The Judge and the President - How the American Zionist movement began

Abstract

With the release of Theodor Herzl s The Jewish State in 1896, Zionism became a political movement with a clear goal; a Jewish homeland. The desire first arose in Europe, but soon American Jews followed suit. The American Zionist movement was riddled with internal strife from the get-go, and it took the involvement of the People s Attorney , Louis D. Brandeis, and his friendship with the American President, Woodrow Wilson, to unite the American Zionists, at least for a little while. President Wilson quickly endorsed the Balfour Declaration, largely because of his friendship with Brandeis. This thesis is about the period between 1897 and 1930, and the main focus is on Louis D. Brandeis and the impact his leadership and his friendship with President Wilson had on the American Zionist movement.