A campaign to combat internal threats to civil liberties was launched here today at a national conference of the National Council of Jewish Women. More than 200 delegates attended the two-day parley. They met with Senators who joined in endorsing their efforts. Delegates also met with officials of the Department of State.
Mrs. Joseph Willen, chairman of the council’s national committee on Education and Social Action described “McCarthyism” as “an exceedingly dangerous trend” and pledged that the 240 chapters of the organization would organize in a constructive campaign in the defense of civil liberties through the encouragement of free expression of ideas. She said the campaign will be activated by the 94,000 Jewish women in communities throughout the country who are members of the Council.
Sen. Walter F. George, of Georgia, today went on record as opposing any change in the Senate cloture rule which might make possible a vote on civil rights legislation. Sen. Irving M. Ives, of New York, meanwhile, issued a statement deploring “the sorry spectacle of a small minority in the Senate successfully thwarting the will of a large majority.” Sen. Ives said “discrimination in employment because of race, religion, color, national origin, or ancestry denies equality of opportunity and makes a mockery of our pious boasting about our American way of 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.