I was a freshman Congressman and being a freshman I was up on the 5th floor of
the old House Office Building. And somehow or the other, Peter Bergson found
his way up to my office, my remote office. And he came in and I don't--he must
have had an appointment, I don't remember the exact details. But I do recall
sitting down there and talking to him about the Jewish position in Europe.
Now I knew a fair amount about it because it had been in the papers. We knew
the Jews were under attack, the Germans were killing them, the Poles were
throwing them out, and all this kind of thing was going on. But I was just like
anybody else--all right, what could I do about it? I couldn't do anything about
it.
Peter Bergson stimulated me, I think more than that., I think he stimulated my
wife and she began to talk about it, and I began to talk about it. And I began
to be more interested. And then when he had a meeting I tried to avoid any
meeting with him if I could help it. I didn't want to be in public making
speeches but slowly it dawned on me that it was my duty to go out and speak
against the destruction of the Jews.
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