With his amendment, Jackson also aimed to change the direction of the Democratic Party, in which New Left and anti-war sentiments were gaining influence. His criticism of Nixon’s international machinations resonated with the spirit of congressional activism on foreign affairs which grew amid popular criticism of the Vietnam War and revelations of executive corruption. He called SALT I a “bum deal” and compared Nixon’s negotiations with the Kremlin to World War II-era appeasement of the Nazis, arguing that the Soviet Union would only respond to threats and shows of force. Nicknamed “the senator from Boeing” in reference to the defense industry headquartered in his home state, Jackson had material reasons to stand against the slowing of weapons development. The senator wanted to throw a wrench in the Strategic Arms Limitations Treaty (SALT I), which Nixon had signed in May 1972, an agreement intended to slow the arms race and limit the deployment of weapons. Though Jackson pitched his amendment to the Jewish leaders as a humanitarian response to the diploma tax, his concern for human rights dovetailed with his fierce opposition to détente. Later that day, the NCSJ delegates voted unanimously to endorse the amendment.

And let’s stand firm.” The audience responded with a standing ovation. “You know what you can do? I’ll give you some marching orders. “The time has come to place our highest human values ahead of the trade dollar,” Jackson urged his audience at the Mayflower Hotel. With his amendment, Jackson proposed to limit the president’s ability to open trade with the USSR: To receive access to American credits and investment guarantees, the Soviet Union would first need to comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and liberalize its emigration policy, allowing Jews to leave freely. He wanted the NCSJ’s support for his proposed amendment to the East-West Trade Act, which would allow President Richard Nixon to waive restrictions on trade with communist countries as part of his efforts to defuse tensions with the Soviet Union, known as détente. They had also agreed to hear from Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a hawkish Democrat and committed anti-Communist from Washington state. The NCSJ members were determined to mount a response.

As members of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), one of several umbrella organizations for groups in the growing American Jewish movement to support the emigration of Soviet Jews, they had gathered to discuss a new obstacle to their cause: a recently instituted Soviet diploma tax, which sought to slow the brain drain of highly educated Jews from the USSR by imposing prohibitive fees on university graduates who attempted to emigrate. ON SEPTEMBER 26TH, 1972, 120 representatives of Jewish organizations-including envoys from local federations, community relations councils, and national groups like the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)-met at the tony Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC, for an emergency summit.

Scoop jackson