ABSTRACT
At midnight, May 14–15, 1948, the former British mandate of Palestine proclaimed its existence as the new State of Israel. Slightly more than eight hours later the new state received de facto recognition from the United States in a statement issued by President Truman. The proximity of the two events reflected the keen interest with which the U.S. had followed the long and painful labor which had heralded the birth of the new nation. While official U.S. policy had not always favored Zionist goals (and, indeed, the vacillating nature of that policy had proven exasperating to both friends and foes of Zionism), the prompt recognition extended by President Truman was a great boon to the new country. American Zionists were quite pleased with this turn of events, which seemed to be the fruition of their long campaign to help create a national home for Jews.
