Russia, that great Colossus, has received a slap in the face from a great na-
tion, which act... must be of the greatest consequence in the history of civ-
ilization.” And now, at Hanukkah time, he looked to the “Maccabaeans in
Europe” to follow the American Jewish example. Much to his disappoint-
ment and contrary to what his private sources had led him to expect, sup-
portive action from western Europe failed to materialize. Moreover, he and
his associates were forced to stand guard during Wilson’s administration
lest discrimination find its way into any new commercial treaty.^67
Despite customary public denials by the stewards of the existence of a Jew-
ish vote, Schiff, like any good minority leader, understood the importance
of rewarding the friends of abrogation with Jewish political support. In
1912, after four decades as a loyal Republican, he switched to the Demo-
cratic side. Alienated by Taft’s behavior on the passport matter, he pre-
ferred the Democratic contender, Woodrow Wilson, a supporter of abro-
gation who had promised after his nomination that he would oppose any
future treaty with Russia that discriminated against Jews. Since the Repub-
lican party was split between the Taft wing and the Progressives under the
leadership of TR, the banker knew that the Democrats had a better than
even chance. He may have reasoned too that any Democratic ambassador
to St. Petersburg was hardly likely to chalk up a worse record on the Jewish
situation than his Republican predecessors. Disagreeing with his staunch
ally Marshall on Republican loyalty, Schiff denied that he was leaving the
Republicans permanently or “running with the winning horse.”^68
The banker had no qualms about deserting the once admired Roosevelt.
Although he was grateful for Roosevelt’s prior help on behalf of eastern
European Jews, he had been put off during the abrogation campaign by
TR’s proposal to arbitrate the passport impasse. Moreover, he was dis-
turbed by the ultraprotectionist stand of the Progressive party and
Roosevelt’s calls for seemingly radical reforms. He perceived a lust for
power in the candidate, a man who saw himself as “a Caesar.” When
George Perkins, one of Roosevelt’s financial angels, intimated that Schiff
turned to Wilson for business reasons, the banker hotly denied the charge.
“I am not standing at Armageddon and battling for the Lord,” he retorted
in a sneer at Roosevelt’s rallying cry. He told Perkins that he too could
quote the Bible: “Not of bread alone man liveth.”^69
The abrogation campaign also committed Schiff to Democrat William
Sulzer in New York’s gubernatorial race. Although his friend Oscar Straus
was the Progressive candidate, Schiff had promised to support Sulzer, then
chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, on whose resolu-
tion the House of Representatives had voted for abrogation. Explaining
that “vegam Harbona zachur latob!” (Hebrew for “And may Harbona too
Captivity and Redemption 151