would have established a separate government agency charged with assisting the rescue of Jewish refugees, Long gave secret testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the majority of 580,000 refugees admitted from Europe were Jewish, and that such legislation would be a rebuke of the State Department in wartime. Long noted in his diary that day that he erred by speaking without notes (the actual numbers were 568,000 visas authorized and only 545,000 issued), but historians have noted his testimony was misleading because he implied that all of the refugees were Jews. An extreme nativist, Long is largely remembered for his obstructionist role as the official responsible for granting refugee visas during World War II. He obstructed rescue attempts, drastically restricted immigration, and falsified figures of refugees admitted. The exposure of his misdeeds led to his demotion, in 1944. He has become the major target of criticism of America's refugee and rescue policy. He justified that in his diary by referring to the laws in the United States imposing strict quotas on the number of immigrants from particular countries, and his great concern about the possibility that Germany and the Soviet Union would infiltrate spies or subversive agents into the United States amidst the large numbers of refugees. Long resigned from the State Department in November 1944 and went into retirement. Personal life He married Christine Alexander Graham, in 1912. His special interests included the collection of antiques, paintings and American ship models. He maintained a stable of thoroughbred race horses and was a director of the Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland. He enjoyed fox hunting, fishing, and sailing. Long died in Laurel, Maryland, on September 26, 1958. His widow died in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1959, aged 71. Legacy His personal papers are available for research at the Library of Congress. In fiction, the character "Breckinridge Long", assistant Secretary of State, appears in Herman Wouk's War and Remembrance and B.A. Shapiro's The Muralist. He was portrayed by Eddie Albert in the 1988 miniseries adaptation of Wouk's novel. References Further reading External links 1881 births 1958 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Italy Politicians from St. Louis Washington University School of Law alumni Breckinridge family American racehorse owners and breeders People from Laurel, Maryland Princeton University alumni 20th-century American diplomats