GAROD BOOKS
Henry Morgenthau,
United States Diplomacy on the Bosphorus: The Diaries of Ambassador Morgenthau, 1913-
1916
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Henry Morgenthau, |
The diaries of Henry Morgenthau give us invaluable insights into diplomatic life in Constantinople and Ottoman Turkey at the beginning of the twentieth century. They show how diplomats, government officials, and others interacted and influenced world affairs at a time when the world was in tumult and experienced such momentous developments as the rise of Turkish nationalism, the outbreak of World War I, and the genocide of Ottoman Armenians. Morgenthau is best know today for his stand in defence of Ottoman Armenians, when the Young Turks embarked on the first genocide of the modern era in 1915. Were it not for Morgenthau’s character, the United States would probably have remained a bystander to the Armenian Genocide, rather than adopt a concerted policy of humanitarian intervention on behalf of Armenians. Thousands of Armenians survived the Armenian Genocide because of United States diplomatic pressure and significant material aid to save them. United States Diplomacy on the Bosphorus and its sister publication, United States Official Records on the Armenian Genocide 1915-1917, demonstrate the nature of Morgenthau’s understanding of the Armenian issue and the subsequent actions he took to save victims wherever he could.
FROM THE INTRODUCTION: “The ruin and devastation that is being wrought here is heart-rending. The Government is using its present opportunity while all other countries are at war, to obliterate the Armenian race, and the worst of it is that it is impossible to stop it... The United States as a neutral power have no right to interfere in their internal affairs, and as I receive report after report of the inhuman treatment that the Armenians are receiving, it makes me feel most sad, their lot seems to be very much the same as that of the Jews in Russia, and belonging to a persecuted race myself, I have all the more sympathy with them.” (Quoted from correspondence Henry Morgenthau to Henry Morgenthau Jr., dated Constantinople, 19 July 1915).