In 1911, the American Jewish Committee (AJC) led a nationwide campaign to abrogate or terminate our commercial treaty with Russia that had been in place. Despite the resistance of the administration of President William Howard Taft and the reality that terminating the treaty would hurt America more than Russia, the AJC was able to whip the public into a frenzy over what was in reality a relatively obscure issue, and force the hand of the Taft Administration. While the committee failed to achieve any real improvements in the plight of Russian Jews or even arouse any significant protest movements against Russia in other countries, they showed the power of minority battles for specific causes.
In my last post, I explored the diplomacy of Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia (and future president) James Buchanan in 1831 that led to the signing of a commercial treaty with Russia. In that year, President Andrew Jackson appointed Mr. Buchanan and instructed him to negotiate a commercial treaty with Russia. The Treaty of Navigation and Commerce between the United States of America and Russia was concluded on the Emperor's birthday, December 18th, 1832 in St. Petersburg, and was ratified on May 11, 1833. The treaty remained in effect for 79 years, until it was unilaterally abrogated by Congress in response to a protest campaign of American Jews over the mistreatment of Jews by the tsarist government in Russia and their refusal to issue entry visas to American citizens of Jewish faith.
In the late 19th century, Russia had large-scale anti-Jewish programs and policies that left the people poor and desolate. By the end of the century, Russia had taken antisemitism one step further by refusing to issue passports to American Jews. This was not only a violation of the 1832 treaty, but it was a religious inquisition repugnant to the American people and an attack on our sacred principle of freedom of religion. Despite the reality that very few of the two million American Jews planned to visit or reside in Russia the issue resonated with Jewish leaders. In response the American Jewish Committee (AJC) began a campaign to push for the abrogation of the treaty. Led by Louis Marshall and Jacob Schiff, the committee presented Russia's actions in terms of religious discrimination and was able to enlist the sympathy of American citizens. In one famous address, Marshall suggested that if Russia were to announce that it would not honor the passport of an American citizen who is "an Episcopalian or a Presbyterian, a Methodist, or a Roman Catholic, our country would not look upon this breach of treaty obligation as a mere insult to the Episcopalians or the Presbyterians, the Methodists or the Roman Catholics of this country, but would justly treat it as a blow inflicted upon every man who holds dear the title of American citizen".
The campaign had a slow start in the early 1900's, but during the 1908 presidential elections, the awareness of Russia's treatment towards American Jews had its first uptick. Jewish leaders put pressure on both parties to get a more positive commitment on the passport question. President Taft promised that he and the Republican party would "make every proper endeavor" to abolish the restriction on passports to Jewish Americans. Taft promised to put pressure on Russia to change, but had no plans to abrogate the treaty with Russia. In fact, during Taft's first two years of his presidency, the AJC became restless over the administration to even live up to that promise. The disconnect between Taft and the AJC reached a peak in May of 1910 when the state department put out a memorandum reporting that the situation of Russian Jewry was relatively calm and that the Russian minister had requested a relaxation of any restrictions. The Departments memorandum included a warning to American Jews that putting pressure on Russia to lift their restriction on travel for American Jews could backfire and lead to additional hostilities and even massacres of native Jews in Russia. The AJC retorted that the State Department's information was wrong and that they were willing to take the risk of massacres. The AJC publicly announced, that if Russia persisted in her discrimination, then the United States should terminate the 1832 treaty.
The fight for abrogation now entered a new stage with the public assuming a more active role in the fight for abrogation. Throughout 1910, the committee worked on two levels. On one level, the committee continued to put private pressure on both Congress and administration members, and on the other level they launched a major publicity campaign to change popular opinion in favor of terminating the 1832 treaty. The committee's hope was that public opinion would push one or more of the candidates in the 1912 presidential election to make a pledge to terminate the treaty. The campaign relied heavily on newspaper and magazine articles written by well-known journalists. Their anti-Russian pieces appeared in major newspapers like the New York Times and the Outlook. When agencies such as the Associated Press published pro-Russian news stories and opinion pieces, the committee started a campaign of criticism to label them as "improper" news. The Committee also encouraged pro-abrogation rallies in major cities under the auspices of the National Citizens Committee with very distinguished speakers such as Woodrow Wilson and William Randolph Hearst. By 1911, the campaign was in high gear and petitions to pressure Congress mounted rapidly. As public opinion was rapidly changing, President William Howard Taft drafted his 1911 State of the Union. Under pressure from a delegation of Jews whom met with Taft and his Secretary of State Philander C. Knox, the president promised that if Congress would approve abrogation by congressional resolution he would not intervene. Taft still would not support abrogation, but this was a major shift in his administration.
On December 5th, 1911 President Taft delivered his State of the Union Address. In his message, he did not push for abrogation of the treaty, but did recognize that Russia was interfering in the "full recognition of the rights of American citizens under this treaty". Taft again promised only the continuation of conferences with Russia and expressed his expectation that he would have additional information immediately after the Christmas recess". To Congress, these words must have seemed out of touch with reality. Just one day earlier, Chairman Sulzer of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs had introduced a resolution to abrogate the treaty.
"By direction of the State Department, our ambassador to Russia has recently been having a series of conferences with the minister of foreign affairs of Russia, with a view to securing a clearer understanding and construction of the treaty of 1832 between Russia and the United States and the modification of any existing Russian regulations which may be found to interfere in any way with the full recognition of the rights of American citizens under this treaty. I believe that the Government of Russia is addressing itself seriously to the need of changing the present practice under the treaty and that sufficient progress has been made to warrant the continuance of these conferences in the hope that there may soon be removed any justification of the complaints of treaty violation now prevalent in this country.
I expect that immediately after the Christmas recess I shall be able to make a further communication to Congress on this subject."
The next day, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 301 to 1 in favor of abrogating the 1832 treaty. Secretary Knox tried to intervene and make one last effort to effect change in Russia. Knox asked Russia to join in a public announcement that they would review their policy towards American Jews and begin talks on a new treaty with the United States. It was too late the damage was done; Russia took abrogation as an insult and refused to consent to any public announcements. Meanwhile, the Senate unanimously endorsed abrogation on December 19th with amendments to terminate the resolution in a more soft-spoken term. The house agreed on December 20th and the Commercial Treaty of Commerce and Navigation was set to terminate on January 1, 1913.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2019). Third Annual Message | The American Presidency Project. [online] Available at: https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/third-annual-message-17 [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
Nytimes.com. (1987). A U.S.-Russian Treaty And Visa Protest in 1911. [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/22/opinion/l-a-us-russian-treaty-and-visa-protest-in-1911-221987.html [Accessed 16 Jul. 2019].
Cohen, Naomi W. “The Abrogation of the Russo-American Treaty of 1832.” Jewish Social Studies, vol. 25, no. 1, 1963, pp. 3–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4465950.
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