Harold L. Ickes

Harold LeClair Ickes

Harold LeClair Ickes (born March 15, 1874 in Frankstown Township , Pennsylvania , † February 3, 1952 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician who served as Secretary of the Interior in the US cabinet from 1933 to 1946 .

Ickes graduated from the University of Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1897 and then worked as a newspaper reporter for the Chicago Record and later for the Chicago Tribune . In 1907, he was a doctor of law doctorate .

His political career began with the Republicans before 1912, the Progressive Party of Theodore Roosevelt joined.

In 1933 he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Franklin D. Roosevelt . He held this position until 1946. The Ickes Mountains , a mountain range in Antarctica , are named after him .

Settlement of Jews in Alaska

In 1940, as Roosevelt's Minister of the Interior , Ickes submitted a motion to Congress, which was rejected, to resettle Jews endangered by Germany's anti-Semitic policies in Alaska for humanitarian reasons in view of the expulsion of Jews from Germany. The basic idea of ​​the plan was to settle the Jewish refugees on what was then the territory of Alaska for a limited time , so that they could return after the war. This failed initiative is the basis of the novel "The Union of Yiddish Police Officers" by Michael Chabon.

Web links

Commons : Harold L. Ickes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Harold L. Ickes in the nndb (English)
• Harold L. Ickes at the University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs (English)
• Newspaper article about Harold L. Ickes in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ What are the Jews doing in Alaska, Mr. Chabon? FAZ 2008.
2. ↑ Michael Chabon: The Association of Yiddish Police Officers. Novel. Retrieved June 3, 2020 .