Diplomat James G. McDonald grew up in Albany and was teaching history at Indiana University by 1910. Representing the Foreign Policy Association, he met Nazi officials in 1933, including Adolph Hitler as Hitler was quickly rising to power. McDonald warned U.S. leaders of an impending tragedy for European Jews and began advocating for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. As the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees from 1933 to 1935 and as chair of President Roosevelt’s refugee advisory committee from 1938 to 1945, he fought xenophobia, antisemitism, and restrictive quota systems to find asylum for thousands of persecuted Jews. In 1949, President Truman appointed McDonald the first U.S. Ambassador to the new State of Israel.