Who was Hiram Bingham and why did he get a US stamp?

This is an interesting story I recently came across. These words are not my own but that of Jack Siegel from his original post ...

Just an interesting piece of evidence of the 

curious behavior of the Roosevelt administration toward the Jews during WWII. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a posthumous award for "constructive dissent" to Hiram (or Harry) Bingham, IV. For over fifty years, the State Department resisted any attempt to honor Bingham. For them he was an insubordinate member of the US diplomatic service, a dangerous maverick who was eventually demoted. Now, after his death, he has been officially recognized as a hero.

Bingham came from an illustrious family. His father (whom the fictional character Indiana Jones was based) was the archeologist 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 and because of rampant anti-semitism of certain State Department officials, including Assistant Secretary of State Breckenridge Long, illegally (and without the knowledge of President Roosevelt) ordered its representatives and consuls in Europe, including Marseilles, Lisbon, Zurich et al, 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 2,500 USA 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, Washingt2on lost patience with him. He was sent to Argentina , where later he continued to annoy his superiors by reporting on the movements of Nazi war criminals.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.

For photos and additional reading on his rise and controversial career, check out this piece in the Smithsonian Mag: Saving the Jews of Nazi France

Strange Diplomacy

Originally posted 13 February 2007:

So a big story in the international news this week has been the six nation deal reached between North Korea, USA, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia for the North to disarm their nuclear & atomic weapons research and development program. Laced with heavy energy-packed, incentive-based compensations for North Korea, and although it doesn't involved dismantling any of the nuclear weapons Pyongyang already has developed - the deal is being promoted as a multilateral diplomatic success and an important step in diffusing hostilities in the region.

And it should be. But while I'm not one to normally criticize an agreement designed to reduce the profileration of these weapons of mass destruction, one of the US concessions struck me as somewhat odd. In part of the agreement that involves the USA and North Korea working towards normalizing their diplomatic relations with each other, the USA has agreed to take steps to remove North Korea from its list of terror-sponsoring states. Now it's not hard to see how this must be a necessary part of improving diplomatic ties between the two countries, but removing North Korea from the list of terror-sponsoring states for this reason has nothing to do with them actually not sponsoring terrorist activities!! Please anyone correct me if my logic is off here - but in a post-911 world where the USA of all countries appears fanatically obsessed with terror related issues, it seems quite strange to me that this would be a concession that they would agree to.

Anyways, the agreement is still conditional for another 60 days while the UN's weapon inspectors do their thing & the teeth of this deal and committment of participants really show itself ... after then we'll get a clearer picture of how things will unfold. Moving on to how this might affect things in other parts of the world - regardless of the specific details of the agreement, however, the Bush Administration has shown the world that they are capable of engaging in diplomatic pressure to stop a nuclear R&D program in a country named as one of their adversaries. If North Korea holds up their end of the bargain for the foreseeable future and this deal proves to actually be successfull in its objectives, I wonder how much pressure President Bush & Co will increasingly be under to shift their seemingly hostile policy toward Iran's declared nuclear energy program to a more moderate and engaging one.

--This photo of delegates to the six nation talks was taken by Michael Reynolds & Andrew Wong for the International Herald Tribune.