President Richard M. Nixon today named Max M. Fisher of Detroit as an unsalaried consultant to a newly created Cabinet committee that will establish priority areas for national volunteer work. Mr. Fisher will also serve as consultant to George W. Romney, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The special committee was created to encourage and aid some 130 million Americans who want to contribute their skills to volunteer projects but do not know where or how to do it. Mr. Nixon also carried out a campaign pledge to promote volunteer action on the national level by ordering the establishment of an Office of Voluntary Action within Mr. Romney’s department.
The office will function as a clearing house for information on volunteer activities and will help volunteers find areas in which to serve. The Cabinet committee, headed by Mr. Romney, will promote cooperation among Federal departments and agencies and their reliance on voluntary activities.
Mr. Nixon said that in the past, government “has sometimes been the jealous competitor of private efforts. From now on, it will offer encouragement and support,” for people can often serve where government cannot.
Last month the White House made known that Mr. Fisher would serve as an informal adviser and liaison link with U.S. Jewry in order for the President to perfect close relations with it. Mr. Fisher, a leader of the United Jewish Appeal, United Israel Appeal, and the American Jewish Committee, is also a prominent Republican who played an important role in the Presidential election.
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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.