Purely Commentary Bigotry and Snap Judgments Were Denigrated in One of Most Dramatic Cases in U. S. By Philip Slomovitz Jewish Scientists Still Significant in Soviet Union Taft was in constant correspondence with Gus J. Karger, veteran The Dramatic Louis D. Brandeis Story correspondent in Washington for the Cincinnati Times-Star which Few contestants over a Presidential appointment attracted so much was owned by Taft's half-brother Charles. Karger kept Taft fully in- NEW YORK (JTA) — Jews still attention as the selection of Louis D. Brandeis for the United States formed on the trend of events in the nation's capital. The letters account for a high fraction of the Supreme Court by President Woodrow Wilson. It became "a Jewish of Taft to Karger quoted by Todd indicate the extent of Taft's dis- Soviet case;" it involved leaders in both political parties; it was a battle be- like for Brandeis, his "emotional outpouring," his having been mad- leading scientists in the tween conservatives and liberals; and it was primarily a challenge to dened by Wilson's "drawing to himself the veneration of American Union as indicated by the num- bers of Jewish names among the the sense of fair play of the American people. Jewry." lists of persons nominated for Although nearly half a century has passed since the issue was "What stung Taft most," Todd states, "was the fact that Bran- created by the determined will of President Wilson to see his appoint- delis had never been a faithful son of Israel. He had hardly ever step- election to the Soviet Academy of Science, it was reported in the ment through, no matter what the consequences, it remains a cause ped inside a synagogue. Only in the past two years of war had he celebre that will remain among • the most sensational battles between become identified with Zionism, through the movement for relief New York Times. a President and Congress in the history of our nation. While Jews constitute about 1.5 of masses of Jewish refugees made homeless in the war-torn Turk- A revival of interest in the case by the appearance of "Justice ish, Austrian, and Russian empires. Surely Gus Karger, a conser- per cent of the population of the on Trial — The Case of Louis D. Brandeis," by A. L. Todd (published Soviet Union, well over 10 per vative, thoroughly Americanized, Midwestern German Jew, would by McGraw Hill Book Co., 330 W. 36th, NY 36) is assured. cent of the persons nominated to understand." Todd, incidentally, is the author of the most interesting account Senator Lodge had denied that there was anti-Jewish bias in full membership or corresponding of the Greeley Arctic Expedition, 1881-1884, under the title "Abandon- the opposition to Brandeis. But the campaign took on a vile anti- membership in the Academy, ap- ed" (also published by McGraw-Hill, in Semitic tone. Todd quotes a letter written to Taft by Homer Albers, pear to be Jewish. 1961), which recalled the fascinating story Dean of Boston University Law School. Albers wrote: Academy membership is con- of the young Michigan Jewish astronomer. "Have you heard this one? What is the difference between Willi- am H. Taft and Louis D. Brandeis? Why, the former is dinstinguished sidered the highest mark of rec- Sgt. Edward Israel. ognition of achievement among Todd's "Justice on Trial" is, in a sense, in Jurisprudence, and the latter in Jewish prudence!" Soviet scientists. Todd's comment at this point is: "It was the kind of joke that study in American politics. It throws light not only on the genius of one of America's William Howard Taft did not find funny." Of the 103 persons nominated It is at this point that Todd has a minor error in his search into most distinguished Jews but reopens a chap- for election to full membership ter in history in which William Howard Taft Jewish reactions. To quote Todd: in the academy, 16 have Jewish "A somewhat different form of Jewish prudence, which Albers figured prominently; which describes a fa- equoated with Memphistophelian cunning, had actually impelled a num- names. Of the 438 persons nom- mous case that was handled by Brandeis ber of wealthy and conservative Jews during the committee impasse which may have caused the failure of Presi- inated for election as corre- dent Taft to be re-elected; which re-intro- to suggest to Wilson that he withdrew the Brandeis nomination. sponding members, 58 have Jew- Mainly men of property and position, like Louis Marshall and Jacob duces the dynamic personality of Theodore had taken ish names, the Times reported. Schiff, this group had boiled with rage at the way Brandeis Roosevelt. the leadership of the Zionist movement away from them in the few It is suggested by Todd that because it The percentages of Jewish Louis D. Brandeis years since he had taken an interest in specifically Jewish affairs. would have taken only 1983 votes from Wilson to Charles Evans Hughes to give the California electorial Terribly fearful that the controversy over the Brandeis nomination names among the nominees ap- votes to the latter and to take away the Presidency from Wilson that would give rise to new manifestations of anti-Semitism, these few con- pears to be highest in the fields of Brandeis' confirmation resulted directly in Wilson's re-election. It is servasives counseled retreat. While Morgenthau looked forward to chemistry, mathematics and phys- a reasonable guess, because Wilson became a hero among American Brandeis on the Supreme Court as a step toward the Jews' full partici- ics and lowest in geology, biology Jews for his courageous insistence upon his Jewish friend's ascension pation in American democracy, the timid deplored the nomination be- and some of the humanities. While cause the uproar it caused was upsetting their gradualist plans for eight of the 32 persons nominated to the Supreme Court. And it is equally reasonable to assume that Todd is right gaining status. -Wilson at first could not understand such an attitude. for full membership in the fields when he states that Brandeis' legal inquiries into the charges that Josephus Daniels explained it to him in terms of an old Southern story of mathematics and physics ap- about a Negro woman carrying a basket of live crabs on her head. pear to be Jewish, none of the Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard A. Ballinger, was abandon- ing the national policy of conservation "had set the stage for the No, suh, she wasn't afraid those crabs would crawl out and pinch her. nine geologists or eight biologists B'cause if one of them did try to get out, the other crabs would sho' appears to be a Jew. election disaster in 1912" and led to the split in the Republican party pul him back in! These prudent, self-appointed leaders of the Ameri- by the formation of Theodore Roosevelt's Party, the election of Among the Jews nominated for can Jews, Daniels assured the President, were just trying to pull Wilson and the defeat of Taft. Brandeis stayed in the background during the struggle in which Brandeis back into his proper place in the basket. Wilson laughed at full membership are two mathema- ticians, Izrail Moiseyevich Gelfand Senator Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts, President A. Lawrence Daniels' anecdote and paid no more attention to the counsel of the and Mark Grigorievich Krein. Lowell of Harvard and a number of other prominent men played rather timid." The implied struggle over Zionist leadership is, of course, an er- Among the physicists nominated nefarious roles. Senator William Edgar Borah, who voted against Brandeis' confirmation. later reportedly deeply regretted his mistake. ror. Marshall and Schiff were not Zionists, and if there was a griev- are Benzion Moiseyevich Vul, Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg, Gersh Todd's recapitulation of the historic case is complete in most de- ance it was against Brandeis' Zionism. Morgenthau, too, as is well known, was a violent anti-Zionist. But Itskovich Budker and Isaak Yako- tails. It is not a biography of Brandeis. yet it throws light on the re- markable character of the man. He stayed out of the fray, and except he was a close friend of Wilson, had represented Wilson as Ambas- vlevich Pomeranchuk. for meeting socially with two of the Senators whose votes were need- sador in Turkey and had just returned to this country to assist in Wil- ed for confirmation (Hoke Smith of Georgia and Jim Reed of Mis- son's campaing for re-election. Morganthau arranged for a meeting souri), he made no statements, did not refute any of the malicious with Brandeis and suggested that- he refuse the high court nomina- Philadelphia Day School statements that were made against him, and let the case rest on the tion and instead run for the Senate against Lodge. Brandeis decided Is Federation Agency evidence that was gathered by the Senate Judiciary Committee. It to stick it out with the court nomination and Wilson concurred. PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — The Todds' story is remarkable from many points of view. In the long run, it proves that the sense of decency is stronger than prejudice. Solomon Schechter Day School has The American spirit is vindicated. In the course of relating one of been admitted to the Federation the most dramatic stories in American history. Todd provides proof of Jewish Agencies as a constitu- that the craving for fair play predominates. The Brandeis story has a ent agency. The school, which has great lesson for Americans. A maligned man emerged as one of the 148 pupils pursuing Hebraic and most brilliant jurists in our history. Bigotry often stands in the way of secular studies from kindergarten a country's benefiting from genius. And in Brandeis' case there also to the sixth grade. will receive were snap judgments by his opponents. Both were denigrated by his- support from the Allied Jewish tory's verdict in the case of the great jurist who also was one of the Appeal, effective with the 1965 campaign. world's most distinguished Zionists. `Moon-Clock' Introduced at Technion by Yank Theodore Roosevelt William Howard Taft Woodrow Wilson was the last minute appearance at the committee meeting of Senator John Knight Shields of Tennessee to vote in favor of Brandeis that assured the 10-8 vote that clinched the appointment for the eminent Jewish attorney who was by that time the acknowledged leader of he American Zionist movement. Senator Lodge had claimed that Theodore Roosevelt was "pretty throuoghly. against" Brandeis, but Todd maintains that he could find no evidence to substantiate this claim. While President Lowell of Harvard rallied a few hundred associ- ates as signatories to a statement opposing and condemning Bran- deis, the overwhelming Harvard student and graduate sentiment was pro-Brandeis. Felix Frankfurter, then professor of law at Harvard; President-Emeritus of Harvard Charles W. Eliot, the distinguished attorney Arthur D. Hill. who advised Senator Lodge not to oppose the nomination, and others, strongly supported the Jewish nominee for the High Court. (Lowell's role was especially nefarious. When he was asked for proof of his charges against Brandeis, he could not provide it, but he stuck to his prejudice. It was a prejudice that persisted through the years. as was indicated many years later in charges in Jewish News Purely Commentary column of April 6, 1945, that was nationally syn- dicated and widely quoted). The New York Times was among the newspapers that joined the opposition to Brandeis and treated him shabbily, but upon Brandeis' retirement the most effusive praise came from that news- paper. But there were editors in many parts of the country who detected the political shams and endorsed President Wilson's choice. Chief among the pragmatists in American journalism in defense of Brandeis was the Christian Science Monitor. Major in the Todd resume of the famous Brandeis case is the role that was played by William Howard Taft. The former President had hoped for the appointment for himself. He was to he named to the Supreme Court several years later by President Warren Gamaliel Harding. Wilson's selection of Brandeis infuriated him and he was chief malcontent. He gave comfort to the opponents of Brandeis. - - THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, June 19, 1964 2 The world's only "Moon-Clock," plorers the position of the earth, a time piece for lunar explorers, its phase as seen from the moon, w a s unveiled by t h e Technion, the altitude of the sun and its posi_ Israel Institute of Technology. It tion above or below the horizon. was brought to Israel by its in- Unorothodox in design, the ventor and designer, Dr.. I. M. Lev- "Moon-Clock" had to be built with itt, director of the Fels Planetar- some of the following conditions ium in Philadelphia, renowned in mind: American astronomer and inter- 1. A full day on the moon is nationally syndicated space colu- equal to 29 1/2 earth days in mnist. length. The development of the clock is 2. Daylight on the moon lasts considered of importance because for 14 3/i earth days, and there of U. S. plans to put a man on the are 143/4 earth days in one lunar moon within the next six years. night. Dr. Levitt feels that his clock could 3. Travelling east or west on help to keep the first lunar ex- the moon makes it necessary to plorers in tune with earth time correct the "Moon-Clock." Tray- while living in the subterranean caves or shelters which will be their first home during their stay on the moon. NEW YORK (JTA)—An associa- Since the first men on the moon will be living in subterranean tion of Negro clergymen endorsed shelters to protect them from the the unarmed car patrols organized bombardment o f radiations a n d by Hassidic Jews in the crime-rid- meterorites coming from space, it is considered a good idea to give den Crown Heights section of the lunar explorers a visual dis- Brooklyn. The group, representing 72 Ne- play which will permit them to gro churches in Brooklyn and Long know the appearance of the sky. Compact and relatively light Island, pledged the participation weight, the "Moon-Clock" has two of the Negro congregations in the dials, one of which shows Green- fight against crime in New York wich time on earth, while the City. The Rev. B. J. Lowry, chair- other shows local time for any man of the group, the Ministers particular point on the moon. In Movement of Brooklyn and Long addition, it can give lunar ex- ,Island, denied that Negroes would elling north or south does not re- quire any correction. 4. The earth, except for a slight up and down and east and west motion, remains stationary in the lunar sky. The • "Moon-Clock" was built by Martin M. Decker, Philadelphia in- dustrialist and long-thne friend of the Technion. Dr. Levitt is president of the Philadelphia Chapter of the Am- erican Technion Society. The American astronomer prev- iously invented and designed a "Mars-Clock," as well as clocks for time dilation, which shows the change in time as the speed of light is approached. Negroes Endorse Hassidic Patrols sponsor their own roving patrols. He said that the number of Ne- groes taking part in the roving radio-equipped cars of the Hassidic Jews would be increased. The endorsement was considered significant because Negro groups in the area initially indicated a belief that the Hassidic patrols, originally called the Maccabees, might be a vigilante effort aimed at Negroes. The Negroes now say that the citizens patrols are help- ing to reduce crimes in the com- munity. About 20 Negroes are now riding in the patrols.