Harvard University, Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States of America  

 
Occupation 1033 League of Nations, Genève, canton de Genève, Suisse James G. McDonald served as the High Commissioner for Refugees

Event Note

In 1933, James G. McDonald was assigned by the League of Nations to run the Commission for Refugees coming from Germany.
In 1935, James G. McDonald resigned his position as High Commissioner for Refugees, because of the international community’s failure to address the refugee problem.

Event Note

James Grover McDonald was so convinced that the Jews were marked for destruction in Germany that he appealed to the international community to help settle them outside the Reich but had very little success.
Deborah Lipstadt cites: "McDonald, unlike many of his contemporaries, tried to make a difference in what would become a unique story of doom and destruction."

Event Note

In 1938, James G. McDonald was named Chairman of Roosevelt’s Presidential Advisory Committee on Political Refugees.

Person Note

In November, 1938, n a private conversation, President Franklin Roosevelt told refugee advocate, James G. McDonald, the United States might contribute to an international fund to resettle the Jews.
The President said that “when practical plans emerge” in which “other governments and private agencies participate,” then “an appropriation by Congress might be conceivable.”
President Roosevelt spoke of a $400 million resettlement budget, of which the United States might contribute $150 million.

 
Occupation June, 1948   James G. McDonald was appointed First United States Ambassador to Israel

[2]
Death 1964    

 

Source References

  1. Refugees and Rescue: The Diaries and Papers of James G. McDonald, 1935-1945
  2. My Mission In Israel 1948-1951

Pedigree

    1. McDonald, James Grover