Jewish Republicans said Wednesday that they were as surprised as every one else by Vice President George Bush’s selection of Sen. Dan Quayle of Indiana as his vice presidential running mate.
“Dan Quayle was a surprise choice for most of us,” Gordan Zachs, a leading Jewish Republican, told some 150 persons attending a breakfast reception for Barbara Bush. The breakfast was sponsored by the Bush campaign’s Jewish outreach section.
“I don’t think anybody in this room anticipated it would be Dan Quayle.”
Zachs stressed Quayle’s “strong supportive position toward Israel and the national security interests of the United States as they relate to Israel.”
He also noted Quayle’s “strong record of support for the cause of Soviet Jewry,” adding that the senator has visited the USSR and has met with Jewish refuseniks.
Quayle has “a mixed record on foreign aid,” Zachs said, but he pointed out that Quayle is from a conservative state that opposes foreign aid.
Nevertheless, Zachs stressed that Quayle will be running on the platform adopted by the Republican National Convention Tuesday, which supports the continuation of the current $3 billion economic and military aid to Israel.
Quayle’s strong position on defense as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee was also stressed by New York Rep. Jack Kemp, who addressed the group.
“I am sure somebody is going to pick out a couple of votes,” Kemp said. “I can tell you that there is not a stronger supporter of the strategic alliance, there is not a stronger supporter of the understanding of the defense needs of Israel.”
Barbara Bush did not mention her husband’s choice of running mate, but spoke instead of the close feelings they have toward Israel.
“I fell in love with this tiny little country, a strong democratic nation made up of compassionate, learned people,” she said. As for her husband, she said, “He’ll never, ever let you down.”
DITTO FOR KITTY
This was the same pledge Kitty Dukakis made to a Jewish group in Atlanta last month about her husband, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee.
Jewish Republicans interviewed Wednesday admitted they did not know much about Quayle, but liked what they were learning about the conservative senator’s support for the U.S.-Israel strategic alliance.
Marshall Breger, a former liaison to the Jewish community for President Reagan, noted Quayle’s ardent support of the Strategic Defense Initiative and called him the “work horse” in the Senate in providing backing for the development in Israel of the Arrow tactical anti-ballistic missiles under SDI.
Breger said Quayle would bring “youth and vigor” to the campaign, and that as a conservative, it is only “rational that he supports Israel.”
Zachs conceded to the JTA that Quayle had supported the sale of arms to Arabs, but said this was understandable for a Republican senator who supports the Reagan administration’s policies.
“I think he’ll play well in the Jewish community,” he said.
Elliot Abrams, assistant secretary of state for Latin-American affairs, said Quayle’s selection should be reassuring to Israel because of his support for a strong United States.
Mark Neumann, national coordinator for the Bush campaign in the Jewish community, emphasized that Quayle’s adviser on defense and foreign affairs is a Jew, Henry Sokolski, who is active in the National Jewish Coalition.
In New York, meanwhile, a leader of Judaism’s Reform movement said he was “bitterly disappointed” in Bush’s choice for a running mate.
Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said in a statement that American Jews would object to Quayle’s conservative views on school prayer and abortion, and his support of sales of sophisticated arms to Arab nations.
The vice president has “hurt himself seriously with American Jewish voters by moving so far to the right in choosing a running mate,” said Schindler.
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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.
