looking back: the 1970s

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IN MANY WAYS, the tumult of the
1960s spilled into the next decade. The
Vietnam War was deemed unwinnable,
and America ultimately withdrew by the
middle of the decade. At the expense
of Taiwan, President Richard Nixon
opened the doors to China.
And then there was that small
burglary in the Watergate in 1972 that
ultimately led to the resignation of
President Nixon and the elevation of
Michigan Congressman and Vice Presi-
dent Gerald Ford into the presidency.
The Jewish News chronicled the
law of return in Israel and covered the
controversy over “who is a Jew,” the
continued fight to save Soviet Jewry,
and increasing incidents of terrorism,
including the Munich Massacre at the
1972 Olympics, at which 11 Israeli
athletes were murdered by the Pales-
tinian terrorist group Black September.
The Jewish News also provided
extensive coverage of events in the
Middle East, including the nearly
catastrophic Yom Kippur War in 1973,
the electrifying raid on Entebbe on July
4, 1976, that rescued Israeli hostages
who had been singled out on an Air
France jet, and the peace treaty be-
tween Egypt and Israel signed in 1979
that included Israeli withdrawl from the
Sinai Peninsula, which it captured dur-
ing the Six Day War and reclaimed by
the end of the Yom Kippur War.
In Metro Detroit, Jews continued
their migration from the city to the
northwest suburbs, with more of its
communal institutions, including the
Jewish Community Center, locating
in places like West Bloomfield and
Farmington Hills.
The community, through a cadre of
volunteers and its Jewish Family Ser-
vice and Jewish Resettlement Service,
welcomed emigres from the Soviet
Union and assisted in their acclimation.
In 1979, Carl Levin was elected to
the U.S. Senate and went on to serve
until 2015. Along with his brother,
Congressman Sander Levin, they be-
came one of America’s most prominent
public service duos.•

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July 18 • 2017

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