Senator’s Wife is Reported in Pact with Demagogue
Southwestern Jewish Press, September 18, 1958, Page 1 and Page 4
By Herb Brin
Is this going to be a dirty campaign for governor in California?
The New York Times this week disclosed a shocking story of a smear-assault booklet, directed against labor — financed by Eastern Republican leaders and endorsed by the wife of Senator William Knowland.
It “was written by Joseph P. Kamp, reactionary bleeding-heart “super-patriot” who served a term in jail for contempt of Congress.
The pamphlet is undoubtedly flooding our State.
Senator Knowland is reported by the New York Times with having asked that his wife halt distribution of the pamphlets because he noted that the union label was not upon them! Mrs. Knowland admitted distributing ‘‘about 500” of the smear documents.
Kamp is recognized throughout the land as one involved deeply in class warfare. He is a fighter against any liberal causes and in 1952 attacked President Eisenhower and Chief Justice Warren. He was publicly condemned by Senator Taft.
Kamp’s material has been quoted by anti-Semitic propagandists and before the United States’ entry into World War II, a propaganda agency financed by the German Nazi government recommended the writings of Kamp, citing him as an “American patriot.”
We carry this report because on June 14, 1956, we publicly exposed a nefarious scheme by Gerald L. K. Smith to boom Senator Knowland for President if Eisenhower would not be able to run in the fall of that-year.
The scheme was worked through a fake apparatus called the “Knowland for President • • • If Committee.”
The “committee” worked through a blind Post Office box in Glendale, Calif .—a blind which this newspaper managed to rip apart.
Our story identifying Gerald L. K. Smith as the mastermind behind the Knowland boom won nationwide attention and was reported in every publication in the land and over TV and radio.
To the credit of Senator Knowlandm he promptly sent an historic letter to this newspaper disavowing Smith and his phony “committee.” In his letter to me, the senator declared: “As you have correctly pointed out, I had no information in advance relative to the publication of the pamphlet.
“It did not and does not have my approval and is contrary to my stated public and private position in regard to any candidacy.”
In the case of the Kamp pamphlet — entitled “Meet the Man Who Plans to Rule America” (an attack centered upon Walter Reuther) – the pamphlet was by Mrs. Knowland as a “powerful message which, could actually swing the pendulum in California . . .”
At this stage, independent leaders in the State are demanding that Knowland state clearly where he stands with respect to Kamp.
For it was noted that Mrs. Knowland appealed to Kamp for help in obtaining thousands of additional copies of the Kamp pamphlet
W. H. Lawrence, in his article in the New York Times, stated that this appeal by Mrs. Knowland was used to collect money from Eastern Republicans such as Donaldson Brown, formerly of General Motors; Pierre S. du Pont III, and Charles M. White, board chairman of Republic Steel.
Mrs. Knowland told Lawrence she was unaware of Kamp’s background or that he went to jail for contempt of Congress.
It was reported further, that Donaldson Brown approved use of his name by Kamp in seeking funds from other New York Republicans.
The crowning inglory of the whole mess is that Kamp has also attacked Sen. Knowland because of his support of the Civil Rights Bill.
Meanwhile, in Oakland, Mrs. Knowland issued a statement asserting that the disclosure of the Kamp-Brown deal “is another attempt to intimidate anyone active in this frightening, tremendous struggle against dictatorial labor tycoons . . .”
She did not say the story was in error.
She said:
“I am not attacking the Times but I am attacking whoever gave the Times this material on our California campaign.”
Now what will the senator say?
As we go to press, Attorney General Edmund G. Brown charged bluntly that Knowland was supported in his campaign by “fascist anti Semite forces from the East.”
“The senator’s tie-up with bigotry and reaction calls for a clear-cut explanation from him,’’ said Brown.
Knowland’s answer, charged that Brown was “trying to draw a red herrings and obscure the, fact of Mr. Brown’s domination by labor bosses . . .”
The senator carefully avoided the issue of Kamp in his statement to the press — and side-stepped all inquiries for a statement to Heritage.
These questions were demanded of Knowland by Brown:
“Will he renounce his alliance with the forces of fascism and anti-Semitism? Will he stop circulating the Kamp pamphlet in California? How much money has he received to date from top eastern officers of General Motors, Gulf Oil, du Pont and Republic Steel? Will he stop Kamp from soliciting additional funds in his name . . .?”
The questions are pertinent and Knowland will not answer.
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Honey — on a Child’s Lips
Southwestern Jewish Press, September 18, 1958, Page 1
Throughout the world, Jewish children are served honey upon our Holy Days — to symbolize the sweetness and beauties of our faith.’ Here, Cantor Jacob Rice serves honey.Sound of Faith …A Shofar’s Clarion Southwestern Jewish Press, September 18, 1958, Page 1
A still, small voice . . .
The ancient clarion of a people with & singular devotion to God across millennia—will be sounded in Temples and Synagogues of the San Diego area Tuesday at sundown as the faithful are called to worship by the mournful, haunting chant of the “Kol Nidre.”
It will be Yom Kippur at sundown on Tuesday, the Day of Atonement. Lamentations will be heard as a people voice prayers to God for forgiveness . . .
Our holiest day is being celebrated in total freedom in this land of freedom.
It wasn’t always so.
We are a people of ancient memories that carry us across many lands of the Diaspora — from Spanish degradation to the Warsaw Ghetto…
In all the lands of terror there were those martyrs, in sanctification of the Holy Name, who chanted the lamentations of the day—and proudly sounded the holy tones of the Shofar, that a people would remember.
Special services have been arranged in San Diego area for servicemen. Those seeking last- minute assistance are asked to contact the local USO-JWB office at the Jewish Community Center.
We urge all our readers to attend the Holy services on Yom Kippur as an expression of perfect faith.
It was noted this week that Sunday, Sept. 14, a dramatic film depicting the Holy days was presented over KFSD-TV in San Diego.
The film is a production of the Jewish Chautauqua Society in conjunction with the Union of American Hebrew Society in conjunction with the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis.
The Society, the educational project of the National Federation of Temple Brotherhoods with which Congregation Beth Israel Men’s Club, San Diego, is affiliated, was established to create better understanding and appreciation of Judaism.
For the past 65 years, the JCS has been sending rabbis to colleges and Christian Church camps throughout the United States and Canada.
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Allocations Meet Set
Southwestern Jewish Press, September 18, 1958, Page 1
Important meetings of the Allocations Committee of the United Jewish Federation were announced this week by Maury Novak and Larry Lawrence, cochairmen.
Budget hearings for United Jewish Appeal and local agencies will take place on Monday evening, Sept. 22, it was announced. The meeting will be held in the Board room at the Jewish Community Center.
A meeting to consider requirements of national and other overseas agencies will take place Sunday morning, Sept. 28.
Funds derived from the annual drive of the United Jewish Federation are used to assist Jewish men and women in distress overseas and for the support of community relations agencies as well as local charitable organizations.
Because of the continuing growth of San Diego’s Jewish immunity, the annual drive here assumes vital significance on the national scene. Those who have not yet pledged to the mercy drive are urged to do so.
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Meany Hits ‘Right To Work’ as Fraud
Southwestern Jewish Press, September 18, 1958, Page 1 and Page 6
★ Following article by George Meany, AFL-CIO president, is a restatement of principle against the so-called “right-to-work” law which is opposed by the Synagogue Council of America and the Southern California Board of Rabbis representing spiritual leaders of all aspects to our faith. We are proud to carry the article exclusively.
By George Meany
Once again it is my privilege to commend the Jewish Labor Committee for its assistance, not only to the trade union movement, but to the nation and the world at large.
Today it is even more important for the Committee to redouble its efforts in behalf of the human rights of all individuals.
In six states of this great nation of ours, forces of greedy groups and individuals are trying to foist upon the American people — and particularly all those who work for a living — the greatest fraud in the history of United States politics.
This gigantic fraud is the so- called “right-to-work” laws that are being put before the voting public in California, Ohio, Washington, Kansas, Colorado and Idaho this year.
Any organization, such as yours, that has fought so valiantly for the human rights of all citizens recognizes these “right-to-work” laws for what they really are — a fraud.
These laws do not guarantee any right to work to any citizen of our land.
The only country which lies a real right-to-work law is Soviet Russia. There it has become not so much a right to work as a compulsion to work, or slave labor.
Actually, the true purpose and effect of the so-called “right-to-work’’’ laws in this country are to prohibit employers and unions gfob[sic] entering into collective bargaining contracts providing for union security.
Thus, when stripped of their phony camouflage, the “right- to-work” laws are exposed as compulsory non-union shop laws.
Even the Taft-Hartley act, which is heavily weighted on the side of management, permits the union shop.
But it also contains a trick provision which allows States to outlaw the union shop or other forms of union security. That’s how the “right-to-work” laws had their genesis.
In labor’s opinion, the “right- to-work” laws, now in effect in 18 States, are economically unsound, undemocratic and morally reprehensible.
Our opinion is shared by many businessmen, by leaders of the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths and by most unprejudiced persons who know the score in labor-management relations.
Union security is vital to good labor-management relations. It frees the union from fear of being undermined or destroyed by inimical employers and thus paves the way for broader labor-management cooperation.
The record shows that the fewest strikes take place in industries covered by union shop agreements.
The Jewish Labor Committee, as a powerful force for democracy and freedom for all people, can be counted upon, we are sure, to take its rightful place in the ranks of those fighting fraudulent laws.
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Compiled by Sam Chessler and Nico Laqua