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The Southern Israelite
Publlzhed W««kly by Southern Newspaper Enterprises, Inc., 312 Ivy Street N. E., Atlanta
3, Georgia. WAInut 0791 - 0792. Entered as second class matter at the post office, Atlanta,
Georaia, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Yearly subscription three dollars. The Southern
Israelite invites literary contributions and correspondence but is not to be considered as
sharing the views expressed by writers. DEADLINE is 12:30 P. M., TUESDAY but material
received oarlfar will have a much better chance of publication.
Member, American Association of English-Jewish Newspapers
Adolph Rosenberg, Editor and Publi$i.4r
ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT
Gustav Oppenheimer Margaret Merryman Mildred Hershberg
MEMBERS OF ADVISORY BOARD
Meyer Balser
Sol Benamy
Dr. Nathan Blass
Dr. Jack Bleich
Joe Cohen
Reuben Cohen
Frank Gorson
Abe Goldberg
Dr. Irving Goldstein
Harry Harrison
hyinan Jacobs
Edward Krick
Sam Levy
Irving Libowsky
Thomas Makover
Ben Massed
Barney Medintz
Hyman Morris
Eugene Oberdorfer
Gustav Oppenheimer
Berry Rittenbaum
Meyer Rosenberg
Phil Schwartz
Dave Slann
Harry Spitzer
A. D. Srochi
Kalman Sunshine
Sam Weinberg
Arthur Weiss
Paul Welkin
Editorial NEWS and VIEWS
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
PANAROMA by David Schwartz
The Election
An American Jewish Press F»alur»
“Sitting among the spectators
in the Federal Court House, lis
tening to witness after witness
testify before the President’s
Commission on Immigration and
Naturalization, one question kept
coming to mind. These spokes
men—representing business and
labor, Catholic, Protestant and
Jew, Polish, Greek and Italian
Americans, settlement house
workers, university professors,
scientists—in short, a complete
cross section of Chicagoland —
couldn’t all be crazy. Yet, all but
two had expressed their bitter
criticism of the newly-enacted
McCarran - Walter Immigration
Act of 1952, in words so strong,
that their hot anger seemed to
permeate the very air of the
chambers.”
Such were the observations of
editor Jack Fishbein of the Sen
tinel when he attended the im
migration hearings in Chicago.
Point out that the same was
true in every city where the
hearings were held, Fishbein
asked: "Then why did it pass?
Why this contradiction between
the obvious will of the people,
and the action of the Congress?
How was McCarran able to sneak
it through without bringing the
wrath of an aroused America
down upon his head?”
The only conclusion one can
come to, Fishbein holds, is that
too frequently we take our free
doms for granted. He argues
that we seem to forget that poli
tics is not merely a matter of
electing a president every four
years, but an integral part of our
every day living. “Though the
actions of our congressmen and
senators may affect our welfare
in the most intimate and far-
reaching manner, we blindly en
trust our destiny into their
hands, allowing them to decide
Iife-and-death questions for us.
In many instances, we don’t even
know our Congressman's name.
We vote by party rather than is
sues.
Arguing that the reason we
now have a McCarran Act on the
statute books, even though the
vast majority of our people are
obviously against it is because
we don’t make our voices heard,
Fishbein warns that only a few
weeks remain before election
time.
“After that it will be too late.
All we will be able to do is bewail
our fate, and wish we had done
something when the opportunity
prevailed. Why not call your own
congressional candidates right
now'? Ask them for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’
answer as to where they stand on
this Hitler-inspired legislation.
Then vote accordingly.”
If all of us do this simple thing
we can rest assured that the new
Congress will do something about
restoring the Constitution and
the Bill of Rigts to their time-
honored position of preeminence,
Fishbein contends.
“Why did it pass. Ask yourself
that question. Then go out and
do something about it."
*****
A sad and unfortunate per
formance was given before the
Congressional Committee on Un-
American Activities recently in
I.os Angeles by Jewish doctors
and lawyers, laments the B’nai
B’rith Messenger.
In a front-page editorial the
Messenger viewed the Jewish
witnesses before the Committee.
It pointed out that one, I)r. Alex
ander E. I’ennes, shouted: “No
Jew will have anything to do
with a stool-pigeon or an inform
er, and I am a Jew.’’
Men like Pennes, the editorial
says, were accused by someone of
having belonged to Sommunist
cell.H. When asked, “Are you now
or have you ever been a Commu
nist?” they elected to stand be
hind Constitutional immunities.
That, the Messenger grants, is
the privilege of every man before
an American Court. “But Dr.
Pennes had no moral right to
drag in the entire Jewish people
with an irrelevant, gratuitous
protestation that his so-called Ju
daism precluded him from be
coming an informer.”
The Messenger accuses Pen
nes of letting the Jewish people
down—or provoking a question
by so many fine American Gen
tiles who are not anti-Semites:
"Why is it so many Jews are
Communists?”
“We are not accusing any of
these, doctors, dentists and law
yers who were categorized as
‘unfriendly witnesses’ of being
Communists. We do not know.
We do not know to what organi
zations they belong, and we do
not know what their social, poli
tical or economic affiliations are.
We do know, however, that for
the most part their course of
conduct before the Congressional
Committee on Un-American Ac
tivities has reflected immeasur
able discredit and suspicion upon
themselves and upon all o fus.
“That we resent.
“These so-called ‘unfriendly
witnesses’ do not speak for us.
Certainly, the tens of thousands
of Jewish doctors, lawyers, den
tists, technicians and other pro
fessional men and women of the
United States, whose lives are
lived in open American dignity,
in modesty, in restraint, do not
wish these people to speak for
them.”
Calendar
A
*HANUKAH
Saturday, Dec. 18
Saturday, Dec. 20
*PVRIM
March 1
*PASSOVER
March 31
(First Day)
April 7
(Last Day)
*SHEVUOTH
May 20, 21
•HOLIDAYS .BEGIN
Previous Evening
In a couple of days, we will be
trooping to the polls to elect the
next President of the United
States.
There is no Jew running on
any of the tickets for President,
but there is a Jew, Simon Gould,
running for Vice President on
the Vegetarian Party ticket. Mr.
Gould is used to running for Vice
President on the same ticket. He
ran four years ago and plans to
run every four years from now
on. There is nothing like a vege
tarian diet, he says, to make you
feel fit for running.
The Vegetarian Party contends
that the great issue is between
vegetable salad and steak. It
seems to me more is at stake than
this. There is much in the ideals
of vegetarianism to commend it
self. The great Prophet Isaiah
foretold the day when even the
lion would be a vegetarian. The
lion and the lamb would eat hay
together. Doubtless in the great
day of idyllic bliss and peace
ahead, vegetarianism will be an
issue but not now.
No Jew has ever run for Pres
ident of the United States, but
my friend, Joe Bronstein of the
Bronx once confided to me that
for years he cherished the am
bition of becoming President. In
a way, Joe has achieved his am
bition. He has not been elected
President of the United States,
but he is president of his Zion
ist district. Last year, his organ
ization sold $200,000 worth of Is
rael bonds, besides raising a good
deal of money for the Jewish Na
tional Fund.
Joe says his ambition to be
President of the United States
goes back to his childhood days.
His mother really was respon
sible for putting the idea in his
head. It happened back in the de
pression days. The Broensteins
were being evicted from their
house. Then his mother made the
chance remark. “It’s good to be
a President. He evicted.”
That did it. "Mama, ’ said Joe,
“When I grow up, ll am going to
be President of the United Stat
es.” Every man in America had
the right to be President. Why
not Joe?
Joe began studying up on
what it takes to be President.
Lincoln had been a rail splitter
when he was a boy. Joe began
splitting the kinging for the
stove. Washington had chopped
down a cherry tree. Joe couldn’t
find a cherry tree to chop down,
but he chopped at anything else
he could find. He began to study
his lessons in school with great
assiduity. A President has to
have a lot of knowledge. His
mother, seeing the ambition kin
dled in her progeny, encouraged
him.
Most of the Presidents, Joe
found, had been born in log cab
ins. Joe persuaded his mother
one summer to rent a log cabin
for their vacation. A President
must have the friendship of la
bor. Joe was too young to join
a union, but he began going to
the Union Depot.
He started kissing babies all
around the block and stopped on
ly after one mother complained
that he had kissed her child into
the whooping cough.
His mother began bringing
home the biographies of former
Presidents of the United States
and just when Joe was going
along full blast and it seemed in
evitable that the Republicans and
Democrats should nominate him,
little Joe came to a dead stop.
All of a sudden, he seemed to
have lost all incentive and began
to turn from the Presidency to
baseball. The school teacher com
plained to his mother that he
was the worst pupil in her class.
His mother couldn t under
stand it. “What is the matter
with you, Joe?” asked his moth
er.
At first he sulked, but when
she continued to ask, he finally
answered her. “It was those last
two biographies of the Presi
dents that you brought,’ he com
plained.
“What do you mean?” asked
his mother.
Joe showed her the biography
of President Jackson. "Look, it
says here that when he ran for
President the charge was made
against him that he didnt know
how to spell, and this other biog-
—WASHINGTON
Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, who
ordered the billeting of Ameri
can troops in Nazi homes ex
pressly to teach the Germans the
meaning of total war, is bewil
dered by President Truman’s de
piction of him as a supporter of
Nazi ideas including anti-Semi
tism. The General liberated
Buchenwald but now finds him
self confronted with charges that
he has urged the election of big
ots who are important members
of the Republican Party.
There has been much distor
tion and confusion surrounding
President Truman’s actual re
marks to the National Jewish
Welfare Board. Eisenhower is
pictured by some as the victim
of one of the foulest smears in
history. Others see the General
as a sort of well-meaning Von
Hindenburg who might fumble in
confusion while dynamic Repub
lican extremists take over the
operation of the government.
The President’s charge that
anti-Semitism and other preju
dices “have hidden themselves
within the Republican Party for
years” must be considered ser
iously, whether or not it was
made in the heat of a political
campaign. The President has ac
cess to F.B.I. files and data not
available to newspapers nor even
to members of Congress. He is in
a better position than his critics
to know whether or not certain
elements in American political
life harbor hidden anti-Semitism
which may be openly displayed
at some time in the future.
Truman’s J.W.B. message is
considered by many to be the
most important pronouncement
on anti-Semitism in the United
States ever made by an Ameri
can President. Truman explained
that while he did not call Eisen
hower an anti-Semite he did say
that the General “cannot escape
responsibility for his endorse
ments.”
The President defined his feel
ings toward Sen. Pat McCarran,
the principal sponsor of discrim
inatory immigration legislation,
when he said McCarran “is not
my kind of Democrat.” He point
ed out that “among those who
voted for the McCarran Bill and
to over-ride my veto, was the
Republican candidate for Vice
President. Among the other Re
publicans, were Senators Jenner
and McCarthy. Together with
ex-Senator Revercomb, the cham
pion of the anti-Catholic, anti-
Jewish provisions of the original
DP bill, these men have been em
braced by the Republican candi
date for President.
*‘The Republican candidate for
the Presidency,” Truman said,
“cannot escape responsibility for
his endorsements. He has bad an
attack of moral blindness, for to
day, he is willing to accept the
very practices that identified the
so-called ‘master race’ although
he took a leading part in liberat-
Friday, October 31, 1952
raphy of President Johnson says
that Johnson didn t go to school
at all, and was first taught to
read and write by his wife. “So
what’s the use of studying and
doing all these things?” asked
Joe.
And that is the story that my
friend Joe Bronstein now recalls.
“I guess, ’ I said, “you no lon
ger care to be President.”
“No,” said Mr. Bronstein, “it’s
all over now. Why should I want
to be President? I am something-
greater than a President now.
On November 4th I go to the
polls and pick the next Presi
dent. I am a maker of Presidents.
That is better than being just a
President.”
There may be something in
that.
ing Europe from their domina
tion.”
Sen. Jenner tried to get the
American Legion to join the
antiSemitic smear campaign
against Assistant Defense Sec
retary Anna Rosenberg. Sen. Mc
Carthy openly defended confess
ed Nazi war criminals and has
been charged by major Jewish
organizations with the creation
of a fear-filled atmosphere con
ducive to anti-Semitism. Sen.
Revercomb is listed by the B’nai
B’rith Anti-Defamation League
in a report covering the most
dangerous anti-Semites in Amer
ica. While he denies sharing the
views of these men, Eisenhower
has made himself vulnerable to
criticism by asking for their elec
tion to important positions in the
government.
The affinity of the extreme
right-wing pro-Nazi isolationists
may have occurred to Truman.
Gen. Robert Wood, former chair
man of the America First Com
mittee, was named to head a
committee for a dinner scheduled
for October 27 at which Sen. Jos
eph R. McCarthy was slated to
broadcast charges that Gov. Ste
venson is a Communist or Red
sympathizer. Gen. Wood is listed
in anti-Defamation League re
ports. This is the sort of business
that the President had in mind
when he warned that “tyrants”
have “concealed their true pur
poses behind the mask of anti-
Communism.”
In his acceptance speech at
Philadelphia in 1948, Truman at
tacked the Revercomb Displaced
Persons Act on grounds that it
was anti-Semitic and anti-Cath
olic. He later showed deep con
cern for the DP’s by pressing for
liberal legislation and fighting
the McCarran-Walter Act. The
President’s record on civil liber
ties is high-lighted by his fight
against provisions in the Internal
Security Act of 1950 which he
considered potentially dangerous
to minorities. He urged civil
rights legislation but got no as
sistance from some one who have
now become his loudest critics on
this very question.
When the generals wanted to
throw Israel to the Arab wolves,
Truman showed his faith in the
Jewish State. Some have charged
the President with “irresponsib
ly seeking the Jewish vote.” But
those on the Washington scene
who are devoted to Israel feel
that Truman is a sincere friend.
Those who have been close to
Truman during the last seven
years are inclined to listen when
he says that there is danger to
American Jewry from Nazi-
minded Senators who exert con
siderable influence in a political
party which may come to power.
The President has privately
expressed the view that he does
not think Jews vote as a bloc. He
believes, however, that Jews shy
(Continued on page 7)
CAPITAL SPOTLIGHT by Milton Friedman
Rumors & Realities