Jump to content

Nathan Perlmutter

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Freelance-frank (talk | contribs) at 12:13, 2 September 2021 (→ADL presidency (1973-1987): +Peres-Shamir split). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Nathan "Nate" Perlmutter[1] was the executive director of the Anti-defamation League from 1979 to 1987. Perlmutter began work with the ADL in 1949, serving in Detroit, Miami, and New York as regional director in each of those territories until 1964. He worked as associate national director of the American Jewish Committee from 1965 to 1969. After that, he worked as assistant national director of the ADL from 1973 to 1979, at which point he became national director. He served in that role at the ADL until his death in 1987.[2] From 1969 to 1973 Perlmutter was vice president of Brandeis University.[3]

Perlmutter received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan.[3]

ADL presidency (1973-1987)

In 1973, Nathan Perlmutter took the role of national director, serving until his death in 1987.[2]

Before Perlmutter's tenure, the ADL had been critical of the religious Christian right and criticized the American Jewish Congress for its pursuit of their support for Israel, concerned about rise in their belief in a "Christian America". Under the leadership of Perlmutter and the 1978-1983 co-director of interreligious affairs Yechiel Eckstein, the ADL shifted its approach. In the words of Eckstin, the organization began establishing "lines of communication" to Christians and people on the political right, leading to "implications for Jewish-Evangelical relations and for the question of support for Israel". Though relations of the ADL to the religious right never entirely lost a sense of tension, collaboration became much moree common.[4] The ADL under Perlmutter began ignoring some of the more contentious policy positions on the religious right. Perlmutter said: "Jews can live with all the domestic priorities of the Christian Right on which liberal Jews differ so radically, because none of these concerns is as important as Israel". This shift reflected a similar shift occurring among other Jewish leaders, including those at the AJC, AIPAC, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. This acquiescence to the right in favor of its support of Israel was continued under the subsequent Foxman administration.[5]

Through the 1970s, Perlmutter opposed affirmative action in colleges as part of a movement within the Jewish community that compared such programs to the quota system that limited Jewish involvement in American and European higher education in the 1920s. Perlmutter promoted a ban on all race-based admissions criteria. This opposition caused friction with black groups the ADL had allied with through the 1960s.[6][7]

In 1980, Perlmutter called on the Republican Party for a "prompt and unequivocal repudiation" of the Ku Klux Klan's endorsement of then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan, expressing distress at "the unfortunate stalling, buck passing and refusal to comment" on the part of white house aides when questioned about the matter.[8]

In 1980, Perlmutter said that the ADL would not attend the discussions held by the National Council of Churches (NCC), saying that the NCC had organized a "predetermined outcome" in favor of the PLO. He expressed this withdrawal with "deep regret", noting the long relationship between the ADL and NCC in collaborations "for human rights and interreligious and interracial friendship and understanding".[9]

In 1980, Perlmutter issued criticism of Union of American Hebrew Congregations president Alexander Schindler alongside similar criticisms by Rabbi Abraham Hecht, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of America. Schindler had criticized Jerry Falwell, head of the Moral Majority, arguing that Falwell's rightwing religious fundamentalism was fostering the growth of US antisemitism. Perlmutter criticised Schindler for "looking at the fundamentalists as a monolithic group" and argued that one should look to the Soviet Union, rather than Christian fundamentalism, as the main spreader of antisemitism.[10]

In 1983, Perlmutter criticized the movie Women Under Siege, arguing that it "glorifies the PLO".[11]

In 1984, The Boston Globe reported that then-ADL national director Nathan Perlmutter said that Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. was antisemitic after Jackson referred to New York City as "Hymietown".[12][13] Perlmutter felt that such a statement would have sparked harsher criticism from Jewish community leaders in the past.[14] Perlmutter accused Jackson of "continued reluctance...to repudiate his political ally Louis Farrakhan", arguing that this lack of repudiation "appears to have emboldened Farrakhan into spewing his poison wantonly and without restraint".[15]

At the same time as Perlmutter led the ADL, Israeli politics were roiling under joint governance of Likud leader Yitzhak Shamin and Labor leader Shimon Peres following a split election and formation of a cross-party coalition. Amid the associated political and organizational intrigue, Perlmutter and the ADL supported Shamir, working against the Peres politices of land-for-peace and for Shamir's support of the settler movement.[16]

Publications

Perlmutter's first book, How to Win at the Races, published in 1964, was about horse racing.[3] He later wrote the 1972 book A Bias of Reflections and co-authored the 1982 book The Real Anti-Semitism in America with his wife Ruth Ann Perlmutter.[2][3]

Childhood

Perlmutter grew up in Williamsburg, a neighborhood in New York City. At age 19 he began work at the Pentagon as a typist.[2] He studied at Georgetown University School of Diplomatic and Consular Practice and Villanova College. He received a law degree from New York University Law School.[2] During World War II Perlmutter served in China for the States Marine Corps.[3]

Family

Perlmutter's father, Hyman, was a tailor who worked for the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, while his mother, Bell Perlmutter of the Finkelstein family, tended a pushcart that sold ices. Perlmutter's wife was Ruthann Perlmutter of the Osofsky family. His children are Dean, Azez, and Ninah.[3]

References

  1. ^ Birnbaum, Susan (July 22, 1987). "Special Interview Foxman, New ADL Director, Epitomizes the Organization". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Nathan Perlmutter, Author and ADL Director, Dead at 64". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. July 14, 1987.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Pace, Eric (July 14, 1987). "Nathan Perlmutter, Top Executive Of Anti-Defamation League, Dies". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  4. ^ Hummel, Daniel G. (December 2018). "His Land and the Origins of the Jewish-Evangelical Israel Lobby". Church History. 87 (4): 1147. doi:10.1017/S0009640718002391.
  5. ^ Hummel, Daniel G. (December 2018). "His Land and the Origins of the Jewish-Evangelical Israel Lobby". Church History. 87 (4): 1150. doi:10.1017/S0009640718002391.
  6. ^ Kintisch, Eli (January 29, 2003). "Jews temper views on affirmative action". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  7. ^ "Behind the Headlines 50 Years After Integration Case, Jews Remember Their Crucial Role". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 11 May 2004. {{cite news}}: |first1= missing |last1= (help)
  8. ^ Friedman, David (May 2, 1984). "Reagan Disassociates Himself from the Ku Klux Klan". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  9. ^ Friedman, David (February 6, 1980). "Jewish Groups Refuse to Testify at Ncc Hearings on the Mideast". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  10. ^ "Falweel; Schindler's Charges Against Moral Majority Are False 'absolutely Without Foundation'". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. November 27, 1980.
  11. ^ Rosenwein, Rifka (July 15, 1983). "'Political tract'". Jewish Press. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  12. ^ "Post Reaffirms Report On Jackson Comment". The New York Times: 13. February 23, 1984.
  13. ^ "Jackson Admits Saying 'Hymie' And Apologizes At A Synagogue". The New York Times: 16. February 27, 1984.
  14. ^ American Jewish Year Book, 1986 (PDF). American Jewish Committee. 1986. p. 66. ISBN 9780827602694.
  15. ^ Freeman, Kevin (June 27, 1984). "Jews Express Outrage at Farrakhan Calling Judaism 'gutter Religion', Israel Described As 'outlaw' St". Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
  16. ^ Goldberg, J. J. (1996). Jewish power : inside the American Jewish establishment. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. pp. 216–217. ISBN 9780201622423.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nathan_Perlmutter&oldid=1041942805"