Nathan Greene Named as Counsel
Historic Case: When U. S. Broke Trade
Relations. with Russia in Protest Against to Congressman from Minneapolis
Ban on Jewish Citizens Traveling to Russia Announcement has been those which are affected with
By HARRY SIMONHOFF
For a decade the Arab states
have discriminated against
American citizens of the Jewish
faith. They b o y c o t t firms
owned, controlled or managed
by American Jews. They black-
list American vessels which
call at Israeli ports. Egypt
closes the Suez Canal to ships
carrying cargoes to any port in
Israel, contrary to international
law. Saudi Arabia excludes
Jewish soldiers wearing the
American uniform.
These p olicie s, practiced
quite openly with the consent
of our S t ate Department,
should be stopped. The time is
ripe for action. The precedent
for such a course has been es-
tablished in 1911 when the
United States of America abro-
gated its treaty with Czarist
Russia, as appears in the fol-
lowing:
In 1832 the U.S.A. and the
Czar of Russia negotiated . a
treaty of commerce, which pro-
vided that "the inhabitants of
their respective states shall mu-
tually have liberty to enter the
ports, places and rivers of the
territory of each party . . .
shall be at liberty to sojourn
and reside in all parts whatso-
ever of said territories." For
about three decades little hap-
pened to disturb the relations
between the two governments.
There were few Russian Jews
entering or living in the U.S.A.
After 1865 incidents began to
multiply and by 1880 the Sec-
retary of State, James G.
Blaine, dispatched a masterly
protest against the discrimina-
tions practiced against Ameri-
can Jews by the Russian gov-
ernment.
* * *
For 40 years each adminis-
. tration tried to induce the Czar
.to permit American Jews to
visit Russia. They failed. No
wonder, since some of the am-
bassadors themselves had im-
bibed the venom of the Black
Hundreds. Jews in the U.S.A.
were becoming restive. By 1910
the population of American
Jews born in Russia and their
descendants exceeded a mil-
lion. But the Taft administra-
tion was dragging its feet.. On
Jan. 19, 1911, Louis Marshall,
the most effective Jewish leader
ever to arise in the U.S.A., de-
livered a powerful address be-
fore the convention of the
Union of American Hebrew
Congregation, and called for
complete abrogation of every
existing treaty between the
United States- and Russia. A
copy of this speech was sent to
President Taft.
More and more Americans
were becoming aroused over
the contemptuous attitude of
Russia towards her treaty obli-
gations. Speeches in and out
of Congress called for action.
On receiving the Marshall ad-
dress and the resolution of
the convention, William H.
Taft decided it was time to
halt the anti-Russian tide. On
Feb. 15, 1911, he invited some
" outstanding Jewish leaders to
the White House. In "Louis
Marshall, Champion of Liberty,"
Vol. 1, pages '78-87, the great
leader gives a full account of
the luncheon and the discus-
sions that followed. The Presi-
dent read his prepared state-
ment on the passport question.
Some of the excerpts are:
"What I wish to invite your
attention to is that this rela-
tion between the United States
and Russia is . . . of 50 years
standing. It is a relation under
which property rights have
been acquired, investments
have been made. . .. The busi-
ness with Russia amounts to
about $100,000,000 . . If this
treaty were renounced they
would be completely subject
to the control of Russian tri-
bunals, influenced as they are
largely by executive policy. . .
If we denounce the treaty . . .
we shall imperil a good many
interests which it is our duty
to preserve. . . How much
would this affect the Russian
Jews. . . . Wouldn't we be im-
periling those people . . . by
ranging ourselves in. hostility
to Russia."
* * *
In the discussion that fol-
lowed Marshall stated: "We did
not believe that the American
people would permit private
business interests to count as
against the principle that all
American citizens were equal
and were to be free from all
discrimination. . . . The ques-
tion was not one which con-
cerned the Jews as such, but
involved the dignity of our
Government when it issued its
passport, and the sanctity of
American citizenship."
After the discussion the
President said he had received
a communication from W. W.
Rockhill, the American Ambas-
sador at St. Petersburg, and
suggested that the committee
withdraw to an adjoining room
to read and discuss the letter.
Louis Marshall writes: "We ac-
cepted his suggestions and I
read quite a long communica-
tion in which Mr. Rockhill pre-
Israel Receives More
European Than American
Tourists This Year
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Tour-
ism from Europe in the first
half of 1963 rose, compared with
the same period last year, while
tourism from the United States
fell in the comparable period,
it was announced here. Euro-
pean tourism rose from 32 per
cent to 41 per cent of all tour-
ism to Israel, while that of the
United States fell from 34 per
cent to 30.6 per cent.
The period included three
months of tourism following a
ban on charter flights to Israel,
and it was assumed that the
introduction of group flights
from the United States failed to
compensate for losses caused
by the ban. Israel is almost the
only country banning charter
flights and refusing landing
rights to such flights. All major
European countries not only
offer charter flights but have
stepped up such services. This
is done through affiliates of the
official airlines, an arangement
which permits them to adhere
to the ban of the International
Air Travel Association while
disembarking Israel-bound pas-
sengers at Cyprus. From there,
the travelers go to Israel by
boat.
The only exception on land-
ing rights is for pilgrimage
tours from Europe and the
United States, but these have
fallen off considerably. The issue
is expected to come up for re-
consideration next fall.
sented the stock arguments of
Russia with respect. to the
Jews, the contention that if
given greater rights than they
had they would exploit the
peasants, and that there were
reasons which made it neces-
sary for Russia, in conducting
her internal affairs, to deal
with the Jewish problem as she
had done and to withhold from
Jews
ews of other countries the
right to enter Russia." Mar-
shall then stated to the Presi-
dent, "I read the letter to my
associates and all of us found
it very objectionable. . . . I
characterized the letter as . . .
a pro-Russian argument which,
coming from an American Am-
bassador, was highly objection-
able."
* * *
The letter of Marshall goes
on, "Mr. Schiff, who was very
indignant, then gave voice to
his disappointment. . . . When
the conference broke up . . .
and the various conferees
shook hands with the Presi-
dent, Jacob Schiff alone re-
frained from greeting the
President. As we went down
the stairs he turned to me and
said, 'This means war,' and
authorized me to draw on him
to the extent of $25,000 for a
fund to carry on a campaign to
bring about the abrogation of
the treaty. . . . Mr. Bettman
turned to me and said, `Wir
sind in Golus'."
Ten months rolled by and
the President did nothing. He
might have felt repudiated by
the 1910 election which gave
control of Congress to the
Democrats. On Dec. 4, 1911,
John N. Garner, Congressman
from Texas and later Vice-
President under Franklin D.
Roosevelt, introduced a resolu-
tion for abrogating the treaty
with Russia. So did Rep. Wil-
liam Sulzer of New York. Next
day, Sen. Charles M. Culberson
of Texas introduced in the
Senate the resolution presented
by Sulzer. On Dec. 6, a mass
meeting in Carnegie Hall pre-
sided over by William G. Mc-
Adoo presented such top per-
sonalities as. Governor Wood-
row Wilson, Champ Clark,
William Randolph Hearst, and
a distinguished group of nota-
bles. They urged the passage
of a resolution to abrogate .the
Russian Treaty. It was adopted.
Many such meetings were held
throughout the country.
* * *
Taft still hoped to save the
treaty. To defeat the resolu-
tion he sent a message to Con-
gress on Dec. 7, 1911, and
stated, "I believe that the gov-
ernment of Russia is address-
ing itself seriously-'to the need
of changing the present prac-
tice under the treaty." Such
blindness in the face of a gov-
ernment staging pogroms and
case to prove that Jews require
the blood of a Christian for
their Passover ritual!
On Dec. 13, 1911, the Demo-
tives adopted the Sulzer Reso-
lution 301 to 1. Now Taft de-
scended to the tactics of a
peanut politician. If the treaty
must be terminated why not
grab the credit for himself,
especially since 1912 would be
the election year for President!
So, on Dec. 15, Taft instructed
his Ambassador in St. Peters-
burg that the U.S.A. termin-
ated the 1832 treaty.
made, in Washington, of the civil rights, civil liberties and
appointment of Nathan M. foreign affairs interests.
Greene, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Michael Greene, 19915 Kent-
field, as legislative counsel to
Congressman D on al d Fraser,
U.S. Representative from Min-
neapolis.
Greene is a 1960 graduate of
Wayne State Law S c h o o 1,
by Walter L. Field
where he served on the staff
of the Law Review, and is a
FIRST JEWISH
member of the State Bar of
HISTORY IN VERSE
Michigan. He has concluded a
year Of work in the graduate
4,000 Years in 40 Pages
division of the New York Uni-
versity School of Law as the
Robert Marshall Fellow in Civil
Beautiful
Liberties, concurrently earning
Gift Book
a Master of Laws degree in
At All Detroit
International Law.
Book Stores
Greene's principal duties will
consist of rendering advice on
legislative affairs, particularly
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