Samuel Dickstein, chairman of the House of Representatives Immigration and Naturalization Committee, who has been conducting an investigation into Nazi affairs, yesterday announced that he would make no request for the chairmanship of a special committee expected to be appointed shortly after Congress resumes in January.
His statement is regarded as a surrender of the post for which he was considered as the most eligible candidate in view of his three months’ intensive inquiry into Nazi operations in this country.
In Jewish circles Dickstein’s attitude is interpreted as a concession to the feeling that the value of the Nazi investigation would be impaired by having a Jew at the head of it. In recent months Dickstein has been the target for criticism from many sources in this respect.
Foremost among those attacking the Dickstein investigation was Samuel Untermyer, who opposed the inquiry on the grounds that no action should be taken until Congress had officially appointed the committee, appropriated funds for the investigation, and granted powers of subpoena.
“On January third I intend introducing a resolution before the House asking the Speaker to appoint a committee of seven members to conduct a government investigation of Nazi activities in the United States and of all other activities of a foreign nature which might be aimed at our government,” Dickstein yesterday declared in an interview.
“The committee I shall suggest will be composed of five Democratic and two Republican members of the House of Representatives,” he said.
When queried as to the chairman-
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.
