In Cleveland, four out of five voters marked their ballots for Charles A. Vanik, giving him 79 percent of the total vote to reelect him to Congress for his 11th consecutive term as a Democratic representative from Ohio.
In California, Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston received 68 percent of the vote for a second term and swamped his political foe who was backed by the John Birch Society. Pennsylvanians gave 54 percent of their vote to Republican Senator Richard S. Schweiker, a better margin than when he won his first term six years ago. In Arkansas, Rep. Wilbur Mills was re-elected in a tough campaign.
These were among the numerous Senators and Representatives, Democratic and Republican, who have been stalwart supporters of assistance to Israel and Soviet emigration. This fact, plus the increase of Jews in the House and the Senate, encouraged sympathizers that the new Congress convening in Jan., like the present one, will not let down either Israel or Soviet Jewry.
PESSIMISM PREVAILS
Nevertheless, some pessimism prevailed despite favorable signs such as the return to the Senate of former National Republican Chairman Robert Dole of Kansas, one of the most outspoken Republicans on Jewish issues; the disappearance from the new Senate for the first time in 30 years of J. William Fulbright who was defeated last spring in the Arkansas Democratic primary by Governor Dale Bumpers; and of the aged Vermont Republican George Aiken who decided to retire and is being replaced by 24-year-old P.J. O’Leary, the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the Granite State in 100 years.
This pessimism stems largely from the fact that the sagging American economy, high interest rates, heavy unemployment, the prospects of higher taxes, and the threats of gasoline and oil shortages as a result of Arab quadrupling of prices for their petroleum will affect the mood of the new Congress when foreign aid. including aid to Israel arises for consideration, as it will.
A major fact of this year’s election is that apart from the Javits-Clark campaign in New York, foreign affairs were hardly mentioned in the campaigns although a third of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 House memberships were contested.
It was typical of the election in this respect that in Arkansas the fact that Mills had introduced the Mills-Vanik legislation in the House identical to the Jackson Amendment in the Senate regarding Soviet emigration did not emerge at all as an issue. This was so even though in Arkansas only a few months ago Fulbright was still the widely-publicized champion of a foreign policy that harshly opposed aid both to Israel and Soviet Jewry.
It was significant that when Sen. Henry M.Jackson was asked to comment on the TV networks on the election’s significance, he did not mention foreign affairs but concentrated on the domestic economy. Since Jackson probably will be easily among the most important three or four Senators on foreign affairs in the new Senate this was especially significant. In addition, Sen. Lloyd M. Bentsen of Texas, a possible Presidential candidate, also spoke only about the economy. Neither Jackson nor Bentsen were up for election this time.
FOREIGN AID IN FOR HARD TIMES
The speculation–and at this point it cannot be anything else–is that although the Democratic party is traditionally the more liberal and supportive of foreign aid, the commitments by many of
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
