David Hermelin will assume his new mission on Jan. I.

,Hermelin learned the White House
was on the phone with a question of
its own. A senior staff assistant was
asking Hermelin if he'd consider an
ambassadorship. The mission would
take him to Norway.
It was in Oslo that the Rabin gov-
ernment met secretly with the
Palestinians to forge negotiations.
Those talks turned into a peace
rocess, which became accords signed
on the White House lawn. Hermelin
was invited to witness the event.
Hermelin's relationship with the
Clinton administration began in 1988
when he met the former Arkansas gov-
ernor at a Democratic governor's con-
ference on Mackinac Island.

"I was impressed with this young,
handsome man from Arkansas,"
Hermelin said. "I was seated at a table
with him. He was interested in pro-
grams of education. We also talked
about ORT [Hermelin served as World
ORT Union president] and vocational
training. He was concerned about the
rise of the right wing. So was I."
Hermelin next heard from Clinton
during the 1992 Democratic presiden-
tial primary campaign. The candidate
asked for his support.
"I asked him if he was going to
win," Hermelin said. "He said, 'Yes.' I
asked him if that was a promise,
because I was ready to take my support
of a candidate to a new level. I was

concerned at the power of the far
right.
"This was bigger even than my per-
sonal agenda for Israel. [It was about]
America, and how it was going to look
in the future.
"I've had plenty of people tell me
that I'm one in a million. But when
you meet Bill Clinton, and he looks
you in your eye and tells you you're the
one, you want to work for him.
"When I was asked to be ambas-
sador, I just shook," Hermelin said.
"I've never been at a loss for words,
but I didn't know what to say —
'Thank you'? Everything goes on in
your mind and you swell up with emo-
tions."

Hermelin talks about his Polish
Jewish heritage, about how proud his
late father, Irving, would be. America
is one of the few countries where a Jew
could receive such an honor, he said.
For 30 years, Hermelin has been
involved in politics. He has done, as he
called it, "plenty of stamp licking."
The one-worry local leaders have is
what will happen when David
Hermelin leaves. There is, they say, no
one to replace him.
"We have to be very proud that we
produced this type of leader here in
Detroit," Joel Tauber said. "But it does
create a void. David is such a con-
tributing member to the Detroit
Jewish community. The community

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1997

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