Gen. George S. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said yesterday he still thinks Jews have an undue influence on Congress. However, Brown, who was testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee on President Ford’s nomination of him for another two-year term as head of the Joint Chiefs, later backed away from the word “undue” and said influence in support of Israel was proper.
Brown’s remarks came when Sen. Robert Taft Jr. (R.Ohio) asked him about his statement at a Duke University law seminar on Oct. 10, 1974 in which he said that Israel had too much influence on Congress and Jews “own, you know, the banks in this country, the newspapers.” Brown later publicly apologized for the remarks on Ford’s orders.
In replying to Taft yesterday, Brown said he was wrong in asserting that Jews owned the banks and the newspapers. But under questioning from Taft he said “I felt that the Jewish community in the U.S. had an undue influence on the Congress of the U.S.” He said he still feels this way “but I feel it is not unusual. There are other special interest groups that have influence or seek to achieve influence on the Congress of the U.S.”
NOTHING SINISTER OR ILLEGAL
The committee soon after went into closed session, but Sen. Sam Nunn (D.Ga.) later emerged and said he was disturbed by Brown’s answers. He asked Brown if he believes that Jews exert “undue influence” and the general replied “I feel the influence of Jewish people was only one of many lobbying activities.”
Nunn repeated his question about undue influence and Brown replied “The Senator is better able to answer it than I.” He added, “I would say that I think that Jewish influence in the interest of Israel…is absolutely proportional to the effort they put in–they work hard at it….I have never implied anything sinister, wrong or illegal.”
When Nunn asked him if Jewish influence was disproportionate to their numbers, Brown replied “It may be, but not disproportionate to their effort.” Brown stressed under questioning that there was nothing improper in Jewish lobbying efforts and after further being pressed by Nunn, he said, “I don’t think there’s undue influence.” The Jewish War Veterans have written Ford expressing their opposition to Brown’s renomination.
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.
