Dr. Rafael Medoff

Herbert Hoover and the Jews: the Origins of the "Jewish Vote" and Bipartisan Support for Israel Dr. Rafael Medoff

Although Herbert Hoover is not remembered as having had much interaction with Jews or interest in issue of Jewish concern, he in fact played a significant role in aiding Jewish communities devastated by World War One and pogroms; supported the cause of a Jewish state despite pressure from his own State Department; actively promoted the rescue of Jews from the Holocaust; and played a key part in the emergence of the "Jewish vote" in American politics and bipartisan support for Israel. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Dr. Sonja Schoepf Wentling is associate professor of history at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. A Herbert Hoover Presidential Fellow, Class of 1997-1998, she has written about U. S. foreign policy, Zionism, and East European Jewish history for numerous scholarly journals, including the Journal of World History, the Journal of American Ethnic History, American Jewish History, and American Jewish Archives. Dr. Rafael Medoff is founding director of The David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies. A Herbert Hoover Presidential Fellow, Class of 1988-1989, he is author or editor of fourteen books on American Jewish history, Zionism, and the Holocaust, including 'Jewish Americans and Political Participation,' which was named an "Outstanding Academic Title of 2003" by the American Library Association's Choice Magazine.