Jewish Coordinating Committee Approves of Roosevelt’s Committee on Job Discrimination

Approval of the work of the President’s Committee on Fair Employment Practice and expression of the hope that the Committee will do an even more effective job in its association with the War Manpower Commission were conveyed in a telegram yesterday to President Roosevelt from Claude A. Benjamin, chairman of the Coordinating Committee of Jewish Organizations Dealing with Employment Discrimination in War Industries. Representing 44 national and local Jewish organizations, the Coordinating Committee was created to further the purposes of Executive Order 8802 which prohibits discrimination in war industries and establishes the Fair Employment Practice Committee.

In his telegram, Mr. Benjamin informed the President that the Coordinating Committee “looks upon Executive Order 8802 as a wise and statesmanlike contribution toward the realization in practice of a fundamental principle of American democracy and toward the fullest possible utilization of manpower in producing for Victory.” After stating that the Coordinating Committee has “been impressed with the forthright and fair manner in which the President’s Committee has exercised its mandate,” the telegram concluded with the hope that “the association of the Fair Employment Practice Committee with the War Manpower Commission will strengthen the Committee’s authority and will increase its facilities for carrying out its work.”

Among the organizations participating in the Coordinating Committee are the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Jewish Labor Committee, National Council of Jewish Women, and local organizations throughout the country concerned with employment problems of Jews.