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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). |
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