Hiram Bingham's Posthumous Award for "Constructive Dissent"
The
following is an interesting piece of evidence about the unfortunate behavior of
the Roosevelt administration toward Jews during WW II.
Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a posthumous award for "constructive
dissent" to Hiram (Harry) Bingham IV.
For over fifty years, the U.S. State Department resisted any attempt to honor
Bingham. For them, he was an insubordinate member of the US diplomatic service
and a dangerous maverick who was eventually demoted.
Now, after his death, he has been officially recognized as a hero.
Harry Bingham came from an illustrious family. His father (on whom the
fictional character Indiana Jones was based) was the archaeologist who
unearthed the Inca City of Machu Picchu, Peru in 1911.
Harry entered the US diplomatic service and in 1939 was posted to Marseilles,
France, as American Vice-Consul.
The USA was then neutral and, not wishing to annoy Marshal Petain's puppet
Vichy regime, President Roosevelt's government ordered its representatives in
Marseilles not to grant visas to any Jews.
Bingham found this policy immoral and, risking his career, did all in his
power to undermine it.
In defiance of his bosses in Washington, he granted over 2500 US visas to
Jewish and other refugees, including the artists Marc Chagall and Max Ernst and
the family of the writer Thomas Mann.
He also sheltered Jews in his Marseilles home and obtained forged identity
papers to help Jews in their dangerous journeys across Europe.
He worked with the French underground to smuggle Jews out of France into
Franco's Spain or across the Mediterranean and even contributed to their
expenses out of his own pocket.
In 1941, Washington lost patience with him. He was sent to Argentina,
where later he continued to annoy his superiors by reporting on the movements of
Nazis there.
Eventually, he was forced out of the American diplomatic service completely.
Bingham died almost penniless in 1988.
Little was known of his extraordinary activities until his son found some
letters in his belongings after his death. He has now been honored by many
groups and organizations including the United Nations and the State of Israel