The election of Dr. Eduard Benes as second president of the Republic of Czechoslovakia was hailed today in Jewish circles as assuring continuation of Dr. Thomas G. Masaryk’s democratic policy.
Dr. Benes was elected today by a vote of 340 to 24 in the National Assembly. Following the election Deputy Angelo Goldstein declared to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Jewish leaders were gratified with the result because Dr. Benes, protege of the retired president, could be depended upon to continue the liberal internal policy of Dr. Masaryk as well as support the Jewish national home in Palestine and rights of Jewish refugees at Geneva.
The election of Dr. Benes had been regarded as certain. For years it was known that Dr. Masaryk was grooming him to become his successor. Dr. Masaryk retired last Saturday at the age of 85. In becoming president, Dr. Benes will leave the post of foreign minister which he has held uninterruptedly since 1918.
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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.