October 6, 1943: The Rabbis' March

October 6, 1943: A group of over 400 Jewish rabbis march on Washington, to protest American inaction against Nazi Germany's Holocaust. It was the only such protest in Washington during the entirety of the Third Reich.

It was organized by Hillel Kook, nephew of the chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, and head of the Bergson Group. (Kook used the name "Peter Bergson" as a codename while aiding the rebels who would help Mandatory Palestine become the State of Israel in 1948.) Most of the rabbis were members of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, and came mostly from the Eastern U.S.

The rabbis were received at steps of the Capitol by the Senate Majority Leader, Alben Barkley of Kentucky; the Senate Minority Leader, Charles McNary of Oregon; and the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn of Texas. Then they marched to the White House, hoping to speak to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but were told that he was busy all day. Instead, they met with Vice President Henry Wallace.

It was later learned that Roosevelt had several free hours that afternoon, but had avoided meeting the delegation, out of concern regarding diplomatic neutrality and on the advice of some of his Jewish aides and several prominent American Jews, many of whom thought the protest would stir up anti-Semitism. Both Rabbi Stephen Wise, head of the World Jewish Congress, and Samuel Rosenman, a longtime FDR advisor and speechwriter, and head of the American Jewish Committee, claimed that the protesting rabbis, many of whom were both Orthodox, as well as recent immigrants or first-generation Americans, "were not representative of American Jewry," and not the kind of Jews he should meet.

In the November 1943 issue of his journal Opinion, Wise referred to the march as a "painful and even lamentable exhibition," calling it "propaganda by stunts," and accused the rabbis of offending the dignity of the Jewish people.

After the establishment of the State of Israel, Rabbi Kook served in the Parliament, the Knesset, from 1949 to 1951. He lived until 2001.

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October 6, 1943 was a Wednesday. Football was in midweek. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And it was too early for the NHL season to start. There was only one score on this historic day. It came in Game 2 of the World Series, at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees, 4-3.

Robert Cooper died that morning. Word reached his sons, Cardinal pitcher Mort Cooper and Cardinal catcher Walker Cooper. They played anyway, as Mort was scheduled to start. The Cards got home runs from Marty Marion and Ray Sanders, and led 4-1 going to the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees mounted a comeback, but it fell just short.

The winning pitcher, Mort took the next available train home. He would not have pitched again until Game 5, which would be in St. Louis, across the State of Missouri from the Coopers' hometown of Atherton, outside Kansas City. Walker stayed with the Cardinals. Game 2 turned out to be the only game the Cardinals won in that Series, as the Yankees avenged their loss to the Cardinals the year before.