Vice-President-designate Nelson A. Rockefeller, when governor of New York, backed efforts to advance opportunities for Jews in the Soviet Union to emigrate. Just before leaving the governorship last Dec. he proclaimed “Jewish Prisoners of Conscience Month” in New York State. In 1972 and 1973 he issued proclamations in support of “Solidarity Day” for Soviet Jewry.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Greater New York Conference of the National Conference for Soviet Jewry, pointed out in a telephone interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that in his 1973 proclamation Rockefeller referred to the New York Assembly and Senate as being the nation’s first legislature to adopt a resolution calling on Congress and the President to consider the plight of Soviet Jews before granting U.S. governmental trade concessions to the Soviet Union.
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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.