A strong reaffirmation of liberal values was the theme of the 20th annual kalah (retreat) of the American Jewish Congress in the San Francisco area last week. But according to a political scientist who addressed the gathering, the American Jewish community as a whole is becoming increasingly conservative.
Dr. David Dalin, assistant director of the Jewish Community Relations Council, told the participants that politically, American Jews are drifting away form the liberal agenda at an alarming rate. “For the first time since 1928, Jewish voters are leaving the Democratic Party,” Dalin said. In that year the Democrats nominated the first Roman Catholic for the Presidency, Gov. Al Smith of New York.
Dorothy Ehrlich, director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Northern California, warned that “we may be facing a nightmare of attacks on our basic civil rights and civil liberties, pushed by the Moral Majority and the New Right.”
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.
