President Zalman Shazar of Israel was received at the White House as a guest of President Richard M. Nixon today after paying last respects to former President Dwight D. Eisenhower at memorial services at the Washington Cathedral. He also paid a call on Mrs. Mamie Eisenhower, widow of the former President, at her invitation. He was one of the few Chiefs of State attending the funeral to be invited by Mrs. Eisenhower. At 80, he was the oldest Chief of State to attend the memorial rites.
President Shazar arrived at Dulles Airport early today and was greeted by Vice President Spiro T. Agnew. He was welcomed at the airport by Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Seymour Wolf, president of the Washington Jewish Community Council, and Bernard Simon, representing B’nai B’rith. He was to attend a White House reception for foreign dignitaries tonight and was expected to return to Israel tomorrow.
President Shazar’s meeting with Mrs. Eisenhower was described as especially poignant. He was accompanied by his aide de camp, Col. B. Amir, and found the former First Lady in the company of her son, John, the new U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. He conveyed to her the grief felt in Israel over Gen. Eisenhower’s death and observed that many Israelis who survived World War II in Europe had special feelings toward the general because of his military leadership against Nazism and his liberation of the concentration camps. Mrs. Eisenhower appeared visibly touched. She replied that she had always been very proud of the general’s liberation of European Jews. She asked President Shazar to convey her best wishes and personal regards to the people of Israel which he said he would do.
President Shazar went to the Capitol rotunda where Gen. Eisenhower’s body lay in state. He was accompanied by four Israeli officers in uniform–Col. Amir; Brig. Gen. D. Carmon, military attache at the Israel Embassy; Col. Uri Yarom, air attache; and Col. Schmuel Goren, assistant military attache.
At the airport earlier, the Israeli President said, “I have come from Jerusalem to express to the American people and their Government the very genuine sympathy the State and citizens of Israel feel with them in this hour of national loss. We mourn not only the 34th President of the United States who strove so wholeheartedly for world peace and progress; not only the victorious commander of the hosts that saved the world from Nazi savagery and tyranny. We mourn with particular strength of feeling the kindly and sensitive human being who has entered the memory of the Jewish people as the savior of the tortured remnant who survived the Hitler era.”
Mr. Shazar also sent a message to President Nixon in which he said: “May I, for myself and all the people of Israel, express sincerest sympathy on the passing of President Eisenhower, architect of the free world’s victory over Fascism, to whom Israel and the Jewish people owe an unforgettable debt of gratitude for his compassionate and understanding relationship to the displaced persons surviving Nazi terror.”
“During the years of his Presidency, Israel viewed, with respect, his efforts to promote peace and development in the Middle East, as in the entire world. Our hearts are with the American people in their bereavement and we would appreciate the transmission of these sentiments to Mrs. Eisenhower and the family.”
Representatives of Washington’s Jewish community were invited to call on President Shazar at the Israel Embassy during the day. He called for unity among Jews and for maintenance of close ties between the Jewish people and the State of Israel. President Nixon met with President Charles de Gaulle of France today. It was reliably reported that even though the meeting was essentially a protocol function, there was a discussion of the Four Power talks on the Middle East due to begin at the United Nations on Thursday.
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.
