Jerusalem, May 27, 2008 – An exhibition, 'Truman and Israel: Behind the Decision', will open this week at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The exhibition marks sixty years since the establishment of the State of Israel and U.S. President Harry S. Truman's decision to recognize the newly established State, and forty years since the founding of the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace.

On May 14, 1948, President Harry S. Truman announced that the United States would offer de facto recognition of the new State of Israel. His announcement – only eleven minutes after the formation of the new Israeli government – gave immediate legitimacy to a country that existed only on paper and in the hearts of the world's Jewish community.

His decision was one of the most difficult of his presidency, with many of his staff and his Cabinet opposing it. This exhibition examines his decision through his own letters and handwritten diary entries, through correspondence he had with his Jewish friends, and through the recollections and oral histories of people around him who were in one way or another involved in the decision making process.

Photos, text and documents from the Truman Library collection are used to describe the historical background of the creation of Israel, World War I, the British Mandate, World War II, the relocation of European Jews and other displaced persons, and the United Nations' debates on a partition for Palestine.

The exhibition takes a close look at the debate that erupted in Washington over the recognition of the new State of Israel. Part of the exhibition features a video program in which President Truman describes in his own words the issues with which he grappled while establishing his policy on the Jewish homeland. Other material features an account by Eddie Jacobson, a close friend of President Truman, of his crucial meeting with the President in the Oval office when he finally convinced him to meet with Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann.

Text and photographs detail the immediate aftermath of the President's decision, from the near-defection in protest of the United States' delegation to the United Nations to the armed confrontation between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The exhibition, which was curated by the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum, is open for one week from Thursday, May 29 until Thursday, June 5 at the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus. Opening hours are: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For further information, contact:

Rebecca Zeffert, Dept. of Media Relations, the Hebrew University, tel: 02-588-1641, cell: 054 882 0661

or Orit Sulitzeanu, Hebrew University spokesperson, tel: 02-5882910, cell: 054 882 0016. 

Internet site: http://media.huji.ac.il

Rebecca Zeffert

Foreign Press Liaison

Dept. of Media Relations

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Tel: +972 (0)2-588 1641

Cell: +972 (0)54 882 0661

E-mail: rebeccaz@savion.huji.ac.il

www.huji.ac.il

http://media.huji.ac.il