The historic fulfillment of the United States’ unwavering support for the Jewish homeland took place in 1948. After two millennia of living in the diaspora, after persecution in and expulsion from countries around the globe, after Nazi genocide murdered millions of European Jews, the State of Israel was born. President Harry S. Truman offered official U.S. recognition to the Jewish state a mere eleven minutes after its Declaration of the Independence was signed on May 14, 1948.