How Jimmy Carter was viewed in his policies towards Soviet Jewry

RECOLLECTIONS OF CARTER’s PRESIDENTIAL POLICIES VIS A VIS SOVIET JEWRY

I am summarizing some recollections of how Jimmy Carter was viewed in his policies towards Soviet Jewry.

1. In my opinion, Carter was initially viewed in a positive optimistic light. This might be based on his unequivocal statement regarding Anatoly Sharansky’s innocence to charges of acting as an American spy.

2. Things began to sour quite quickly. The Jackson Amendment to the US-USSR Trade Bill was a point of contention within the Jewish community. Activist groups such as SSSJ urged support for the bill, while Establishment groups for the most part balked. Eventually Carter sided with the opponents of Jackson.

3. As more time passed into Carter’s administration, his pledges of solidarity with human rights became hollow and meaningless.

4. Carter’s pro-Arab stances seemed to go along with his increasing detachment from putting any teeth into opposing Soviet crackdowns on emigration and increasing arrests of activists.

5. By the time of the1980 Democratic National Convention in NY, large demonstrations greeted Carter at the Convention

David Stahl

Attachments
3rdWorldConference 3.14.1983DemonstrationAmericanBar 2.7.1988WashingtonLobby 2.24.1982SummitFreedomDemonstration 6.15.1979MoscowJerusalemDemonstrationDEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 8.11.1980MoscowJerusalemDemonstration at DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 8.11.1980UnionCouncilsSoviet JEWRY ISRAEL CONFERENCE 4.4.1978WashingtonLobby.2.24.1982BrusselsConferenceII 2.17.76-19,1976MoscowJerusalemDemonstration 8.11.1980