THE

Jun'e . 1-1; 1976

prom Jiwisie NEWS

Purely Commentary

Agnew and His Jewish Friends

Was it because his one-time Jewish associates testified
against him that bribe-taken Spiro T. Agnew has assumed
the role of anti-Jew and anti-Israeli? Of course, he is not an
anti-Semite, since his major role now is as lobbyist for Is-
rael's enemies, Israelis' Semitic cousins.
Felon (is he only that, because this is the guy who al-
most filled Richard Nixon's seat in the White House?),
Spiro is damned clever. He manages to get a hearing in the
major media and suddenly he emerges as a leader in the
ranks of the haters of the Jews.
"Protect us from our friends," is an old saw, but his
earlier Jewish friends couldn't have realized that the man
they pushed as far as the U. S. Vice Presidential glory
would one day become a chief hater of Israel and Jews.
There are precedents for such experiences. Walter Hurd
once wrote a series of some 30 or more articles in the 1920s
glorifying Jews and Judaism. It was a collection in a large
tome and its distribution was backed by the Bnai Brith.
They did not sell enough books for him, so he became an
anti-Semite.
So, what's the story relating to Jews who were closely
aligned with Agnew? Describing his landsman Spiro Agnew
"as man without a memory," in the Baltimore Jewish
Times, M. Hirsh Goldberg wrote in part:

Spiro Agnew's campaign for Governor of Mary-
land was virtually a Jewish enterprise. The man
who agreed to run on his ticket as Comptroller — an
unenviable slot since it meant certain defeat against
the ever-popular Democrat Louis Goldstein — was
Charles Bressler, who later worked for him in An-
napolis and Washington. His advertising was
created and handled by Robert Goodman, who de-
veloped the theme that "Agnew is My Kind of
Man."
His speech-writer was Cynthia Rosenwald, a
Baltimore county housewife who liked to set up her
files with Yiddish markings (she later wrote
speeches for Agnew when he was Governor and Vice
President). Other assistants in the campaign were
Allen Fell, Chuck Bernstein and Joe Sachs. Even his
driver was Jewish, a young college student by the
name of Stanley Fine (who now heads Maryland's
Lottery).
Once, in discussions with Cynthia Rosenwald
about that campaign, she told me, "We were all
Jewish. Agnew used to laugh about it. He once said
he should have been Jewish."
Agnew's victory in that November election was
aided by a whopping Jewish vote, which supported
Agnew againstGeorge Mahoney who was running
an anti-black campaign that year.
As Vice President, Agnew continued to utilize
Jewish brains and talent. His chief of staff was Art
Sohmer, classified by one former staffer as Agnew's
"Sancho Panza." His advisor on scientific matters
was Jerome Wolff, who had been Agnew's chair-
man-director of the State Roads Commission in
Maryland. One of his major speechwriters was Wil-
liam Safire, who actually was the one to think up
many of the alliterative allegations that became Ag-
new's trademark. His press secretary was Victor
Gold, once termed by another Jewish member of Ag-
new's staff as "PMJ" — "Power Mad Jew."
Indeed, Agnew had so many Jews around him
that the Ku Klux Klan once attacked him for it in
the pages of its newsletter, "The Thunderbolt."
Underlying Agnew's rise from Baltimore
County Executive to just a heartbeat away from be-
coming our President was another Jew — I.H. Ham-
merman II. Meeting Agnew for the first time back in
1962, he and Agnew developed a close relationship,
with Hammerman entertaining Agnew, introducing
him to substantial political contributors and giving
him large gifts. In Agnew's gubernatorial campaign
of 1966, Hammerman was one of his original backers
and devoted considerable time and energy to the

The Agony of Agnew and the Freedoms Granted Felonious
Characters by the Media .. . The Age of the Magna Carta
When Anti-Semitism Was Rampant Even With Jews in Absentia

campaign. As Robert Goodman once told me while
Agnew was still Vice President, "Agnew might not
have happened without Bud Hammerman. Without
Bud Hammerman, Agnew might still be Baltimore
County Executive."
The irony is that it was the testimony of Ham-
merman, 'along with Jerome Wolff and engineering
firm president Lester Matz, about illegal payoffs
that eventually brought Agnew down, but each of
these men suffered as much if not more than Agnew
in that precipitous fall from high place. Indeed,
these men had been successful in their own right be-
fore teaming up with Agnew, while it was Agnew
who benefitted the most — not only financially, but
politically — by his association with men who pro-
vided him with the counsel and help to rise to power.

You can't stop an anti-Semite: this is the democratic
way of giving all the right to speak and to write. But why
do the media, press, radio and television, provide excessive
freedoms to bigots, to haters, to felons, to bribe-takers, to
guys who might have been in jail had not our judicial sys-
tem been as lenient as it is? But even in jail Spiro would
have gotton a platform. That's our way of life. So, we blame
the media for stupidities.
Does the public resent the sensationslism of building
up a felon? The media get away with murder on that score.
When they fail to edcuate and instead seek the abnormal,
the sensations, with which to capture the printed pages and
the airways, it's a gloomy outlook for those seeing perpetua-
tion of the American ideal of fair play.

History's Ugly Lessons
History's lessons have their variations and their fascin-
ations. It is well to learn from the past.
The borrowing of the Magna Carta document from
Great Britain for display to American audiences provides
an opportunity to study the lessons of the great guide to
freedom for all liberty- and justice-loving people.
One Jewish writer, the editor of the Brooklyn Jewish
Journal, thinks the Magna Carta should be boycotted. He
found there a phrase that he interpreted as anti-Semitic.
Before the document arrived in this country he wrote in his
paper:
As a schoolboy we were led to believe that the
Magna Carta was the embodiment and keystone of
"truth, justice, freedom, equality and the whole
schmere." Today, we discover it is an "infamous
document' and an insult to the Jews.
Furthermore, we take umbrage at the fact that
Congress is spending nearly a quarter of a million
dollars to send a delegation of 25 members, their
wives and staff to London to pick up a copy of this
document so it can be displayed in Washington dur-
ing the Bicentennial celebration.
It should be told that the Magna Carta contains
a provision that "Jews could not collect any debts
owed them." That was signed in 1215, and some of
us realize that in the economy of 1976, that philoso-
phy seems to extend today.
But seriously, the Magna Carta is an "anti-
Semitic' tract and we've appointed ourself a com-
mittee of one to campaign against its being brought
here and displayed in honor.
Prof. Goldwin Smith of the Wayne State University de-
partment of history reacts negatively to such a view. He
disputes it and he proves his point in an article in
"American Political Science Review (December, 1973) in
which he reviewed Anne Pallister's "Magna Carta: The Her-
itage of Liberty." He calls attention to the key paragraphs:
If any one has taken anything whether much or
little, by way of loan from Jews, and if he dies be-
fore that debt is paid, the debt shall not carry usury
so long as the heir is under age, from whomsoever he
may hold. And if that debt falls into our hands, we
will take only the principal contained in the note.
And if any one dies owing a debt to Jews, his
wife shall have her dowry and shall pay nothing on
that debt. And if the said deceased is survived by
children who are under age, necessities shall be pro-

By Philip
Slomovitz

vided for them in proportion to the tenement that be-
longed to the deceased; and the debt shall be paid
from the remainder, saving the service of the lords.
In the same way let action be taken with regards to
debts owed to others besides Jews.

Prof. Smith also calls attention to Articles 39 and 40 in
the Magna Carta which reject unbalanced bigotry. These
articles read:
No freeman shall be captured or imprisoned or
disseised (sic) or outlawed or exiled or in any way
destroyed, nor will we go against him or send
against him, except by the lawful judgment of his
peers by the law of the land.
To no one will we sell, to no one will we deny or
delay right of justice.
Of special interest in this connection is an added note
from Prof. Smith who calls attention to "Anti-Semitic Ster-
eoptypes Without Jews" by Rabbi Bernard Glassman, pub.:
lished by Wayne State University University Press
re-
minder of the spirit of the times during which tht
.gna
Carta developed into an historic experience. What Prof.
Smith was to learn was that this columnist had reviewed
the Glassman book in The Jewish News, in the Feb. 13, 1976
issue. Glassman's splendid analysis of conditions in Greal,
Britain included promulgation of the ritual murder, libel,
instigation of the horrible yellow badge and other prejudi-
cial acts. It was under such conditions that liberty material-
ized and in effect the overall aim was to establish a just code
for all.
s Jews had been expelled from England. But even in their
absence, because it was the Christian heritage to persecute
Jews, restrictions were imposed, church sermons were
filled with venom against the people whose very Psalms
were simultaneously recited, and the authors of the Magna
Carta were saints not to have injected more violent lan-
guage in their creative libertarian tasks. Rabbi Glassman's
book adequately describes this aspect of anti-Jewish atti-
tudes in the England of Magna Carta times.
A minor blemish, in an era of bigotry and anti-Semitic
horrors, is understandable. The British emerged from the
cumulative hatreds as freedom lovers. Their rulers did not
always practice it. As colonizers they often were brutal, as
rulers of Palestine they failed to adhere to pledges to the
Jewish people, and the latW emerged to sovereignty in
spite of the brutality inherent in colonization practices and
the partisanships that were practiced against Jews in favor
of the Arabs.
The Magna Carta as such is the document of glory and
small blemishes do not negate it.

Rabbi Philip Goodman's Notable
Record as Jewish Anthologist
Rabbi Philip Goodman has rendered such impressive"
services that anthological labors are certain to serve as
guides for Jews seeking information about their history as
traditions for decades to come.
Rabbi Goodman's retirement as executive director of
the Jewish Book Council, an important Jewish Walfare
Board agency, is an occasion for an expression of gratitude
to a brilliant scholar for the contributions he has made t
Jewish literature and to research in gathering for publica-
tion valuable literary gems.
His series of eight anthologies on the Jewish festivals
issued in the course of the last decade by the Jewish Publi-
cation Society have added immensely to an appreciation o
the traditions, laws, home and synagogue observances of
the major festivals.
In a sense, these antholigies preserved the best in hu
mor, poetry, short stories and the culinary arts for the En-
glish-reading Jews who took advantage of the skills of col- -
lecting valuable literary material by an eminent scholar, by
acquiring the books he has produced with much love an
great devotion.
treat
Rabbi Goodman has authored other works
ates.
merit, including a collection of notable Book Placs
All of his literary products merit large reading audiences.
Those who have benefited so much from his literary
creativity surely welcome the opportunity to acclaim him
and his works at this time.

A Potpourri . . . Non-Jews Are Making News in Israeli Media

BY MOSHE RON

Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent

JERUSALEM — Hospi-
tals in Israel have been re-
ceiving sick people from
Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait,
Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and
even Saudi Arabia recently.
A few days ago, a rich
woman from Egypt, Padua
Kurdie, was brought to
Hadassah Hospital. She
came with her son who is a
doctor in Cairo. She had to
undergo a severe heart oper-

:

,

ation. The Israeli govern-
ment issued tourist visas for
the Egyptian doctor and his
mother. The Egyptian gov-
ernment helped him and his
mother to go to Israel.
The operation succeeded.
The Egyptian woman was
full of praise for the Israeli
doctors and nurses who
saved her life. The hospital
employed Arab speaking
nurses during their stay in
the hospital.
The woman had been
treated for months by Egyp-

_

•t.

I , • 1 s v 1 1 ; ;

tian doctors without suc-
cess. The son said, that after
this successful experiment
other members of the fam-
ily and friends will come to
Israel to seek medical help.
The sick people in Arab
countries listen to a special
program on Israeli Radio in
Arabic about health prob-
gems and because of this
program many sick people
from Arab countries come
to Israel to help.
A bedouin soldier in the
Israeli Army has received

the highest Israeli decora-
tion for bravery. Sergeant
Ibrahim El Turshan
showed special bravery
after he had been taken
prisoner by the Egyptians
during the Yom Kippur
War. He was severely tor-
tured and told to betray
military secrets. For six
weeks he was blindfolded.
He was told that he would
be court-martialed and
was shown the rope by
which he would be exe-
cuted.

He maintained that he
was a tractor driver, and did
not reveal that he was a
scout and expert in distin-
guishing footsteps in the
desert.
A young Druze, a former
sergeant in the Israeli Army
of the village Doliat El Car-
mel, has created a Zionist
circle in his village.
Yussuf Nasser E Din be-
lieves the Jewish people
have historic rights to Eretz
Israel and that the Druze
live as equal citizens in Is-

rael, whose govern:*-, has
done a lot for them inthe
fields of education, health,
development of -villages
supplying public services
and building roads an
apartments.
The chairman of the Zion
ist Council in Israel, Arye
Zimuki, visited Daliat El
Carmel and praised the ini-
tiative of the young Druz?
They promised to assist in
translating the works of
Zionist leaders and form
joint Zionist circle.

