An excerpt from an article by Rafael Medoff:
At one point during the Yalta conference, in February 1945, the conversation between President Roosevelt and Soviet premier Josef Stalin turned to what was known, in those days, as the "Jewish problem". FDR mentioned he would soon be seeing Saudi Arabian leader Ibn Saud, and Stalin asked if he intended to make any concessions to the king. According to the transcript, “The President replied that there was only one concession he thought he might offer and that was to give him the six million Jews in the United States.”
Professors Breitman and Lichtman, in 'FDR and the Jews', say that this "quip," as they call it, was likewise used by FDR as "an ice-breaker." (p.301)
(Assistant Secretary of State Walter Bedell Smith was so concerned it would be seen as more than a "quip" that he censored that sentence when the Yalta transcripts were first released in 1955. The full text eventually leaked out, however.)
...the "ice-breaker" claim is not supported by the historical record. The Yalta conference lasted a week. The transcripts show that Roosevelt made his "quip" about Jews on the next to last day, long after the ice was broken...
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