January 13, 1922
Nahum Sokolow, serving as the president of the Executive Committee of the World Zionist Congress, meets with President Warren Harding in Washington. During the meeting, Sokolow briefs the president on the wrenching situation of European Jewry and the hardships and persecution that they are suffering. He also details the progress and work being done by the Zionist Organization toward Jewish settlement in Palestine.
The meeting is part of a tour in the United States to raise money for Keren Hayesod (The Foundation Fund) in support of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Arriving in November 1921, the delegation includes Sokolow, Professor Otto Warburg and Vladimir Jabotinsky. They spend nearly eight months traveling across the country, meeting with Jewish and Zionist groups, giving speeches, and meeting with elected officials. The tour raises nearly $5 million for Keren Hayesod.
Early on the tour, in late November 1921, Sokolow met with State Department officials and with Massachusetts Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge. Lodge and New York Congressman Hamilton Fish had been approached by American Zionist leaders to introduce a resolution supporting the Balfour Declaration in Congress.
Sokolow’s meeting with Harding lasts nearly an hour. According to Sokolow’s son and biographer, Florian, Harding “assured him of his sympathy for Zionism and promised the further support of the United States government.” (Sokolow, Florian, Nahum Sokolow: Life and Legend, London: Jewish Chronicle Publications, 1975, p. 190.)
The Lodge-Fish Resolution is passed by Congress on June 30, 1922, and signed by Harding on Sept. 21, 1922. Sokolow goes on to serve as the president of the World Zionist Organization from 1931 to 1935. He dies in London in May 1936. In 1956, Sokolow’s remains are brought to Israel and buried on Mount Herzl as part of the opening of the 24th Zionist Congress.