Former Federal Judge Simon H. Rifkind tonight urged President Kennedy to include in the proposed Federal mental health program provisions for study and treatment of racial and religious bigotry which Judge Rifkind described as “a major mental health problem in this country.”
Judge Rifkind spoke at the Inaugural Dinner of the American Jewish Committee’s 1963 Appeal for Human Relations, held at the Waldorf-Astoria. The 1963 Appeal goal is $3,767,000.
Judge Rifkind, a national honorary chairman of the Appeal, hailed the Administration’s use of “the legal powers at its disposal” to eliminate racial and religious prejudice. However, he urged that these actions, “which deal with the symptoms of bigotry” be joined with a program “to get at the root causes of prejudice.”
“Such action,” he added, “could do much to reduce intergroup tensions and conflict in this country. This is especially true in our large metropolitan areas, where intergroup friction has become one of the greatest domestic problems besetting America today.” He said that the Federal Government should enlist the “experience and knowledge” of all community relations agencies “in mounting a nation-wide attack on the psychological roots of group tensions.” He pointed out that the American Jewish Committee, oldest human relations agency in this country, pioneered scientific studies which “helped to place the bigot where he belonged, in the mental health column.”
A. M. Sonnabend, AJCommittee president, paid tribute to David Schwartz, who was guest of honor at the dinner, “as a communal and philanthropic leader whose aim is to help men reach their highest aspirations.”
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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.
