Maimonides Women Fulfill $12 000
Pledge to Sinai Hospital Fund
,
`Security Case' Breaks Mother's Heart
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1954, JTA, Inc.)
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Jewish
mother who came to the U. S.
Naval Academy to see her son
commissioned has returned to
Hartford, Conn., with a broken
heart. Instead of seeing her boy
made an officer, she saw the
(Editor's Note: Since re-
ceiving Milton Friedman's
story about the withhold-
ing of Naval commissions
to three young graduates
of the Naval Academy at
Annapolis, The Jewish News
has learned that all three,
after "security checks," were
given their commissions.
We print this story anyway
to show how the world of
hysteria that has engulfed
us today can lead only to
embarrassment at the least,
and more irreparable harm
if continued to be allowed
in the future).
At ceremonies held recently at Sinai Hospital, the Women's
Auxiliary of the Maimonides Medical Society presented its final
payment on a $12,000 pledge to the original hospital fund. Shown
with Dr. JULIEN PRIVER, hospital director, are Mrs. LOUIS
KAZDAN (center), Auxiliary president, and Mrs. CHARLES Navy brand him as a "security
risk?' .
GITLIN, chairman of the hospital pledge committee.
The lives of Harold Irving
Pollack, a 23-year-old midship-
man, Mrs. Elsie Pollack, his
mother, and other members of
the Pollack family were trans-
formed on a June graduation
day. It happened because the
Ralph E. Samuel,- national tives of the American Jewish
chairman of the American Jew- Tercentenary Committee and of
ish Tercentenary Committee, ex- the City of New York "and other
pressed gratification at the New affected political subdivisions of
York State Legislature's ap- this State so that the celebration
proval of a resolution providing activities of the joint legislative
for appointment of a 25-member committee may be properly co-
"Joint Legislative Committee for ordinated with those of the
American Jewish Tercentenary" American Jewish Tercentenary
Detroit Jewry has responded
to participate officially in ob- Committee, the City and other
servance of the 300th anniver- affected subdivisions." The joint to the United Jewish Appeal's
sary of Jewish settlement in the committee is also empowered "to call for a loan of $67,627,500 by
unite or to act, on behalf of the providing $2,000,000 toward the
United States.
five-year effort to aid Israel in
The resolution, adopted unan- State, with the American Jewish. hastening refugee absorption
imously Thursday in the State Tercentenary Committtee and and agricultural development.
Senate and Assembly, states that others" in the observance of the
Other Michigan communities
the joint committee shall con- Tercentenary. The joint com- aiding the loan effort were
mittee
will
serve
until
June
30,
sist of "three members of the
Grand Rapids, $90,000; Pontiac,
Senate, to be appointed by the 1955.
$75,000; and Bay City, $50,000.
temporary president of the Sen-
Mr. Samuel, in a letter to Gov-
Prior to his departure for
ate, three members of the As- ernor Dewey, stated:
J e r u s a l e m for conferences
sembly, to be appointed by the
"The American Jewish Ter- with Israel government and
speaker of the Assembly, and 19
members to be appointed by the centenary Committee is grati- Jewish Agency leaders, Dr. Jo-
Governor." The resolution also fied by the action taken by you seph J. Schwartz, executive vice-
authorized Governor Dewey to and the Legislature of the State chaittnan of UJA, stated that
throughout the nation $55,137,-
designate a chairman for the of New York in connection with
500 in cash has been raised to-
the
observance
of
the
.300th
an-
committee and appropriated $5,-
niversary of Jewish settlement ward this project, leaving only
000 for committee activities.
$6,000,000 outstanding.
in the United States.
In a special message, Governor
This loan is in addition to the
Dewey declared that the action
"It is entirely appropriate for regular nation-wide campaign
of the State Legislature epito- the State of New York to par- of UJA, conducted in Detroit
mizes "the respect of the people ticipate officially in the Tercen- through the United Jewish Ap-
of this State of all creeds for tenary celebration because it peal, which has set as its 1954
fellow citizens whose contribu- was at Nieuw Amsterdam (now goal the separate sum of $119,-
tion to our common cause is in- New York City) that the first 921,150.
terwoven in the fabric of this twenty-three Jews landed in
Dr. Schwartz, in announcing
nation— in its ideals, its spiri- September 1654. Through three the cash status of the loan,
tual greatness and its devotion centuries, New Yorkers of all pointed out that- sums remitted
to human liberty."
faiths, have worked together in to the Appeal represent bank
The Tercentenary resolution, championing religious and civil borrowings negotiated by local
introduced in the State Senate liberties for all people. The his- Jewish welfare bodies which
by Majority Leader Walter J. tory of the State of New York were given UJA's corporate
Mahoney, and in the Assembly in the field of human rights is guarantee in advance, assuring
by Majority Leader Lee B. Mail- truly in keeping with the theme repayment to their lending in-
ler, states that the "Joint Legis- of the American Jewish Tercen- stitutions.
lative Committee for the Ameri- tenary : `Man's Opportunities
can Jewish Tercentenary" shall and Responsibilities Under Free-
U. S. Chaplains Name
cooperate with the representa- dom'."
Legislature of New York Resolves
To Participate in Jewish Tercentenary
Detroit Delivers
$2 Million to UJA
Loan Flotation
Tercentenary Committee Warns
Against Actions of Left-Wing Group
NEW YORK, (JTA) — Jewish
organiza t i o n s throughout the
country were warned against a
left-wing effort to organize cele-
brations of the forthcoming
American Jewish Tercentenary.
David Bernstein, executive direc-
tor of the American Jewish Ter-
centenary Committee, announced
that the official tercentenary
committee — which was estab-
lished in 1952 for the purpose of
planning the overall national ob-
servance this fall and winter of
the 300th anniversary of Jewish
settlement in the United States
,--"has neither solicited nor ac-
cepted the cooperation of Com-
munist or front organizations."
Mr. Bernstein referred to a re-
port carried this week in the
New York Daily Worker an-
nouncing that a Committee for
the 300th Anniversary of Jewish
Settlement in the U.S.A. had
issued a call to all Jewish organ-
izations, societies, trade unions
and cultural institutions to take
part in a preliminary conference
June 19, to explore "the best
ways and means of marking and
celebrating the 300th anniver-
sary in the most impressive man-
ner by American Jews of all
walks of life and every point of
view, and in a manner that
would contribute toward the
safeguarding and furthering of
our democratic freedoms and
cultural achievements."
In a statement on this com-
mittee and the conference it is
calling, Mr. Bernstein said: "It
is believed that the meeting is
being arranged under the aus-
pices of the YKUF (Yiddish Kul-
tur Farband). The American
Jewish Tercentenary Committee
is in no way connected with this
group of the June 19 confer-
ence."
Ike Hears Report on Arabs
Jewish Consultant
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Ap-
pointment of Chaplain (Cap-
tain) Kalman L. Levitan, USAF,
as Special Consultant on Jewish
Affairs to the Department of
Defense Armed Forces Chaplains
Board was announced by Major
General Patrick J.. Ryan, Chief
of Army Chaplains, present
chairman of the Chaplains
Board. He succeeds Chaplain
Joshua Goldberg, Captain, U.S.
Navy, who served in that capac-
ity for the past four years.
Chaplain Levitan served as
rabbi of the Bergen County Re-
form Temple, Bergen, N.J., from
1946 to 1949. Entering active
duty with the Air Force as a
First Lieutenant in November,
1949, he was first assigned to
Keesler Air Force Base, Mississip-
pi. In December, 1950, he was
transferred to the Far East Air
Forces. The area covered by him
during the next three years in-
cluded duty in Korea, Japan,
Guam, Okinawa, and the Philip-
pine Islands. He returned to
the United States in March, 1953,
and was assigned to Sampson
Air Force Base, New York, where
he is presently on duty.
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—A per-
sonal report on political condi-
tions in the Arab League states
was made to President Eisenhow-
er at the White House by Ham-
ilton Fish Armstrong, editor of
"Foreign Affairs," who has just
returned from a visit to the Near 24—DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday„ June 13, ; 1951
East.
Annapolis class of 1954 was the
first to be affected by an execu-
tive order of the Eisenhower
Administration. The technicali-
ties of such loyalty directives are
baffling to people like the Pol-
lacks who only know how de-
voted their Harold is to the
Navy.
Pollack is one of three mid-
shipmen who were graduated
but, toldthey couldn't have their
commissions because of "secur-
ity" reasons. The mother of one
of the other two involved be-
lieves she knows the source of
her son's troubles. Evidence of
his subversion is that he chose
to be born by a mother who was
herself born in Siberia. Also, he
has an uncle who is unfortunate
enough to live in Communist
Poland.
`Can't Understand It'
In Pollack's case, his mother
said she "simply can't under-
stand all this." Interviewed by
telephone in her Hartford apart-
ment, Mrs. Pollack said her boy
would go on fighting to clear
his name. She said she did not
have the faintest idea of why
he should be suspected. Perhaps
her former affiliation with the
Bnai Brith women's lodge?
To earn a living MrS. Pollack
worked as a corsetiere. The
store where she worked went
out of business last month and
she has since been unemployed.
Pollack was appointed to An-
napolis by A. A. Ribicoff, a Jew-
ish congressman who lost his
seat as a result of the last elec-
tion. Ribicoff said all he knew
about current developments was
what he read in the newspa-
pers. But he remembered Pol-
lack as "a boy of good char-
acter."
Naval Academy officials re-
ferred newspapermen to • Wash-
ington. In Washington,
a
spokesman for the Navy said
"security may or may not be
involved" in the case of Pollack.
The Navy said it regretted that
it was necessary to take drastic
action at the last minute to
withhold the commissions. It
was pointed out that investiga-
tions may yet determine the
clearance of those affected.
Meanwhile, they were advised
to go home and wait while their
classmates report for active duty.
There has been no suggestion
of anti-Semitism in the Pollack
affair. The reason for interest
in his particular case is the fact
that Jews, like other Americans,
take great pride in serving in
the American armed forces. The
Jewish Welfare Board issued a
press release to publish the news
of Pollack's graduation, along
with the announcement of other
Jewish graduates from Anna-
polis and West Point. Jewish
organizations have devoted
themselves to preserving civil
liberties and traditional free-
doms. It is therefore not un-
natural that Jews are particu-
larly concerned by accusations
of subversion in the United
States that are reminiscent of
similarly vague charges much
more prevalent in Communist
and fascist countries.
The Senate Republican Policy
Committee heard such an up-
roar from outraged Americans
that it was forced to order an
inquiry. Chairman Homer Fer-
guson said the committee could
not understand why midship-
men were educated "at very
great expense" for four years
without having a loyalty check
completed.
Chairman Leverett Saltonstall
of the Senate Armed Services
Committee said he is personally
looking into the matter. "It
doesn't look good on the sur-
face," he said. Saltonstall said
he found it particularly disturb-
ing that the names of Pollack
and the other midshipmen were
revealed. This might hurt their
careers even if they are later
cleared and made officers, he
said.
U. S. Officials Envision End
To Israel Aid in Few Years
Continued from Page 1)
United Jewish Appeal, which,
I think, a fair average would
be, say $50,000,000 a year, for
the six years, $300,000,000."
The State Department offi-
cial noted that such contribu-
tions were deductible for pur-
poses of income tax. In addi-
tion, he said Israel had receiv-
ed about $100,000,000 out of
$714,000,000 in reparations Ger-
many has agreed to pay her.
Mr. Byroade blamed Israel for
the incidents at Kibya and Nah-
halin, saying these evoked Arab
hostility not only toward Israel
but also against the United
States because American am-
munition was found. He ac-
cused Israel government spokes-
men of exaggeration regarding
American arms arrangements
with Iraq. The Jordan Arab Le-
gion was lauded by Mr. Byroade
as a "factor of stability" in the
region.
Mr. Gardiner told the com-
mittee that the effect of United
States arms shipments to Iraq
"and the furnishing of the ad-
vice that goes with them" could
be similar in the long run to
the stabilizing effect of British
officers in the Arab Legion of
Jordan. Mr. Byroade said that
key men of the State Depart-
ment, just returned from Iraq,
had found there "a new feeling
of friendship toward the United
States."
"I wouldn't say that we
must look forward indefinite-
ly to support for Israel from
United States Government
funds," he said. "With their
reparations now being re-
ceived from Germany, if they
keep going at the present rate,
we foresee a decrease in as-
sistance needed from this
country every year, and we
can see pretty well the end of
this situation over a period of
years."
German reparations, build-up
of exports, and solution of Is-
rael's debt-refunding position
will enable Israel to put more
money into development, Mr.
Byroade said. "We regard those
as favorable • signs and we hope
we can keep reducing the level
of aid to Israel," he stated.
Mr. Gardiner outlined the fol-
lowing steps the State Depart-
ment "would like" to see Israel
take: 1. Compensate the Arab
refugees; 2. Unfreeze still fur-
ther the frozen bank accounts
of the Arabs; 3. Reach terms
with the United Nations re-
garding the division of the wat-
ers of the Jordan River; 4. Con-
sider still further the possibili-
ties of repatriation of the Arab
refugees; 5. Adopt a more con-
ciliatory s attitude toward , the
Arabs, and 6. Reassure the Arabs
that they (Israelis) have no
further intentions to expand the
State of Israel.
The House Foreign Affairs
Committee has given tentative
approval to a proposed amend-
ment to the Mutual Security
Act of 1954 which would re-
place economic aid with $1,-
000,000,000 of surplus agricul-
tural commodities. The action
was taken at a closed session.
It was envisaged that instead
of granting economic assistance
to projects in Israel and other
countries, as in previous years,
aid would be extended princi-
pally in the form of agricultural
commodities. This, it was
thought, would be cheaper for
the United States and would
also please the American farm-
ers.
Powers Urged to Bring
Arabs to Roundtable Talks
TEL AVIV, (JTA)—The Unit-
ed Nations and the Western
Powers must make all efforts to
achieve peace in the Middle
East and the Arab states must
sit down at a roundtable with
Israel to discuss a peace settle-
ment, Herbert Morrison, former
Foreign • Secretary in the last
British Labor government, de-
clared here before emplaning
for Britain after a visit to this
country. He expressed the opin-
ion that continuation of the "no
peace, no war" situation is
harmful for both Israel and the
neighboring countries.