Eight provincial governors from the Soviet Union paid a courtesy call on President Nixon at the White House today at the start of an eight-day visit to the United States. They were invited by the U.S. Governors Conference to repay a visit by a group of American governors to the Soviet Union in Oct. 1971.
Their visit follows closely on the four-day Washington visit last week by the eight-member delegation of the Supreme Soviet which advocated closer U.S.-Soviet trade relations in meetings with Congressmen despite the Jackson Amendment that would tie such trade to Soviet amelioration of its emigration practices.
An effort by the Jewish Community Council to communicate with the group failed. The Soviet Embassy refused to accept the Council’s letter from two of its officials. Ernest M. Shalowttz and Samuel H. Sislen of the Council thereupon tried to present it to the delegation, itself and left it at the hotel where the visitors were staying.
The letter charged the Soviet government has not kept its promise of “an increased, stable emigration of Jews to Israel” and that “to the contrary. Jewish emigration has decreased markedly over the last four months.” While endorsing Soviet-American cooperation, the letter expressed support for the principles of free emigration of Soviet Jews “as a condition of most favored nation trade status” for 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.
