Reactions Mixed to Carter’s Appointment of Strauss

Reactions were decidedly mixed today on President Carter’s appointment of Robert Strauss, one of his chief trouble-shooters, to be the U.S. Ambassador-at-large during the next round of the Middle East peace negotiations scheduled to begin next month.

The appointment was praised as “superb” and “great” by Jewish communal and political observers in Washington and in Texas as a big plus towards more progress in an Arab-Israeli settlement because of Strauss’ persuasive skills as a mediator.

Others thought his virtually total lack of experience with Arabs and Israelis and his Jewish background would handicap him. These observers also thought the appointment was weighted more in the direction of domestic political considerations than for international progress.

President Carter, flanked by Strauss and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, announced the appointment to the media late yesterday at the White House. It came as a surprise because the talk here had been that former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton, a pillar of the Republican Party; McGeorge Bundy, chief of the National Security Council under President John Kennedy; or Philip Habib, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs; were the nominees, with Scranton, as Vance’s candidate, considered the front-runner. Scranton was reported to have declined the offer.

Strauss will replace Alfred Atherton, who is now stated to go to Cairo as Ambassador to Egypt replacing Hermann Eilts, who is retiring to take a professorship at Boston University.

ACCEPTED ASSIGNMENT WITH HESITATION

Strauss, 60, and currently U.S. special trade negotiator, will take over his new responsibility after he guides a multilateral trade package through Congress. Previously he was Carter’s chief inflation fighter. Strauss told reporters that he accepted the “most complex and most difficult” assignment with “hesitation and reluctance” and that “I have got lots of learning to do.” Carter said there “is nobody I know of who is better qualified to take on the complex and difficult negotiations.”

Strauss, one of the few non-Georgians to enter Carter’s inner circle of advisors at the White House, was not in Carter’s corner in the 1976 election until after Carter had virtually garnered the nomination. After his appointment was announced, Strauss was asked if he thought his Jewishness would hinder him in his new task. “I have never considered my religious origin as an obstacle to this or anything else I’ve ever done,” Strauss said.

Carter said that he cleared the appointment with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and “their response was positive and enthusiastic.” Strauss had met with Begin and Sadat last week when he headed a U.S. delegation to the two countries to discuss U.S. trade and investment as a follow up to their peace treaty.

A Texas native and a lawyer with offices in Dallas, Strauss rose within the Democratic Party ranks to be its national chairman. In Dallas he was president of Temple Emanu-El, the largest Reform congregation there. He has been vice president of the Jewish Federation and cooperates with the American Jewish Committee and other Jewish groups in Dallas.

The President’s appointment, a Democratic Party insider in Washington told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, was based on the grounds that he is a “brilliant negotiator” and “ingenuity” is called for in his role. Strauss “tries to solve problems, not highlight them,” the insider, a Jew, told JTA.

Others in Washington told JTA that the President’s appointment was motivated by three considerations. One is that the White House elements involved in the Middle East consider Strauss will not dispute their perceptions. A second factor is that Strauss will seek to minimize confrontation between Carter and the Israelis, and third, in terms of Carter’s campaign, Strauss may succeed in achievements that would enhance Carter’s standing with the Jewish community.