On May 24, 1944, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau spent more than two hours (in two separate sessions) being briefed on Peter Bergson. Contrary to some recent books and articles that argue that Bergson was integral to the formation of the WRB, and met with Morgenthau countless times, Morgenthau has to be reminded at the beginning of this meeting WHO exactly Bergson was, and what his groups were all about. The impetus for these long briefings was the creation of the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation and the debate on how/if the WRB should reaction to this new organization.
Both transcripts are really interesting, but crazy long. I’m showing you the page where Morgenthau really gets to the heart of the matter: “[I]t takes two sessions of two hours to straighten me out. How do you suppose one hundred and thirty odd million people in America can understand this thing?”
