THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Friday, December 17, 1976 5

Blumenthal's Record on Israel Is Questionable

Werner Michael Blu-
menthal, President-Elect
Jimmy Carter's choice to
be secretary of the treas-
ury, is not considered a
proponent of Israel de-
spite his Jewish
background.
Blumenthal heads the
Southfield-based Bendix
Corp. and lives in Ann
Arbor. Although Blu-
menthal is reported to be
among _the most liberal
U.S. business executives
in the hiring of
-
Bendix has a
,.vy record of corn-
pi- lance with the Arab
boycott in its dealings
with Saudi Arabia.
Although they did not
follow Judaism, Blu-
menthal's family is of
Jewish ancestry. The
family reportedly con-
verted to Protestantism
during Hitler's rise to
power and were described
as "non-practicing, sec-
ularized" Jews before
that.
Blumenthal is a bap-
tized Presbyterian.
Blumenthal's father
spent three months in
Buchenwald before the
family fled Germany
aboard a Japanese ship in
1939. They landed in
Shanghai, which required
no entry papers, and were
assisted by the Jewish
Joint Distribution Com-
mittee for several years.
The Blumenthals were
placed in a Japanese con-
centration camp in 1943
after Shanghai was over-
run, and were not re-
leased until 1945. They
came to the United States
in 1947.
After completing three
semesters at San Fran-
cisco City College, Blu-
menthal was admitted to
the University of Califor-
nia at Berkeley. He
graduated Phi Beta
Kappa from the business
school with a major in in-
ternational finance. He

earned his Phll at -Prince-

funded United Nations
Association of the United
States.
According to Dr. Wil-
liam Haber, president of
the World ORT Union, ad-
viser to the executive of-
ficers of the University of
Michigan and an associate
on several state panels and
neighbor of Blumenthal's,
the Secretary-Designate
"is not unfriendly to Is-
rael."
In a 1975 letter, Dr.
Haber writes, "I believe
that with (Secretary of

State Henry) Kissinger
he is of the view that time
is not on the side of Israel
and the sooner there will
be some certainty of Is-
rael's political survival
the better.
"I have not come across
anywhere where Blu-
menthal has been 'out-
spokenly' unfriendly to
Israel.
"I like him very well
and we are both members
of the Michigan Council
on Economic Action ap-
pointed jointly by the
Governor and the legisla-

ture."
Carter, in announcing
the appointment Tues-
day, referred to Blu-
menthal as "Mike."

And God said to the
woman: "He shall rule over
thee." (Genesis 3.)

N.

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■

W. M. BLUMENTHAL

ton where he taught for a
short time.
Blumenthal in 1957
joined the staff of Crown
Cork International, a
maker of bottle caps with
several foreign sub-
sidiaries.
He was named assistant
secretary of state for
economic affairs under the
Kennedy Administration.
but in 1963 became-special
ambassador for trade and
chairman of the U.S. trade
delegation that completed
the "Kennedy round"
trade package in Geneva
in 1967.
Blumenthal joined
Bendix that year as pres-
ident of Bendix tnterna-
tional, but remained busy
with "unofficial" efforts
on behalf of the United
States in Russia and
China.
Blumenthal made four
missions to Moscow in
1973 and 1974 to discuss
European security, the
Mideast, nuclear
weapons and trade. His
collaborators on these
missions included Cyrus
Vance, Carter's choice as
secretary - of state,
Charles Yost, former U.S.
ambassador to the UN
and George Ball, former
undersecretary of state.
During those same two
years Blumenthal also
headed the. privately-

?)0 61)7)(5

4

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