The 92nd HIAS annual meeting took on special significance this week, as more than 1000 visitors crowded into the New York Hilton’s Trianon Ballroom, for a special observance in honor of America’s Bicentennial. The audience included hundreds of recently resettled Soviet Jewish immigrants.
At a special HIAS board dinner, following the meeting, the 1976 Liberty Award was presented to Philip M. Klutznick, honorary international president of the B’nai B’rith and a former U.S. representative to the UN. Klutznick, who recently served on the President’s Advisory Committee on Vietnamese Refugees, was honored for “long service in defense of those human rights which have brought generations of immigrants to America in search of freedom.”
In his remarks following the award presentation, Klutznick cited his White House Committee experience with the Vietnamese program in which HIAS was a participating agency: “HIAS represents to government experts, and the community at large, the highest level of professional performance in refugee resettlement work. I was filled with pride when appraisals of those standards set by your agency were so glowingly praised.”
Carl Glick was re-elected HIAS president. Harold Friedman and Ben Touster, associate chairmen of the Board. Newly elected HIAS officers were Sidney Leiwant, vice-president, and Michael H. Steinhardt, associate treasurer.
The meeting, which was addressed by many prominent public figures, also featured a musical tribute to American and the role of immigrants in building this nations. Entering its 93rd year of rescue and resettlement service. HIAS has aided over four million Jewish refugees and migrants since its earlier predecessor was founded in 1884. Last year, HIAS resettled 7783 Jewish refugees.
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.
