“Yearning to Breathe Free” (1938-1942)

In 1939, two senators introduced a bill to help refugee children enter the United States. It was backed by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt – and opposed by the American Legion, the Daughters of the American Revolution and the American Coalition of Patriotic Societies. But no group was more adamantly opposed to admitting Jewish refugees than the German American Bund, led by the “American Fuhrer.”

After the Germans occupied northern France, Susan and Joseph made their way from Versailles to the Chateau des Morelles, a home for Jewish children separated from their parents. Their father had gotten himself, his wife and youngest boy to the United States. But, when Susan and Joseph finally arrived at Ellis Island to join them, only their father was there to greet them.

In 1940, American public opinion for providing aid to Britain was slowly starting to change. Charles Lindbergh became the chief spokesman for a new isolationist organization dedicated to keeping America out of the war – the America First Committee. Founded by a handful of students at the Yale Law School, it soon became the largest anti-war organization in the history of the United States.