FDR and the S.S. Saint Louis

FDR was a very difficult man to analyze due to the fact that he did not allow records to be kept of his conversations.  At the same time being a politician he was able to talk to many people in a similar manner, Jews received one answer while anti semites heard another.  The result was that there were very few documents concerning FDR's stance upon the Jews and his own speeches were difficult to decipher.  One source claimed that immediately after Germany's invasion of Austria FDR wanted to evacuate all of the Jews from Germany and surrounding areas.  In 1936 FDR was re-elected with an impressive record of local policy but almost no foreign policy, paralleling the wishes of the public.  At the time over 25,000 Germans were allowed to immigrate to the U.S. but due to a little known clause many were denied.  After his reelection FDR instructed the diplomats to stop denying Germans and Jewish immigration increased dramatically.  1938 FDR suggested that Jews leave Europe in fear of a coming war.  One of the Jewish notables of the time however desired a return of the Jewish people to Palestine.  A small movement by a minority of Jews wished for a Jewish homeland outside of Palestine.  After the invasion of Austria FDR wanted to increase immigration by combining the immigration quota of Germany and Austria, but was unable to increase the maximum quota.  To do more FDR began to work to get other countries inside of Europe to accept greater amounts of refugees, he avoided using the term Jew due to the anti semitism throughout Europe.  Most countries were against such immigrations and FDR was limited to trying to negotiate with Nazi Germany to allow greater numbers of Jews leave the country.  At the time Germany had not begun to persecute the Jews and negotiations were seen to be possible.  Due to the policy of the Nazis' of seizing Jews' property the Jews who attempted to leave were commonly seen by other countries to be an economic burden.  Many isolationist also believed that if Nazi Germany could solve its "Jewish Question" war might be able to be averted.  After the "Night of Broken Glass" diplomats were encouraged to speak with their host country and stress the concern of the Jews safety, more commonly than not this failed.  A number of Jews however were able to escape to the Dominican Republic and Bolivia, Bolivia received over 20,000 Jews.
In 1939 there were 300,000 Jews requesting visas to the U.S. but only 27,000 were allowed in annually.  Cuba offered a way around this limit.  FDR met with Baptista, the strongman of Cuba, and attempted to work out a plan to accommodate Jewish refugees.  A number of ships left Europe destined for Cuba with tourist visas.  The Saint Louis was the last of these ships and due to backlash by the Cuban president it was not allowed to land.  The ship was not allowed to dock in port and began to wander around, gaining the attention of the coast guard and media.  At the time there was no idea of political asylum and had the ship docked in the U.S. it would have been denied due to them not possessing visas of any type.  FDR had tried to increase the quota of immigrants but at the time he had a greater priority, to have the neutrality act modified so that if France or England went to war the U.S. could help.  While the ship was not allowed to dock in the U.S. no Jews were sent back to Germany, they all went to other countries and a lucky few were allowed to enter Cuba.  On the other side FDR was able to effectively lobby for the modification of the Neutrality acts.  Over 2/3rds of the passengers of the SS Saint Louis survived.  Between 5,000 to 6,000 Jews were able to escape to Cuba before the Saint Louis.
I feel like I write entirely too much for these posts.