Philip M. Klutznick today said “no” to a resolution at a B’nai B’rith District 2 convention here proposing to draft him for a third term as national president of the B’nai B’rith organization The resolution, which was adopted by acclamation, urged all B’nai B’rith districts to join in”a genuine draft” for Mr. Klutznick.
Addressing a banquet which concluded the convention, Mr. Klutznick also told the delegates he would express “no personal preference” for a successor who will be elected at the B’nai B’rith national convention which will be held in Jerusalem May, 1959. “The decision will be the delegates’ not mine,” he said.
The B’nai B’rith president had personally urged a two-term limitation at the organization’s last triennial national convention in 1956. The convention then adopted the proposal, but voted down his request that it be made retroactive to include his first term. B’nai B’rith by-laws, therefore, make him eligible for another three-year term.
In telling the delegates that he intends to abide by his own 1956 decision to limit his presidency to two terms, Mr. Klutznick gave the following reasons: “After six years, the president of an active, major organization who has been working at it ought to be tired and ready for replacement. If he isn’t tired, chances are he hasn’t been putting in the required effort and doesn’t deserve to be retained. A leadership that constantly perpetuates itself tends to become master of, rather than servant to, the membership. This has been a common tragedy in Jewish organizational life.”
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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.
