The Birth of Israel: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of Statehood in 1948
Robert Watson is an award-winning author, professor, historian, and analyst for numerous media outlets. He has published over forty books on history and politics, five works of fiction, and hundreds of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and reference essays. He also serves as the series editor for the scholarly book anthology on the American presidency published by the State University of New York and as the editor of The American Presidents and American First Ladies. He serves as Distinguished Professor of American History, Avron Fogelman Eminent Research Professor, and Director of Project Civitas at Lynn University and as Senior Fellow at the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship.
Overview
The long-awaited moment arrived in 1948. Yet, there was considerable opposition to statehood abroad and the new fledgling state would need not only political credibility around the world, but support from the US, international trading partners, investment, a military, and more. This talk, based on extensive interviews with former aides to Truman and archival research, explores the important and productive relationship between Harry Truman and leaders such as Dr. Chaim Weizmann, Abba Eban, and David Ben-Gurion, with emphasis given to both the political and diplomatic deal-making that occurred behind the scenes and the moral courage demonstrated during that critical decision.