EDITORIAL
Goldberg's Altruism
T
he death of Arthur Goldberg last Friday was the death of a devoted
public servant, of a man who was passionate about his Judaism — and of
one of the last architects of old-fashioned, mid-20th century liberalism.
Goldberg's involvement in public affairs spanned many decades and many
offices. As a labor lawyer in Chicago, he became both a champion of the New
Deal and of unionism. During the Second World War, he headed the Office of
Strategic Services' labor division and helped set up secret operations with anti-
Fascist union chiefs in Nazi-held territories. After the war, he was, among other
things, the chief negotiator in the merger between the Congress of Industrial
Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL).
President Kennedy named Goldberg his Secretary of Labor, and President
Johnson first appointed him to the Supreme Court and then asked him to step
off the bench to be the United States' ambassador to the United Nations.
Goldberg resigned from the ambassadorial post in 1968 when he broke with the
Johnson Administration over escalating the war in Vietnam.
Serving at the United Nations long troubled Goldberg. Yet, in a sense, this
was his finest hour. The decision underlined the fact that Arthur Goldberg was
a public servant in the very best sense of that word. He placed duty to the nation
above self-aggrandizement, service to the people above a permanent niche on
the highest court in the land.
The altruism which Goldberg epitomized seems, sadly, to be going out of
style in America. But it is reassuring to know that there was a time —and a man
— that could muster such selflessness. Arthur Goldberg's life should serve as a
model for Americans in the 1990s.
Dole Dead Wrong
R
obert Dole was dead wrong when he proposed last week that funds can
be secured for aid to Eastern Europe by cutting foreign aid to the five
nations receiving the largest share of U.S. assistance.
The senator's idea is to cut by five percent the aid going to Israel, Egypt, the
Philippines, Turkey and Pakistan. These five countries receive a total of $7.1
billion — 49 percent of all U.S. foreign aid. Together, Israel and Egypt, the top
two recipients of American aid, receive 37 percent of all assistance. Israel
receives slightly over $3 billion and Egypt receives $2.1 billion.
Moving to Eastern Europe about $357 million of these five nation's
American aid would, asserts Sen. Dole, "consolidate and expand freedoms'
gains and, at the same time, enhance America's security and economic poten-
tial." Perhaps, senator. But it would also weaken those very nations that most
need foreign aid and without which they could conceivably fall to the very forces
— military or political — which this aid is intended to buttress them against.
Israel, for example, despite all the talk of a newly moderated Palestine Lib-
eration Organization, is still surrounded by hostile Arab states that (with the
lone exception of Egypt) are technically at war with it. Five Arab nations have
chemical weapons and ballistic missiles that threaten Israel's civil centers.
Arab air forces outnumber Israel's by a 4:1 ratio. Arab tanks outnumber Israel's
by a 4.5:1 ratio. Syrian and Iraqi military forces outnumber those of France,
England or West Germany.
Also, Israel is now bearing some of the brunt of the liberalization sweeping
the Soviet Union, the very liberalization that is making possible the reforms in
the Warsaw Bloc nations and which have persuaded Sen. Dole to revamp the
foreign aid formula. As many as 100,000 Soviet Jews are expected to move to
Israel this year. In a nation whose resources are already strained, Israel can
little afford the $151.9 million cut proposed by Dole.
The pro-democratic revolution sweeping eastern Europe is exciting and
historic. But with it comes a threat that geographic tunnel vision will set in;
that America will forget that its mission is a global one, not one limited to the
nations that have been under Communist domination since the end of the Se-
cond World War.
There are other ways to boost U.S. aid to eastern Europe than to slash the
monies now going to badly needed U.S. allies.
Now is the time to shrink a bloated Pentagon accustomed to spending hun-
dreds of dollars on toilet seats. It is not the time to endanger the survival of our
allies most in need.
6
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LETTERS
Letters Illustrate
Need For Coalition
I would like to commend
The Jewish News for its arti-
cle "Greater Detroit Jewish
Coalition for Peace in the
Middle East." (Dec. 29) The
letters written in response to
the article provide an even
stronger argument for the
necessity of such a coalition.
In the past few years, it has
become evident that in-
dividuals in organizations
that align themselves with
the Likud Party and to the
right have proclaimed
themselves sole legitimate
spokesmen for the Zionist
community. We often hear
that anyone not supporting
their point of view is
anti-Israel.
What is important to
remember is that the Israeli
population itself is split fair-
ly evenly between those who
support Likud policies and
the right, and those who sup-
port Labor and the left. Those
in the Labor Party who sup-
port "land for peace" and
negotiations with the
Palestine Liberation
Organization can hardly be
called traitors or fringe
elements. For the past few
years, many of us have listen-
ed to Israeli speakers from
the Labor Party, RATZ and
Peace Now, who are concern-
ed about the conservative
nature of the organized
American Jewish community
and ask that the peace
perspective be publicized. It is
for this reason that a local
coalition was formed.
The coalition is not limited
to the five founding organiza-
tions. We encourage other
Jewish organizations that
believe the Israeli peace
perspective should be heard
to join us in our educational
activities. As is true of any
coalition, we are a combina-
tion of diverse Jewish
organizations that do not
necessarily agree on many
issues. We have all agreed,
however, that publicizing the
peace perspective is impor-
tant enough to work together
despite our differences.
Sheryl King
Labor Zionist Alliance
representative, the Greater Detroit
Jewish Coalition for Peace in the
Middle East
Arbitration Was
Essential To 1-696
I was astounded to find that
The Jewish News 1-696 sec-
tion article titled "The Road
Begins" contained no men-
tion of the arbitration process
by which the route of 1-696
between Lahser Road and
Woodward Avenue was decid-
ed. Without the arbitration
decision, the road could not
have been constructed.
Your article correctly
disclosed that the efforts of
the Michigan Highway
Department to obtain agree-
ment for the road route had
come to a dead end. As long
as Lathrup Village,
Southfield, Huntington
Woods, Oak Park, Royal Oak
and Pleasant Ridge would not
agree to a route, the construc-
tion could not begin. To end
this deadlock, the Michigan
legislature enacted an enabl-
ing statute authorizing the
governor to appoint an ar-
bitration board to hear the
disputes and decide the route.
Gov. Romney appointed a
three-person arbitration
board with myself as chair-
man. The function of the
board was not a mere
formality.
Lathrup Village and Plea-
sant Ridge took their claims
to court and until the litiga-
tion was concluded, no work
Continued on Page 12