World Jewry Pays Tribute to Eisenhower

strongest points in its controversy
•
Former President Dwight D. w ith Egypt on the Gulf of Aqaba
Eisenhower, who will always have and the Suez.
a place in Jewish history as the
This memoire said: "With re-
"Liberator of Buchenwald," and spect to the Gulf or Aqaba and
who was always steadfast in his ' access thereto, t h e United
opposition to bigotry of any kind, States believes that the gulf com-
was deeply involved in the contro- , prehends international waters
versy over American policy toward and that no nation has the right
Israel following the invasion of to prevent free and innocent
the Sinai Peninsula by Great passage in the gulf and through
Britain, France and Israel in 1956. the straits giving access thereto.
And, speaking in Washington on We have in mind not only com-
Feb. 23, 1947 at the formal launch- mercial usage, but the passage
ing of the $170,000,000 United of pilgrims on religious mis-
Jewish Appeal campaign, then, sions, which should be fully re-
Gen. Eisenhower, who was the spected.
guest of honor, said that "Only
"In the absence of some over-
one who has seen, as I have, the riding decision to the contrary,
mental and physical effects of as by the international court of
savagery, repression and bigotry justice, the United States on be-
upon. the persecuted of Europe, half of vessels of United States
can realize the full need for the registry, is prepared to exercise
material help and encouragement the right of free and innocent
you propose to give."
passage and to join with others
He said that the UJA campaign to secure general recognition of
is " a demonstration of men united this right."
in mercy toward the stricken, an! When Israel did not withdraw
example that invites the world to from the Gaza Strip area and the
renew with increased zeal the Gulf of Aqaba, there was talk of
struggle against injustice, perse- Eisenhower administration sup-
cution and slavery."
port of a UN proposal that sanc-
The Sinai invasion, which was tions be leveled against Israel.
precipitated by Egyptian President Whether the President himself was
Gamal Abdel Nasser's closing of in favor of sanctions is not defi-
the Suez Canal, followed the action nitely known, but the pressure
of the Eisenhower administration from the UN was great. Legisla-
in canceling planned American tive leaders of both Republican
aid to Egypt to build the Aswan and Democratic parties came out
against sanctions, however.
Dam on the Nile River.
It was at the insistence of Eisen-
On March 1, 1957, Foreign Min-
hower and his secretary of state, ister Golda Meir of Israel, in a
John Foster Dulles, that the Eng- speech before the UN General As-
lish-French-Israeli forces vacated sembly, announced plans for •lull
the Suez area, a decision which and prompt withdrawal" of Israeli
was later sharply criticized by forces from the Sharm El-Sheikh
British Foreign Secretary Anthony area and the Gaza Strip in com-
Eden.
pliance with the UN resolution of
In his State of the Union mes- Feb. 2, 1957. This followed ac-
sage to Congress on Jan. 5, 1957, ceptance by "leading maritime
President Eisenhower said: "We powers" of the U. S. memorandum
have shown, so that none cal of Feb. 11, giving free and inno-
doubt, our dedication to the prin- cent passage in the gulf and
ciple that force shall not be used straits of Aqaba to all, and the
internationally for any aggressive setting up of the UN emergency
purposes and that the integrity force in the Straits of Tiran area
and independence of the nations following Israel's withdrawal.
of the Middle East should be in-
Following this decision, Presi-
violate."
dent Eisenhower wrote a letter
A little later, on Feb. 1, 1957, to Prime Minister David Ben-
John Foster Dulles made a state-1 Gurion, on March 2, expressing
ment in an aide memoire to Is-; gratification "at the decision of
rael's foreign minister, Abba! your government to withdraw
Eban, on the Gulf of Aqaba which promptly and fully behind the
has long been one of Israel's ' armistice lines."

(Special Dispatch to The Jewish News
From Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

In 1958, President Eisenhower
proposed a Middle East program
that would include a guarantee of
the frontiers of all Middle East
nations, including Israel. Dr.
Emanuel Neumann, now chairman
of the Jewish Agency—American
Section and then president of the
Zionist Organization of America,'
praised the plan as "a generous
proposal" but said that it would
be rejected by the Arabs and was
"likely to remain just a pious
wish."
In a statement to the 62nd an-
nual convention of the Zionist Or-
ganization of America on Sept. 11.
1959, President Eisenhower ex-
pressed his "hopes for a just and
productive peace in the Middle
East," and said that Americans
"can make our greatest contribu-
tion toward the attainment of this
goal by encouraging an atmos-
phere of mutual understanding
among the people of that area.
Only in such a climate can man-
kind's dream for progress and se-
curity be realized."
When President Eisenhower met
with Soviet Prime Minister Nikita
S. Khrushchev in September 1959.
he raised the question of the status
of Jews in Russia. President Eisen-
hower told the Soviet prime minis-
ter "of the concern that had been
expressed to him by represent
atives of the Jewish people in the
Soviet Union."
President Eisenhower received
a number of awards from Jewish
organizations. On Feb. 4, 1960,
he was honored by the Jewish
Theological Seminary of Amer-
ica when Chancellor Louis Fin-
kelstein presented the President
with a 100-year-old Tora Scroll
that had been brought to this
country in 1950 from a synagogue
in Hamburg, Germany.
The first "Judaism and Peace

Award of the Synagogue Council
of America" was given to Presi-
dent Eisenhower at the White

House on Dec. 16, 1960. In making
the award, Rabbi Max B, Davidson
said, "It signifies the climax of
your stewardship of our nation and
the free world through eight years
of your service and leadership as
president of the United States, and
your entire public service career."
On Sept. 23, 1959, PreSident
Eisenhower received the Bnai
Brith President's Medal for his

"positive efforts for peace on
freedom's terms—peace with jus-
tice and dignity." The presentation
was made in the White House by
Label A. Katz, then president of
Bnai Brith.
On March 10. 1960. President
Eisenhower was host to Prime

THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON

May 4,,1953

Dear Mr. Slomovitzt

I am glad to send greetings on the occasion of the
annual meeting of the American Association of
English-Jewish Newspapers.

Minister Ben-Gurion in a two-hour
talk at the White House. Ben-
Gurion expressed his fear about
the aid the Soviet Union was
giving to the United Arab Re-
public by building up its arma-
ments to a dangerous level. The
two-hour duration of the talk was
unusually long.
On March 17, 1968, President
Eisenhower urged Congress to
double the number of quota im-
migrants accepted each year and
to authorize the entrance an-
nually of at least 10,000 refugees
from oppression and persecution.
On June 9, 1967, in an interview
following publication of his book
"At Ease: Stories I Tell to My
Friends," he compared the Israel
military forces to "the patriots'
army who stuck it out through the
winter at Valley Forge."
Gen. Eisenhower, recalling the
one brigade of Palestinians who
fought under him in World War II,
said "They were great fighters. -
This was a reference to the Jewish
Legion attached to the British
Army.
In this interview, Gen. Eisen-
hower also recalled his shock in
discovering the hatred that existed
between the Arabs and the Jews
when American forces entered
North Africa in 194 2 , He said, "It
was shocking what we found out.
Jews could not be doctors and
lawyers, and were otherwise dis-
criminated against." .
He ordered some of the repres-
sive laws against Jews modified.
One day, a distinguished Jew-
ish leader came to him and
asked that he not move too swift-
ly in changing the practices, for
he feared a bloody pogrom
against the Jews might ensue.
Gen. Eisenhower then moved
more cautiously.
Following an outbreak of anti-
Semitic desecrations in the United
States, President Eisenhower in a
message to the National Confer-
ence of Christians and Jews ex-
pressed "regret that the virus of
bigotry seems to be ever present
in the body politic. We cannot ig-
nore it, nor can we allow it to
spread one inch."
In 1956 President Eisenhower
sent the late Eric Johnston as his
personal representative to settle a
controversy that had arisen be-
tween Israel on one side, and
Jordan and Syria on the other,
over the division of the irrigation
waters of the Jordan Valley. Later,
he wrote that while the plan was
"fair and satisfactory" and ap-
proved by engineers- and technical
advisers of both sides, "The ani-

mosity of the Arab political lead-
ers was such that they contempt-
uously kicked the proposal aside
without even letting their people
know it existed."
President Eisenhower's concern
for using atomic energy for desal-
ination and its application to the
Middle East stemmed from his
December 1953 Atoms for Peace
speech before the UN. Much of the
material had been prepared by
Atomic Energy Commission Chair-
man Admiral Lewis L. Strauss. In
1967, Gen Eisenhower and Ad-
miral Strauss came out publicly
for a plan for atomic desalting in
the Middle East that they saw as
helping to bring stability to the
area,
. Gen. Eisenhower, as chief of
staff of the US. Armed Forces
and later as President, always
demonstrated a genuine interest
in the National Jewish Welfare
Board. He wrote an introduction
to "Rabbis in Uniform," a 370-
page book published by the JWB,
which tells the story of the Jew-
ish clergy in the American mili-
tary chaplaincy. In it, he hailed
the military chaplains as "a living
symbol of those principles and
qualities which differentiate our
world of freedom from the world
of tyranny." He was presented
wtili a copy of the book which is
permanently housed in the Eisen-
hower Museum and Home in
Abilene, Kan.
President Eisenhower, on more
than one occasion, expressed inter-
est in the JWB's Jewish commu-
nity center movement which he
called "an asset of rare worth to
the life and developing civiliza-
tion of our America." On the oc-
casion of the 1956, 1958 and 1960
biennial conventions of JWB, he
hailed the agency for promoting
good citizenship at home and serv-
ing the needs of men and women
in the armed services at home and
abroad.
Also in the Eisenhower Museum
in Abilene is a bookshelf of 54
volumes representing a basic read-
ing list on the major aspects of
intergroup relations. It was pre-
sented to President Eisenhower in
the White House in 1960 by the
American Jewish Committee. The
occasion was the opening of the
AJCommittee's Institute of Human
Relations- . A citation presented
along with the volumes hailed the
President for "his firm defense of
religious liberty as a cornerstone
of democracy - . . for his inspiring
personal leadership and .his con-
stant devotion to the highest spirit-
ual and ethical values of- the
Judeo-Christian tradition."

Gen. Eisenhower Meeting with JWB Chaplains' Commission

One of the most effective sources of a democracy's
strength is the accurate presentation of the news
by a free press. 3y your service to your readers,
you make a lasting contribution toward the presen+
vation of the freedoms that have made our nation
strong.

I hope that all who attend the convention will return
to their jobs in a spirit of renewed determination
to guard with vigilance America's boundless heritage

of freedom.

Sincerely,

Yr. Philip Slomovitz

President
American Association of English -
Jewish Newspapers
708 David Stott Building
Detroit 26
Michigan

48 Friday, April 4, 1964•• ' • r

—

Upon being appointed chief of staff in 1945, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower received this delegation
from the National Jewish Welfare Board commission on Jewish chaplaincy. The historic meeting, which
symbolized Eisenhower's interest over the years in JWB's services to the Jewish military and- to Jewish
by (left to right) Chaplain Henry Travel; late Rabbi Community centers and YM-YWHAs, was attended
Barnet Bricker, chairman of the chaplaincy commission's executive committee; Rabbi David de Sola
Pool, chairman; Rabbi Louis Levitsky; Rabbi Philip Bernstein, who had just returned to his pulpit after
serving as executive director of the chaplaincy commission; Rabbi JosephLookstein . Rabble Solomon
Freehof; and Rabbi Aryeh Lev, who had just left active chaplaincy duty to become the
' new executive
, DETROIT IPNITN,NEWS. .
Pt tke.chiplaincY xvuunissiou.
.

„