“new Study-confirms ‘social Image’ Bar to Jews in Executive Suite

Studies of the American business establishment sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, uniformly reveal that a very small number of Jews, in proportion to the number of Jewish college graduates, hold executive positions in large American corporations largely because of the white, Anglo-Saxon image these companies elect to present.

One of the latest of these studies, a 450-page report by Dr. Reid M. Powell, dean of Ohio State University’s school of business, was the subject of an article entitled “Anti-Semitism’s Last Hurrah in American Business” published in the January issue of “Careers Today.” a magazine for college youth. The writer, Craig Veter, described the findings of Dr. Powell’s seven-year study which disclosed, among other things, that out of 825 upper-middle-level executives from two large un-named corporations, 58 percent felt that a Jewish representative of the company would have trouble meeting and being accepted by third parties. The Powell study was financed by the Maurice and Laura Falk Foundation of Pittsburgh through the AJ Committee.

The article indicated a strong link between corporate promotions and membership in exclusive social clubs. Most of the executives questioned felt that membership in such clubs helped directly and indirectly to secure promotions for aspiring executives and enhanced the overall position of the man with his firm. The article cited evidence that club membership practices are becoming less rigid. It quoted Lawrence Bloom garden, director of the AJ Committee’s business and industry division as saying that “the stereotypes are outworn, and wherever pressure is brought, things begin to open up”