Undaunted by the resolution of the Amateur Athletic Union convention backing participation in the Berlin Olympics, the forces opposing the Nazi games began to rally today for a new offensive.
The participation resolution, introduced by Gustavus T. Kirby, treasurer of the American Olympic Committee, and passed yesterday in the closing hours of the parley at the Commodore Hotel, was followed by a number of resignations from Olympic posts.
First, Jeremiah T. Mahoney, president of the A.A.U., refused to accept the mandate of the convention and declined nomination for any office “to devote my energies to preserving the honor of American athletes.” He also resigned from the American Olympic Committee executive, but retained his membership in the committee.
His lead was followed by Louis di Benedetto, secretary-treasurer of the Southern A.A.U. and member of the A.O.C. executive; Charles L. Ornstein, A.O.C. member, Miss Charlotte Epstein, A.O.C. member and Harry D. Henshel, member of the Olympic Basketball Committee.
Berlin-Olympic opponents were today mapping plans for a new offensive against the Nazi games. They pointed out that in two tests of strength during the convention the A.A.U. delegates gave a majority to the anti-Berlin resolutions, but the balance was swung by votes of affiliated organizations.
A number of these organizations, Judge Mahoney charged today, registered at the last moment, in violation of the A.A.U. requirement that they register twenty days before the convention.
One of the concrete proposals expected to be put forth shortly is to send a commission of three headed by Mr. Mahoney to Germany to investigate conditions.
A similar proposal for a fact-finding commission, laid before the closing session of the convention by Supreme Court Justice Aaron Steuer as a compromise measure, was turned down by the narrow margin of 2½ votes although the tally of A.A.U. delegates showed a majority of eleven for the resolution.
Defeat of the amendment left the field open for passage by viva voce vote, without dissent, of the Kirby resolution, which backed participation but, as a sop to the anti-Nazis, asked the International Olympic Committee to exercise vigilance in protecting participants against discrimination.
The debate on the resolution was marked by recriminations and an atmosphere of tenseness, as was the case when the first big issue of the convention came up — the resolution introduced by the Executive Committee by a 10 to 5 vote scoring the Nazi Olympics, calling on athletes to stay out and calling on Olympic bodies to take steps to remove the games.
Brought into the plenary session under an agreement between opposing forces that the resolution would be discussed two hours by each side, it suddenly met a parliamentary obstacle in the form of a motion to table by Patrick J. Walsh, one of the Brundage lieutenants.
The resolution took anti-Olympic forces by surprise, and after a roll call vote without discussion, the motion won — by six votes, although it would have lost had not such allied bodies as the German-American sports club been represented.
Immediately Kirby introduced his resolution, Ornstein keaped to the floor, denounced the “double-dealing,” and introduced an amendment to the Kirby resolution, stating it to be “the sense of this convention that the A.A.U. is opposed to participation in the 1936 Olympic Games.”
The amendment was later withdrawn so that Justice Steuer could introduce his compromise, which provided for naming of a commission of three to investigate conditions in Germany, one member each to be named by Brundage and Mahoney and one elected by the ex-presidents of the A.A.U.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
