President Truman today received a delegation of 15 representatives of all major Jewish groups in this country and indicated to them that he is deeply interested in Israel’s economic situation. He promised that he would immediately look into the matter to see what he could do on behalf of the American Government.
The delegation presented the President with a memorandum urging that the U.S. Government include Israel in its policy of extending financial aid to democratic countries. The memorandum was presented by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency, who emphasized that its contents were approved in principle by the 2,000 American Jewish leaders who attended the recent National Planning Conference in Washington.
Speaking for the delegation as it emerged from the President’s office at the White House, Dr. Goldmann said that the Jewish leaders consider the meeting “very encouraging.” He added that the delegation expressed to the President the joy of American Jewry that the recent attempt on his life had failed.
ISRAEL’S ROLE AS “DEMOCRATIC BASTION” IN NEAR EAST IS EMPHASIZED
The memorandum emphasized that the Government of the United States under President Truman’s leadership “played a decisive role in the establishment and recognition of the state of Israel.” It stressed Israel’s role as “a democratic bastion” in the Near East, and therefore deserving of American support. It also pointed out that the Jewish state’s admission of scores of thousands of people from German DP camps had taken a great financial load off the American Treasury.
Henry J. Morgenthau, who recently returned from Israel, told the President that the Jewish state is a “dynamo of energy courageously facing stupendous problems, which deserved and could wisely use American financial help.” The former Secretary of the Treasury added that a strengthened Israel could have “incalculable influence” in spreading democracy through the Middle East, while its failure would tend to make neighboring countries “turn to other political forms.”
The delegation comprized: Benjamin G. Browdy, president of the Zionist Organization of America; Dr. Pinchas Churgin, president of the Mizrachi Organization of America; Herbert B. Ehrman, chairman of the administrative committee of the American Jewish Committee; Abraham Feinberg of New York; Saul Gold, national vice-chairman of the Jewish War Veterans; Frank Goldman, president of B’nai B’rith; Dr. Goldmann; Dr. Hayim Greenberg, member of the executive of the Labor Zionist Organization of America — Poale-Zion; Mrs. Rose Halprin, president of the Hidassah; Adolph Held, chairman of the Jewish Labor Committee; Edward Jacobson of Kansas City; Mrs. Harold Levin, vice-chairman of the executive committee of the National Council of Jewish Women; Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Zionist Council; Rabbi Irving Miller, president of the American Jewish Congress; Mr. Morgenthau, Jr. general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal.
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.
