Excerpt from Address of Herbert Hoover: Before the Polish Convention in Buffalo, N. Y. On November 12th, 1919 States, have out of sympathy for, your been constant in contribution and moral support to those leaders for Polish independence who entered War saw in triumph in January this year. You have contributed not only your resources, but your sons to this great thing. America has still another great link of sympathy with Poland. One of those two great Poles who now lead the Polish people, lived many years in the United States and his inspira tion and vision of government arise from our institutions. Thus it comes that one of the two great men who have been the build ers of the freedom of Poland is an Ameri can citizen. These two great men, Fadere wski and Pilsudzki, are today two of the greatest figures that have emerged from this war. They have the abilities, the courage and resolution of constructive statesmanship. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Between 1897 and 1933 the presidents of the United States joined progressive reformers in redefining the concept of the United States as a melting pot. Their use of this metaphor to describe assimilation never meant that immigrants had to completely abandon their ethnic cultures. Instead, they argued that the melting pot blended the best of the immigrants traits and traditions to create a new American race united by patriotism and committed to liberal political and economic ideals. While nativists regarded new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe as incapable of assimilation, the presidents celebrated immigrant contributions to America and emphasized the need to improve immigrants' lives through education, resettlement away from urban ghettoes, and economic uplift. The president's speeches, letters, and administrative records reveal consistent support for the melting pot model as an alternative to nativist racism. While McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft and Wilson supported the exclusion of racial aliens and those with mental or physical illness, they repeatedly praised the new immigrants for embracing American ideals while maintaining their ethnic cultures. They argued that everyone should be judged by their moral character rather than their ancestry. World War I raised fears of disloyal aliens that Roosevelt and Wilson heightened by denouncing hyphenated Americans. Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover continued to use melting pot rhetoric, however, rather than endorsing coercive assimilation. The melting pot legacy lives on, and still offers a middle ground between the demands for national unity and multiculturalism.

Herbert Hoover and Poland is the first of a series of documentaries stemming largely from the Hoover Institution archives and published by Hoover Institution Press. It unfolds a hitherto little-known chapter of America's manifold involvement in Poland's well-being and independence - perhaps the most important link in the two-hundred-year friendship between the two freedom-loving nations. -- From dust jacket.