Samuel Miller Breckinridge Long (May 16, 1881 – September 26, 1958) was an American diplomat and politician who served in the administrations of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[1] An extreme nativist, Long is largely remembered by Holocaust historians for making it difficult for European Jews to enter the United States during the 1930s and 1940s.

Long was a personal friend of future President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whom he had known as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Wilson Administration, and generously contributed to his 1932 Presidential campaign.

During his ambassadorship, Long was criticized for advising the president against imposing an embargo on oil shipments to Italy in retaliation for Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia.

[3] In a letter to a friend, Long referred to Italian fascism as “the most interesting experiment in government to come above the horizon since the formulation of our Constitution.” In 1938, he wrote in his diary, "Have just finished Hitler's Mein Kampf.

It is eloquent in opposition to Jewry and to Jews as exponents of Communism & chaos.... My estimate of Hitler as a man rises with the reading of his book.

[5] In an intra-department memo he circulated in June 1940, Long wrote: "We can delay and effectively stop for a temporary period of indefinite length the number of immigrants into the United States.

"[6][7] One of his most powerful tools to keep out potential refugees and immigrants was the public charge rule, which barred the admission of persons deemed likely to become a burden on the state.

[10] An extreme nativist, Long is largely remembered for his obstructionist role as the official responsible for granting refugee visas during World War II.

After Long effectively blocked them, the Treasury men began to look closely for evidence that the U.S. was actively avoiding steps that would save Jewish lives.

The culmination of this research was a report presented to president Franklin Roosevelt in early 1944 by Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr.

The final paragraph of the earliest version read: The State Department has turned its back on the time-honored principle of granting haven to refugees.

If men of the temperament and philosophy of Long continue in control of immigration administration, we may as well take down that plaque from the Statue of Liberty and black out the 'lamp beside the golden door.