May 10, 1942, was Mother's Day. On that day, 600 men and women gathered in the ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel. The Biltmore, built in 1913 alongside Grand Central Station, was filled that day with delegates from all the Zionist organizations. Attending were both the aging head of the World Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizmann, and the younger David Ben-Gurion, who led the Jewish Agency and represented the Jews of Palestine. Weizmann and Ben-Gurion represented two different approaches to achieving a Jewish homeland.

Weizmann believed in working with Great Britain, an approach that had resulted 25 years earlier in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration. Ben-Gurion advocated for a more activist approach of both confronting England and building the basis of a future state. When World War II broke out, Ben-Gurion stated, “We shall oppose the White Paper as if there was no Hitler, and we shall oppose Hitler as if there was no White Paper.” After the issuance of the White Paper by Great Britain, even Weizmann had to admit that his approach had not worked.

Going into the conference, American Zionists were also split as to what approach to take. Most were in favor of a Jewish homeland as a refuge, but as the implications of World War II became understood, that began to change. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, a leader of American Zionism, in January 1941 became the first American Zionist leader to openly call for the establishment of a Jewish state. The conference opened with a fiery speech by Rabbi Stephen Wise, who stated,

This nationwide emergency Zionist Conference has been assembled in order that unity may come to obtain in the councils of the Zionist Movement. We are meeting together so that all American Zionists, irrespective of party sectarianism, undivided in resolution, may be enabled to win over an ever larger number of American Jews, indeed all American Jews, to support the Zionist cause.

But what was the goal of the Zionist cause? Ben Gurion knew what he wanted. He stated that “Zionism in Action means nation-building, state building. The Yishuv would bear the brunt of the effort but the Jews in Palestine would be supported by their brethren all over the world. It will redeem forever our suffering and do justice to our national genius, It will be pride of every Jew in the diaspora and command the respect of every people on earth.”

The conference ended with a ringing endorsement of Ben Gurion’s vision. In a resolution that became known as the Biltmore Resolution, it stated that “the gates of Palestine be opened; that the Jewish Agency be vested with control over immigration into Palestine and the necessary authority for upbuilding the country, including the development of its uncultivated lands; and that Palestine be established as a Jewish commonwealth integrated in the structure of the new democratic world. Then and only then will the age-old wrongs of Jewish people be righted.”