Rabbi Urges Disengagement from Southeast Asia; Focus, Instead, on Problems Here

The Union of American Hebrew Congregations called today upon Congress to “disenthrall itself and exercise its constitutional and moral responsibilities” to bring an early end to the “festering and futile conflict” in Indochina. A statement issued by UAHC president Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath stressed that “in the light of the proxy invasion of Laos” it is “utter blindness to ignore the reality that the seemingly endless war is tearing the fabric of American life to shreds,” frustrating every program to deal with urgent social problems in the urban centers and the nation, “building dangerous tensions and fostering a sense of hopelessness and despair.” Rabbi Eisendrath stated further that it has now become a matter of “urgent national survival” for Congress to bring this “devstating and increasingly dangerous conflict to an orderly, planned but definite and early termination.”