Fisher with
Israeli Prime
Minister
Menachem
Begin, 1981
Fisher with Israeli Prime
Minister Golda Meir, 1972
occasion, receive visitors. Fisher, upon
entering the house, was directed to the
porch. After Fisher presented his proposal,
Eisenhower promised that he would make
every effort to attend the ceremony.
Their talk turned to the Middle East, with
Eisenhower recalling the 1956 Suez Crisis.
In July of that year, Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel Nasser declared that he was
nationalizing the Suez Canal. The French
devised a covert plan to attack Egypt, con-
vincing the British and Israelis to join them.
The plan unfolded in October, and
Eisenhower was livid. He had been tricked
by his allies, and he thought their strategy
would invite the Soviet Union into the fray
and the United States would be forced to
bail everyone out. By November,
Eisenhower, using a variety of arm-twisting
tactics, including the termination of all U.S.
governmental aid and philanthropic assis-
tance to Israel, forced the invaders from the
Canal Zone.
A number of contemporary histories of the
era recorded that Eisenhower never regretted
his decision. Fisher, though, on that October
afternoon in Gettysburg, would hear a differ-
ent story. Evidently, the ensuing decade had
provided an opportunity for Eisenhower to
reflect. For as Fisher's conversation with him
drew to a close, the former president wistfully
commented: "You know, Max, looking back at
Suez, I regret what I did. I never should have
pressured Israel to evacuate the Sinai."
Fisher was astonished by the statement.
Then, almost as an afterthought,
Eisenhower revealed another startling
facet of his reconsideration, and in doing
so, he clarified the course of Fisher's polit-
ical career.
"Max," Eisenhower said, "if I'd had a
Jewish adviser working for me, I doubt I
would have handled the situation the
same way. I would not have forced the
Israelis back."
Eisenhower's statement struck Fisher with
the impact of epiphany. If Fisher had been
unsure of the extent of power that an unoffi-
cial adviser could wield with a president, he
now had his answer and from an unim-
peachable source: The influence exerted
could be decisive. It was exactly the role
Fisher hoped to play.
A Special Diplomat
Fisher with former President
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1965
In the 38 years since his meeting at
Gettysburg, Fisher served as an adviser to
the administrations of Richard M. Nixon,
Gerald R. Ford, Ronald W. Reagan, George
H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, addressing
a range of issues — certainly too many of
them to recount here. Just a small sampling
of his work as a "quiet diplomat" between
Washington and Jerusalem would include
helping to pave the way for Jews to leave
the repressive circumstances of the former
Soviet Union and Ethiopia, the question of
arms re-supply during the 1973 Yom Kippur
War, the Reassessment — a difficult period
in U.S.-Israeli relations — and the resettle-
ment of Soviet Jews.
During this time, Fisher was often
referred to as "the Dean of American
Jewry," a name he had earned, according to
the late Dr. Israel Miller, one of the most-
accomplished Jewish communal leaders in
the United States.
Miller recalled, "Max had his White House
pass and could walk right in. But his
strength was not in his being just a
Republican and a Jew, but being an active
member of the organized Jewish communi-
ty. Bringing the community in with him was
part of his vision and his greatness. No
other 'Jewish friends' of the administration
had ever done it before. Each of them went
into the Oval Office, or to the State
Department, as individuals. That all changed
after 1968. And Max was the person who
changed it."
As hard as Fisher worked building bridges
between Washington and Jerusalem, he
also saw a need to forge a strong and last-
ing link between Israel and the diaspora.
And so he played a leading role in reconsti-
tuting the Jewish Agency for Israel, a quasi-
governmental Israeli organization that pro-
vides services or grants for rural settlement,
immigration and absorption, youth education
and training, urban rehabilitation, housing
and other activities. Fisher spent 12 years
as chairman of the Jewish Agency's board
of governors, and when he stepped down in
1983, he was unanimously elected its
founding chairman.
As he neared his 95th birthday, Max M.
Fisher counted himself a fortunate man for
all of his successes and for his beloved
family: his wife, Marjorie; his five children,
Jane, Mary, Phillip, Julie, and Marjorie; their
spouses and children, grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. Although he had
accomplished more than he dared dream as
boy in Salem, he still saw a good deal of
work to be done — here at home and in
Israel. As he had said on more than one
occasion during his career, "The day's not
ended." NF
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2005
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