Blinken focused particularly on Breckinridge Long, an assistant secretary of state overseeing the issuance of visas during WWII, who made it harder for Jews to flee the Nazis and receive refuge in the United States. According to reports documented by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum, Long intentionally withheld information about the mass killings and lied to Congress about the number of Jewish refugee admittances. He asserted that the State Department was doing everything it could to rescue Jews, when the truth was the opposite.
Even worse, Long didn’t hide what he was doing, nor did he act alone. He wrote government cables affirming a policy to “postpone and postpone and postpone the granting of visas” by putting “every obstacle in the way.” Some at the State Department helped Long draft and implement these policies. Others watched silently, their inaction demonstrating tacit acceptance of Long’s willful and inhumane refusal to save lives.