Historical Events

During the 1930s, an estimated 400,000 to 1,000,000 Mexican nationals and American citizens of Mexican descent from throughout the United States were deported or “repatriated” to Mexico.

After months of public debate about whether the US should send a team to the "Nazi Olympics," the AAU narrowly voted against a boycott of the Games.

In the weeks after Kristallnacht, Coughlin defended Nazi antisemitic violence, arguing it was justified as retaliation for Soviet persecution of Christians.

On February 20, 1939, the pro-Nazi German American Bund drew more than 20,000 people to a rally in Madison Square Garden.

Rejected by segregationist Daughters of the American Revolution, Marian Anderson performs before an audience of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial.

The St. Louis was forced to leave Havana harbor. As the ship traveled up the Florida coast, passengers anxiously plead for refuge in the United States.

Senator Robert Wagner withdrew support for his own bill after opponents amended it to maintain the existing immigration quota.

The law required men between 21-35 to register with local draft boards.

The United States Committee for the Care of European Children organized one of the largest American efforts to aid refugee children during World War II.

Demanding equal access to defense jobs and desegregation of the military, A. Philip Randolph launched the March on Washington Movement.

Despite strong protests from isolationists, the Lend-Lease Act passed both houses of Congress by wide margins.

The famous aviator blamed Jews, British, and the Roosevelt administration as war agitators.

Executive Order 9066 authorized removal of Japanese Americans from designated military zones on the West Coast and their detention in internment camps.

Allied governments issued a declaration promising retribution for the murder of European Jews.

The dramatic pageant "We Will Never Die" premieres before an audience of 40,000 at Madison Square Garden to raise public awareness of the mass murder of European Jews.

President Roosevelt issued an executive order to provide relief and rescue for Jews in Europe.

President Roosevelt calls for a “free port” for refugees at Fort Ontario in Oswego, NY.

In his book, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, Raphael Lemkin invents a new word, “genocide,” to describe the coordinated, planned destruction of a national group.

President Roosevelt talks to war-weary Americans about their role in establishing a lasting peace.

The Truman Directive did not increase immigration quotas, but it required that existing quotas be filled by displaced persons.

These are noteworthy articles about Holocaust-era events that fall outside the parameters of the listed events.