Zionist Groups Reach Agreement on ZOA Presidency; Dr. Wise Announces Conditions

The question of who shall be named president of the Zionist Organization of America at its forthcoming convention in September was settled today to the satisfaction of all interested groups, Dr. Stephen S. Wise announced in a special statement. He revealed that Dr. Israel Goldstein will be nominated for the Z.O.A. presidency, while Dr. Abba Hillel Silver will be summoned to political leadership in the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs. Dr. Wise’s statement reads:

“In the midst of the serious problems facing the Zionist movement at this time and on the eve of the forthcoming convention of the Zionist Organization of America, I felt it incumbent upon me to do what lay in may power toward achieving the maximum degree of unity joined with the maximum effectiveness in the conduct of Zionist affairs. Having conferred at length with my colleagues in the leadership and the representatives of various groups in the Zionist Organization of America, it is a source of deepest satisfaction to me to be able to announce that we now find ourselves in complete accord on the following program.

“By general agreement among leaders of all groups Dr. Israel Goldstein, after many years of faithful and gifted service within the Zionist movement and particularly as head of the Jewish National Fund, is planned and expected to be the only nominee for the Presidency of the Zionist Organization of America at its forthcoming convention in September.

“Similarly, it is planned and expected that with the concurrence of all parties, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, for long one of the most distinguished figures in Zionism, will be summoned to leadership in the sphere of political affairs by becoming the co-chairman with me of the American Emergency Committee for Zionist Affairs and assuming also the chairmanship of its Executive Committee, the body responsible for the centralized direction of our political efforts.”