Regarding Wise, I never read anything substantial about him, so my information is tangential. I think he was a product of his times and his enviornment. Wise, a Reform rabbi, functioned in a highly structured world, a very firm class system. Jewish philanthropy and activism in those days in his community was very much “trickle down.” A group of powerful magnates formed a committe, poured money into it and the rest of the world was supposed to gratefully accept the beneficence. It was this attitude and the resentment other Jews felt for the German “Yahudim” and other Jews’ desire to be part of the leadership that led the demise of the greatest attempt to unify the entire New York Jewish community under one broad umbrella in what has come to be known as the “Kehilla Project” spearheaded by Judah Mages, the then rabbi of Temple Emmanu El, and later first Presidence of the Hebrew University.
Stephen wise lived in that enviorment. The model I described above worked during WWI and Jewish leadership saw no reason to depart from what they thought they kinew to be a succesful model. That model, based on the old European system of the “Hoff Jude” or court Jew/Stadlan meant a centralized body speaking (often behind the scenes and very obsquiously) on behalf of the Jewish commnuity. That body was supposed to be the only representative of Jewry in the portals of power. Additionall euqally important to helping Jews was the absolute necesity of not provoking anti-Semitism anywhere. Additionally these people did try to curry personal favor with the people they lobbied. This was not merely about ego or personal gain however. These Jews (Sulzberger, Wise, Rosenmann etc.) genuninely believed they were the sole stewards of Jewish survival. If people liked them personally, Jews stood to benefit. What Wise and company failed to understand was: a) the greater Jewish community would no longer accept such a system b) circumstances were radically different than thirty or forty years before. It was this failure to adapt that led to internecine squabbling to the detriment of Klal Yisrael. On balance, I think these people meant well. Tragically they were so entrenched in a rarified system of Jewish leadership, they failed to see the forest for the trees.