Edward Sanders, former president of the Jewish Federation-Council of Los Angeles, said he had accepted the position of deputy national campaign director of the Carter/Mondale Presidential campaign, resigning his post immediately as president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Sanders said also that he had accepted the Carter/Mondale post because he believed that Jimmy Carter, the Democratic Presidential nominee, understands the needs of the American people “and he will do something about it.”
He said that “as a Jewish American, I know that Jews can only survive in an open and free America, where the political and economic benefits of our great country are available to all equally.” He added that “as a Jew I am concerned about the survival of Jews in peace and freedom in Israel” and that Carter “is dedicated to that proposition.”
Sanders said he would not return to the presidency of AIPAC for the same reason that he resigned the post–that he felt that AIPAC should not be involved in the partisan politics of the election campaign.
Hamilton Jordan, national campaign manager of the Carter/Mondale campaign, said “We couldn’t be more pleased” over Sanders’ acceptance, adding, that “he will be a tremendous asset to the campaign.”
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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.