Theodore Roosevelt forged a deeper bond with Jewish Americans than most people today realize.

In this episode of the Conversations with B’nai B’rith Podcast, CEO Dan Mariaschin sits down with historian Andrew Porwancher—author of “American Maccabee: Theodore Roosevelt and the Jews”—to explore this little-known chapter of Roosevelt’s legacy.

At the turn of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Jewish immigrants arrived in what they hoped would be “the Golden Land.” Roosevelt saw their arrival as central to America’s growth—and believed their full participation in American life would strengthen the nation as a whole.

Porwancher traces Roosevelt’s friendships with Jewish leaders, his response to anti-Semitic violence abroad, and the ideals and contradictions that shaped his views on immigration, assimilation and American identity.