British Evacuees in America During World War II

In the Spring of 1940, as the Battle of Britain intensified, the images of war became more vivid to the American public. A prominent East coast newspaper(1) called on its readers to open their hearts and homes to the children of that beleaguered island. The idea was that these innocent babes could find safety and refuge in their then neutral nation. Despite the isolationists and historical anti-Anglo sentiment in certain parts of the nation, there still existed a pervasive sympathy and admiration for their cousins across the sea. Many offspring of wealthier British families, those who could afford the fare or who had connections on this side of the Atlantic, had already been sent over the ocean in a private and entirely unorganized manner. This was slow, cumbersome, and limited in scope. A coordinated body of voluntary organizations and individuals, assisted by government agencies, was desperately needed so that the outpouring of concern could be channeled into effective and speedy action.In June 1940 a group of prominent and socially concerned men and women met in response to this problem in New York City.(2) They established the United States Committee for the Care of European Children, with Eleanor Roosevelt as its honorary president, Marshall Field III as its chairman, and Eric Biddle as its executive director. Its charge was to arrange for transportation and temporary care of the children evacuated from the war zone. Its Board also included representatives from the three major religious communities to emphasize its nonsectarian nature, as it set up shop in the old Gramercy Park Hotel on Fourth Avenue. Although it was a purely private organization--the public figures acted in their individual capacities--almost immediate liaison was established with the Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor, the Department of State, the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice (the Attorney General was Francis Biddle) the British Embassy in Washington, the Red Cross, and the Save the Children Fund.The State Department became at once involved because Committee proposals clearly skirted or undercut the Neutrality Laws. The Immigration and Naturalization Service would soon be called upon to modify the Immigration laws and the Attorney General would be involved. The Children's Bureau had the job of coordinating and establishing standards for several state departments of welfare and private agencies which would be responsible for welfare and private agencies who would e responsible for monitoring the foster care of the children. The British Embassy, which was technically and legally responsible for these young British subjects, was much more concerned with the propaganda value to be milked from the presence of the children among a sympathetic public.In the first flush of enthusiasm there was talk of bringing thousands of evacuees to this country.(3) In actuality, only 861 British children came to the United States between June and August 1940 under the Committee's auspices(4) before the sinking of an evacuee ship by a German submarine caused the program to be halted. That ship, bound for Canada under a British government sponsored scheme, in August 1940 resulted in the death of 77 children. This caused the suspension of all evacuation programs, the authorities concluding that the danger to the children was greater at sea rather than from bombs at home.(5) No American ship was ever used in the program and the Committee's hope of chartering ships came to naught. The number of individual and completely unorganized voyagers was never accurately tabulated but estimates indicate that there may have been as many as 1,600.(6) The halt in evacuation left the Committee with an intricate volunteer organization, a large staff processing 1,600 affidavits of support from families still awaiting children, thousands of inquires from families interested in offering their homes, and a nationwide fundraising program. …