Who was Harry Bingham and why is he getting a stamp?

Hiram “Harry” Bingham IV was a modest man who worked quietly behind the scenes to defy the United States State Department immigration policy and save the lives of approximately 2,000 people trying to flee Nazi Germany.  Bingham was the only American diplomat to personally engage in rescue activities during the Nazi era.  His effort was kept secret throughout his lifetime.  Bingham’s son Robert, an attorney with the Federal government, coordinated a campaign to honor his late father. 

On May 31, 2006, the United States Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Hiram Bingham for his rescue activities.

For over  fifty years, the State Department resisted any attempt to honor Bingham. For  them he was an insubordinate member of the US  diplomatic service, a dangerous maverick who was eventually demoted. Now,  after his death, he has been officially recognized as a hero.

Bingham came from an illustrious family. His father (on whom the fictional character Indiana Jones was based) was the archeologist who unearthed the Inca City of Machu  Picchu, Peru,  in 1911.  Harry entered the US diplomatic service and, in 1939, was posted to Marseilles,  France, as American Vice-Consul.

The USA  was then neutral and, not wishing to annoy Marshal Petain's puppet Vichy regime, President Roosevelt's administration ordered its representatives in Marseilles  not to grant visas to any Jews. This behavior towards  Jews continued for much of World War II.   Bingham found this policy immoral and, risking his career, did all in his power to save lives.

Bingham worked underground with Varian Fry, a Connecticut journalist and director of the Emergency Rescue Committee.      This committee was established to rescue the most intellectual and political refugees who had fled Nazi Germany and were most wanted by the German government.   Jews and non-Jews were rescued.   Among those rescued were artists Marc Chagall, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Jacques Lipshitz and Andre Breton;  writers Lion Feuchtwanger, Franz Werfel, Thomas Mann, Jr., Arthur Koestler; philosopher Hannah Arendt; and scientist, Otto Meyrhof.

He also sheltered Jews in  his Marseilles  home, and obtained forged identity papers to help Jews in their dangerous  journeys across Europe. He worked with the French underground to smuggle Jews out of France  into Franco's Spain  or across the Mediterranean  and even contributed to their rescue out of his own pocket.

In 1941, Washington lost patience with him. He was sent to Argentina, where later he continued to annoy his superiors by reporting on the movements of Nazi war criminals.

Eventually,  he was forced out of the American diplomatic service completely.  Little was known of his extraordinary activities until 1980 when he confirmed to his thirteen year old granddaughter that he issued as many life-savings visas as he coulld to as many refugees as possible.  His son found some letters in his belongings after his death in 1988. He has now been honored by many groups and organizations.  Secretary of State Colin Powell gave a posthumous award for  "constructive dissent" to Hiram (Harry) Bingham, IV.

The stamp honoring Hiram Bingham IV is one of six new stamps honoring "Distinguished American Diplomats".