'Chile Ben' Cohen Runs Large
UN Public Information Section
By DAVID NUSSBAUM
Tagalog, produces newsreels and
documentaries here and in other
countries, makes phonograph
LAKE SUCCESS— In the vast records and shoots pictures,
main entrance gallery of the publishes a weekly newspaper
ultra-modern gyroscope factory in three languages and countless
information digests and pam-
phlets, operates information cen-
ters in more than a ddzen coun-
tries, and biggest job of all,
runs a full-scale "city room" for
the benefit of over 300 corres-
pondents representing about
250 newspapers and news agen-
cies. To accomplish this monu-
mental task day in and day out,
Ben Cohen bosses a staff of 425
people of 43 nationalities.
(Copyright 1949,
Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Linguist, Journalist and
Diplomat
BENJAMIN COHEN
that now houses the United Na-
tions; a motley crew of hungry-
eyed tots were clustered around
a pile of crates filled with big,
gleaming apples. Over them,
handing down the apples to
eagerly outstretched hand s,
loomed a large, long-faced man.
The apples, provided by the
American Association for the
United Nations, were supposed
to symbolize the theme that the
much-maligned world organiza-
tion was "bearing fruit." For
such symbolic apples, there was
no more proper dispepser than
Benjamin A. Cohen. Por "Chile
Ben" Cohen is not only a staun-
ch believer in the fruit-bearing
thesis, but as Assistant Secre-
tary-General in charge of UN's
sprawling department of public
information, he must sell that
thesis to the world.
versity in Chile and Georgetown
University's School of Foreign
Service, he became a linguist,
journalist, professor and dip-
lomat. After 11 years labor as
reporter and editor on Chilean
newspapers, he served his coun-
try in a vast variety of diplo-
matic posts from 1924 to 1945,
winding up as ambassador in
Bolivia and Venezuela.
There's Cohen, and Cohen
The bane of Chile• Ben Co-
hen's existence those days is not
so much the clashes constantly
exploding in UN committee
rooms but rather a peripheral
UN problem—the co-existence of
two Benjamin Cohens, the other,
of course, being the former high
level New Dealer and present
member of the American UN
delegation. "Chile Ben," as he is
called to distinguish him from
Benjamin V., is constantly on
the verge of attending dinners
or making speeches, the invita-
The man who is responsible
for blueprinting, constructing
and running this huge and com-
plex machine since the UN's
birth is the product of persecu-
tion against the Jews in Eastern
Europe. His father's family was
driven out of Lithuania, his
mother's from Poland. These
two refugee lines came together
in Chile, where Cohen was born
in 1896. -A graduate of the Uni-
tervenes between his organiza-
tion and the two billion minds
he is seeking to reach. "In the
whole world," he says, "there
are not more than a dozen or so
newspapers that show a really
intelligent interest in the way
the wild's going.
Holiday Greetings
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During the Year of 1949 there was a
national increase in Infantile Paralysis
13320 HAMILTON
cases. Funds ore needed to maintain
Near Davison
TO. 8-2962
those stricken and to continue the search
to isolate the germ causing this dread
Hanukah
Schlemiel: Dr. Adolph Radin,
the noted Jewish social work-
er of a generation ago, got
one job after another for a cer-
tain Jewish Schlemiel, but the
latter could never hold on to
a job.
Finally, Dr. Radin, worn out,
said: "My friend "I've done
everything I can for you. I'm
through. I can do no more for
you.
"If you don't do anything for
me, I will go to the mission-
aries," said the schemiel.
Dr. Radin took a nickel from
his pocket. Don't go," he said,
"ride."
THE JEWISH NEWS-27
Friday, December 16, 1949
inning
Because of You"
Season's Greetings
Time Worst Enemy
It has been said that Cohen's
worst enemy is the inexorable
fact that no matter how hard
he squeezes a day, he can't
wring more than 24 hours from
it. His department prepares a
daily radio broadcast that goes
out to every country in --the
world in 14 languages, including
tions for which were meant for
his friend.
But Ben Cohen has a more
serious problem. His three-mill-
ion-dollar budget and his 425-
man staff are woefully inade-
quate to handle with full effec-
tiveness the giant task of tell-
ing the world about itself. Cohen
believes that a high wall of es-
tablished thought patterns in-
disease.
Greetings
GIVE So That They May Walk Again !
MARY JANE
BEAUTY SALON
fight
infant& Paralysis
3371 ELMHURST
TO. 9-9838
.TH E. MARCH OF
DIMES
Season's Greetings
MACKEY LUMBER
& MILL CO.
WAYNE COUNTY CHAPTER
THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR
INFANTILE PARALYSIS, INC.
153 East Elizabeth Street
Detroit 1, Michigan
12900 AUBURN
VE. 8-5150
t•
In Place of Their Usual Hanukah Greeting—
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