Samuel Breckinridge Long

Samuel Breckinridge Long was born to William Strudwick Long and Margaret Miller Breckinridge in 1881. Though the Civil War was over before he was born, his parents considered themselves part of the Confederate aristocracy. Even though there were no royals in America, his parents came as close as it got.

His parents sent him to Princeton University where he graduated in 1904. Then attended Washington University School of Law and graduated in 1906. Soon after, he became a successful lawyer.

As was the case of most elites of his day, he was a eugenicist who worked for Woodrow Wilson, the president who segregated the government, including military. Wilson appointed him Third Assistant Secretary of State as a reward for his help in getting him elected and having the right racial views.

Wilson was a well-known racist who surrounded himself with known racists. There was no one he appointed who did not share his views, including the future president, Franklin Roosevelt, who was appointed Wilson’s Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913.

According to Wikipedia on Breckinridge Long:

“He was credited with drafting Woodrow Wilson’s “He kept us out of war” slogan, which helped secure Wilson’s reelection as President in 1916.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breckinridge_Long

Breckenridge Long went on to serve another president, Franklin Roosevelt without either of them changing their views on eugenics. Roosevelt never removed a single racist law from the books. He never ended segregation in the military, despite being at war and needing all the able bodies America could get.

In 1933, as a reward, Roosevelt made Breckinridge Long the Ambassador to Italy, where he served until 1936. While ambassador, he served well enough to be rewarded with a spot at State Department.

Long took over the Visa Division, which was already notorious for refusing Jewish pleas for help. Some people waited over a decade and never heard back from anyone. Despite the known horrors happening to the Jewish people, the Roosevelt Administration actively worked to keep Jewish people, including children, from getting to the United States.

From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Breckinridge Long:

“By the time Long rejoined the State Department, more than 300,000 people born in Germany—mostly Jews—had joined a waiting list for an American immigration visa. At the time, immigration was limited by the applicant’s country of birth. A maximum of 27,370 people born in Germany were allowed to immigrate to the United States each year, so by September 1939, anyone joining this list might have had to wait more than ten years for their name to come up. The US immigration quota from Germany was filled for the first time in 1939 and almost filled in 1940. During all other years of Nazi rule (1933–1945) the quota was not filled, and the laws governing the visa process were not adjusted to meet the enormous demand.”

https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/breckinridge-long

Breckinridge Long was directly responsible for keeping as many Jewish people out of the United States as he could, which is what Roosevelt wanted. Despite the massive suffering of Jewish people of all ages, Breckinridge Long refused to act to save lives.

When the Wagner-Rogers Bill came up in 1939, which would have saved 20,000 Jewish children of German birth, neither Roosevelt nor Breckinridge Long did anything to support the bill. They callously allowed children to die, since they were just as racist as Hitler.

From the Jewish Virtual Library, Rabbis March on Washington:

“In early 1939, in response to the Kristallnacht pogrom, U.S. Senator Robert Wagner (D-New York) and Rep. Edith Rogers (R-Massachusetts) introduced legislation to admit 20,000 German–presumably Jewish–children to the United States, outside America’s strict immigration quotas.”

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/wagner-rogers-bill

The Wagner-Rogers Bill drew wide support from several walks of life and both major political parties, including former Republican President Hoover, who initiated quotas prior to Hitler coming to power. It did not have the support of Roosevelt or Breckinridge Long. They would rather 20,000 Jewish children parish than bring a single one to the United States.

Also from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Breckinridge Long:

“In January 1944, US Treasury Department officials discovered Long’s efforts to suppress information about the Holocaust. These officials successfully petitioned Roosevelt to create the War Refugee Board and announce a new US policy of relief and rescue for Jews and other victims of Nazism. Approximately five million Jewish victims of the Nazi regime had already been murdered at this point. Long was removed from supervision of the Visa Division, and eleven months later, he resigned from the State Department.”

https://exhibitions.ushmm.org/americans-and-the-holocaust/personal-story/breckinridge-long

Breckinridge Long was one of the most influential people who answered to Roosevelt. They shared the same anti-Semitic views of the Jewish people and belief in racially based laws developed under the Wilson Administration.

For some eugenicists, the holocaust opened their eyes and realized just how wrong they were. Breckinridge Long was not one of those people. He tried to coverup the holocaust to prevent Americans from knowing the truth.

Breckinridge Long died in 1958 an unapologetic anti-Semite who cost countless lives of Jewish people of all ages. He was directly responsible for refusing visas and put up every obstacle he could to prevent as many Jewish people from entering the United States as he could.