WI: The SS Saint Joseph is weclomed in America

What would be the imediate after effects of President Roosevelt, and the sitting Congress in 1940 agreeing to allow the passengers of the MS Saint Louis to enter the U.S> and have political asylum eventually allowing them to become naturalized citizens?
 
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What would be the imediate after effects of President Roosevelt, and the sitting Congress in 1940 agreeing to allow the passengers of the SS Saint Joseph to enter the U.S> and have political asylum eventually allowing them to become naturalized citizens?

Sorry, what? This isn't ringing any bells.
 
In 1940, a ship carrying refugees from Nazi Germany left Europe and pettitioned for admittance to Cuba, then the Bahamas, then the U.S. they were denied entry in ever case and had to return to Nazi controlled Europe.

Hitler used that to claim that he had every right to do the Holocaust because "No one wants these Untermenschen, not even the so-called liberty loving AMericans."

What if we let them in and gave them asylum?
 
Ah, I see. I think you meant the MS Saint Louis. Anyways, not much happens in the big picture. Some of those passengers who had to settle for asylum in countries overrun by Germany IOTL certainly died under the Nazi regime, and for them the improvement is clear. But in terms of history or the outcome of the war, such small numbers wouldn't have much of an impact.
 
Then few more ships show up and eventually one of them is turned back. After that it goes more or less as per OTL. Hitler really did not feel any need to find additional excuses for Holocaust, beyond his ravings.
 
Ah, I see. I think you meant the MS Saint Louis. Anyways, not much happens in the big picture. Some of those passengers who had to settle for asylum in countries subsequently overrun by Germany IOTL certainly died under the Nazi regime, and for them the improvement is clear. But in terms of history or the outcome of the war, such small numbers wouldn't have much of an impact.

THAT's the one, THANK YOU, yes. I realize that, but what I am reffering to is, would that have had any effect later perhaps as a precedent for the reaction to the Holocaust.

AMerica letting Jewish and Gypsy and other reffugees come in and other countries telling them to move on.
 
A precedent? Such as the UK telling the USA, "We're not letting them into Palestine. You've taken them in before, why don't you do it yourself?" That earns a response from the USA along the lines of, "We let one ship in. One. That doesn't make us a refugee camp." Not really much of a precedent at all.
Ok, it would hopefully be couched in more mature terms, but that's the idea, I think.
 
In retrospect, it appears that the Dominican Republic was the only country led by a truly humanitarian government. Would the Congress risk their golf club memberships?
 
A precedent? Such as the UK telling the USA, "We're not letting them into Palestine. You've taken them in before, why don't you do it yourself?" That earns a response from the USA along the lines of, "We let one ship in. One. That doesn't make us a refugee camp." Not really much of a precedent at all.
Ok, it would hopefully be couched in more mature terms, but that's the idea, I think.

OK,

BUT,

What if we DID let in the postwar Jewish refugees?

I know that smells like ASB, but what effect would THAT have?
 
What exactly do you mean by postwar? I was under impression those who wanted to come to USA after the war, did. Mostly those opposed to Zionism. Or do you mean post World War I? If you mean that, I think it was the period of backlash against receiving more immigrants. So it would take some really major political changes to USA to make this possible, IMHO.
 
OK,

BUT,

What if we DID let in the postwar Jewish refugees?

I know that smells like ASB, but what effect would THAT have?

It's a thread that's been done before, I'm pretty sure. Many did come to the US, of course, but if you're talking about all those who eventually left Europe IOTL and ended up in Israel, then I'd say that's an awful lot of refugees to absorb in a generation. Unlikely, though NOT ASB by definition. It would certainly give rise to a wave of the same sorts of ethnic tensions and unrest that have accompanied every other wave of immigration here, only on a very grand scale. It might put off or simply butterfly away the foundation of Israel, which would be a very big impact of course.

But you have to answer the question: Why would the Zionists behind emigration from Europe prefer entering the USA to having their own home in what they considered God's Promised Land?
 
It's a thread that's been done before, I'm pretty sure. Many did come to the US, of course, but if you're talking about all those who eventually left Europe IOTL and ended up in Israel, then I'd say that's an awful lot of refugees to absorb in a generation. Unlikely, though NOT ASB by definition. It would certainly give rise to a wave of the same sorts of ethnic tensions and unrest that have accompanied every other wave of immigration here, only on a very grand scale. It might put off or simply butterfly away the foundation of Israel, which would be a very big impact of course.

But you have to answer the question: Why would the Zionists behind emigration from Europe prefer entering the USA to having their own home in what they considered God's Promised Land?
,.....I got nuthin. (Shrug)
 
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