J.F.Kennedy was enraged at Zionist Control "
Mondoweiss
July 05, 2008
JFK Was Enraged at 'Zionist Control' Effected by Campaign Contributions
Back in the shtetl the two highest values in Jewish life were wealth and learning. Well I'm pitting the learning against the wealth here. I'm going to keep on my theme of Jewish wealth in politics, inasmuch as it distorts our policy in the Middle East.
Last year Seymour Hersh, god bless him, openly spoke of "Jewish money" when he criticized the push to attack Iran. And my correspondent Nim Chimpsky (I wish I knew who he was, but I trust him anyway) just sent me a selection from Hersh's 1991 book "The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy":
"... [Governor Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut said that in 1960,] 'I told Kennedy I was going to get in touch with Abe Feinberg, who I thought was a key Jew. I arranged a meeting [with Kennedy] in Feinberg's apartment in the Hotel Pierre and we invited all the leading Jews.' About twenty prominent businessmen and financiers showed up.
"... The group agreed on an initial contribution of $500,000 to the presidential campaign, with more to come.
'I called him [Kennedy] right away,' said Feinberg. 'His voice broke. He got emotional' with gratitude.
"Kennedy was anything but grateful the next morning in describing the session to Charles L. Bartlett, a newspaper columnist and close friend. He had driven to Bartlett's home in northwest Washington and dragged his friend on a walk, where he recounted a much different version of the meeting the night before. 'As an American citizen he was outraged,' Bartlett recalled, 'to have a Zionist group come to him and say: "We know your campaign is in trouble. We're willing to pay your bills if you'll let us have control of your Middle East policy.'" Kennedy, as a presidential candidate, also resented the crudity with which he'd been approached. 'They wanted control,' he angrily told Bartlett.
"Bartlett further recalled Kennedy promising to himself that if he ever did get to be President, he was going to do something about it"--a candidate's perennial need for money and resulting vulnerability to the demands of those who contributed. Kennedy, in fact, kept that promise before the end of his first year in office, appointing a bipartisan commission in October to recommend ways to broaden "the financial base of our presidential campaigns." In a statement that was far more heartfelt than the public or the press could perceive, he criticized the current method of financing campaigns as "highly undesirable" and "not healthy" because it made candidates "dependent on large financial contributions of those with special interests." Presidential elections, Kennedy declared, were "the supreme test of the democratic process" in the United States. (pages 96-97)
Nim adds: JFK wanted a nuclear-free near east with inspectors at Dimona and a resolution to the Palestinian refugee problem (which would be a policy based on American interests or perhaps even regional or international interests). I don't think his patrons liked those ideas much. they wanted a policy based on Israel's interests. and as they say, when you pay the piper, you call the tune.
To which I'd add: Israel got nukes. Nukes seem to have played a role in causing the '67 War. Now Iran wants nukes; and this time around the U.S. is contemplating military attacks. Maybe it's time to get nukes out of the Middle East? Isn't Dimona a bargaining chip?
As for the Pierre Hotel incident, here is Abba Eban writing (in "Dewey David Stone: Prototype of an American Zionist," published in an American Jewish Historical Society collection) on the same subject:
"[W]hen he became a presidential candidate in 1960, John F. Kennedy was again plagued by memories of his father's equivocal attitude on Nazism. Dewey [Stone, a leading Israel lobbyist] suggested that the candidate accept the invitation of the Zionist Organization of America to be the principal speaker at its convention. Kennedy presented his views with eloquence and passion and firmly dissociated himself from his father's war-time attitude. At a meeting arranged in the apartment of Abraham Feinberg at the Hotel Pierre in August 1960, Dewey Stone, with a group of influential Jewish leaders, interrogated Kennedy stringently on matters affecting Jews and Israel. It appeared that Kennedy made honest and candid responses to the questions asked of him....
"No historian would question the judgment that without the support of American Jewry, Israel's emergence out of vulnerability and weakness into sovereignty and successful resistance could not have been conceived."
Reminds you of Obama and AIPAC, doesn't it? I wonder how secretly ticked off Obama is. Of course the only religious obeisance anyone mentions apropos of Kennedy is his speech to the Houston Protestant ministers in '60. Slowly but surely, knowledge of the Israel lobby is growing.
Posted at 02:03 PM in Books, Israel, Religion, U.S. Policy in the Mideast | and influence all out of proportion to their small numbers in the population?
Even average Jews are much more well-off than most Americans. It was reported recently by Pew that nearly 50% of American Jews make over $100,000 a year, which is far above any other American ethnic or religious group.
With that much money and power at their disposal, Jewish money influences not only American politics but just about everything else in America. Do some research and you'll come to this conclusion.
Posted by: Ari_E | July 05, 2008 at 06:28 PM
"With that much money and power at their disposal, Jewish money influences not only American politics but just about everything else in America. Do some research and you'll come to this conclusion."
You may be right, Ari. I'm just going by recollections of Forbes listings. Bill Gates, the Walton family, Warren Buffett are high on the list, and I remember them holding huge sums of money- far more combined than most.
I know that Jews tend to make more than average Americans, but they also tend to live in the most expensive areas of the nation where $100k yearly doesn't buy what a much smaller salary would in other areas.
I have mixed feelings about income. If people make their money ethically, is it my business to comment? On the other hand, there does seem to be a Jewish old boys network that would have many Jews screaming racism or discrimination if they weren't benefitting themselves- many still complain about WASP privilege.
Jews do seem to do quite well financially, but I'm still not sure that such a small group of people control anywhere near the majority of the legal/visible wealth in the nation.
My guess is that as a group certain Jews have always consciously positioned themselves near power, and looked for or hastened, a time of weakness or inattention to make a move at power themselves.
I could be wrong, but I don't see the Jewish position as very stable in the long run.
Posted by: Todd | July 05, 2008 at 07:23 PM
Witty doesnt want to hear that his peeps are elites in america and that israel is a criminal apartheid state and and and ....that aipac oppresses our politicians into being cowardly frigin bastages when it comes to standing up for our country.
now please lets continnue exploring jfk and israels nuclear ambitions and americas cowardly sellout politicians ....and Ben Gurions resignation....
Posted by: samuel burke | July 05, 2008 at 08:22 PM
The IDIOCY and the mediocre journalism (and Walt/Mearsheimer's mediocre scholarship) is in the generalization, even the inference of generalization.
We've been through this before.
"Jewish money", rather than specific individuals actions (even those accusations have been gratuitous). And, identifying only Jewish names, rather than a more thorough comprehensive investigation, is generalization by inference (THE fascistic approach).
Its not even an introspective ethical inquiry into how "we" use our money, as the audience here is largely NOT Jewish, a choir (as in preaching to the choir).
How can Phil even claim to be able to get credible candor from Jewish donors in sufficient breadth to form valid conclusions about it, as he's burned his bridges so thoroughly with the tone of his postings?
Posted by: Richard Witty | July 05, 2008 at 09:13 PM
Gore Vodal once said that John Kennedy told him that the only reason Truman beat Dewey was that wealthy Jews gave Truman a suitcase full of cash when his whistlestop express was broke.
Posted by: Duscany | July 06, 2008 at 12:47 AM
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