Judy Silver Shapiro, tears streaming down her face and faint from a Tisha B’Av fast confronted the US Ambassador to the United Nations, George Bush, on a hot, busy mid-Manhattan street this afternoon and pleaded, “My husband, my husband, Mr. Bush, please help my husband!” Bush agreed to talk to Judy after she and a group of demonstrators on behalf of Gavriel Shapiro followed the envoy from US Mission headquarters to the restaurant where he was lunching. Bush held Judy’s hand and promised her that he would do “everything that we can and will continue to help you and your husband,” The Ambassador added that President Nixon is personally concerned and very aware of the happenings in your case.”
Judy’s attempt to see Bush began at 11 a.m. today when she and about 50 women and students held a vigil at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the UN. The demonstrators represented the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, the Long Island Committee for Soviet Jewry and 11 national women’s organizations. At noon they moved to the US Mission. Judy, by then feeling the heat, used a megaphone to beg Bush, President Nixon and the US government to help her obtain a Russian visa to attend her husband’s trial in Moscow beginning July 26.
Richard Combs, US Mission advisor for political affairs, emerged from the building and tried to comfort Judy. He put his arm around her and walked her across the street as Ambassador Bush left for lunch. The demonstrators followed him to the restaurant, but were not permitted to enter. They formed a circle outside with signs that read “Free Gavriel Shapiro.” Bush apparently saw the demonstration for he left the restaurant and talked to Judy Shapiro.
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.
