May 1948-When Harry Truman Told The State Department to STICK IT
The first country to recognize the State of Israel was the United States. That recognition almost didn’t happen. It was by the will of the President, Harry Truman, that the UN Partition Plan was implemented. Throughout the months leading up to May 1948, the president made his wishes clear, he wanted a Homeland for the Jewish People, not because of political reasons, but because it was the right and moral thing to do.
The Secretary of State who Truman called the greatest living American, was just as opposed to the creation of the nascent Jewish state as the president was opposed to it. Officials in the State Department had done everything in their power to prevent, thwart, or delay the President’s Palestine policy in 1947 and 1948 (some things NEVER change). The President’s policy eventually won out
Below is Clifford’s retelling of the story of America’s Recognition of Israel: