The UNA Department of History and Political Science and the Shoals Interfaith Council (SIC) sponsored a showing of the play, “Eddie: The Friendship that Changed History” at the GUC Performance Center on Sunday, Sept. 22. The play, which was performed at 3 p.m., featured the friendship between U.S. president Harry Truman and businessman Eddie Jacobson and it’s effect on the conflict in Palestine after World War II.

“The way in which we have been conditioned to think about history is that individual choices don’t matter very much,” said Tom Osborne, a professor emeritus of history at UNA and the president of SIC. “But sometimes…Sometimes, everything depends upon a personal relationship between two people. Sometimes, everything depends on the fact that one person does something.”

The play, which is a one-man show, centered on Eddie Jacobson and his perspective of the friendship with Truman. Jacobson was portrayed by Marvin Starkman, a New York actor.

Osborne said the play was co-written by Starkman and Bob Feinburg. He said they were inspired to write the play from events recounted in David McCullough’s biography of Truman.

According to official website for “Eddie,” the two writers have written screenplays for many movies and TV shows. Starkman has been seen on “Law and Order” and “The David Letterman Show.”

“(My favorite part about the play) was getting to know more about the individuals that shaped history,” said B.J. Wilson, a UNA employee and a member of the audience. “You know, it’s amazing to think – like Dr. Osborne was kind of alluding to – you think about these big forces that shape history and sometimes we forget it could be just, you know, one person.”

Wilson, who works in the UNA Distance Learning office, first heard about the play while working with the UNA Distinguished Events Series. She was interested in this play and thought it was a fascinating story after SIC brought the play to the attention of the Distinguished Events Series, she said. 

Osborne said Jacobson, being a Lithuanian-American Jew, was the one who convinced Truman to speak with Chaim Weizmann. Weizmann was a Zionist, which meant that he supported the creation of a Jewish home in Palestine. After meeting Weizmann, Truman also supported the creation of Israel and a partition in Palestine, Osborne said.

“If Franklin Roosevelt had not died and was still president (at this time), more than likely, there’d be no Israel,” Osborne said. “The United States would not be involved in the Middle East. There would’ve been no Gulf wars. There would not be this constant effort by Americans to solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict because there wouldn’t be an Israel.”