The Evian Conference

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"And one of the blackest crimes in all history--begun by the Nazis in the days of peace, and multiplied by them a hundred fold in the time of war-- the wholesale systematic murder of the Jews of Europe-- goes on unabated every hour."

Editor's Note: As evidenced in the quote above, which was selected from a press release issued by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1944, the United States was aware of the atrocities of the Holocaust. Roosevelt faced criticism for his failure to welcome Jewish Refugees during the crisis.
One glaring incident occurred in 1938 with FDR's response to the Refugee Conference in Evian, France. Thirty-two countries sent representatives to this conference to discuss refugees. Even though he convened the conference, Roosevelt chose to send a friend and businessman, Myron C. Taylor, not a politician. At the Evian Conference, the United States and other powerful countries like Britain made it clear that they were not willing to accept large numbers of Jewish refugees. The only country that agreed to accept a significant amount of refugees was the Dominican Republic. They only did this in exchange for money.