Arthur Goldberg, who served his country as its Ambassador to the United Nations and as a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was honored by President Carter at the White House today. The President presented the 69-year-old jurist and diplomat with the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.
The presentation was made only a few days after President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, in a nationally televised speech in Cairo last Saturday, said that peace might have been achieved in the Middle East if Carter had been in office in 1967 and not “the Zionist” Goldberg, who was a member of the Johnson Administration.
But White House Press Secretary Jody Powell stressed that the award to Goldberg had no connection with Sadat’s remarks. He noted that the ceremony had been planned some time ago and was scheduled to suit the convenience of the President and Goldberg.
The Medal of Freedom was awarded to Goldberg specifically for the services he rendered as U.S. representative to the UN after the Six-Day War, for which he was disparaged by Sadat. Carter praised Goldberg as an author of Security Council Resolution 242 which “is now…the unshakeable basis for ultimate agreement in the Middle East.”
He also hailed Goldberg’s dedication to human and civil rights as a Supreme Court Justice and as chairman of the U.S. delegation to the Belgrade conference last spring on the results of the Helsinki Final Act.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
