University of California Berkeley Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Earl Raab EXECUTIVE OF THE SAN FRANCISCO COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL, 1951-1987; ADVOCATE OF MINORITY RIGHTS AND DEMOCRATIC PLURALISM With an Introduction by Douglas Kahn Interviews Conducted by Eleanor Glaser in 1996 Copyright 1998 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the Nation. Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well- informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is indexed, bound with photographs and illustrative materials, and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ************************************ All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Earl Raab dated June 5, 1996. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to the Regional Oral History Office, 486 Library, University of California, Berkeley 94720, and should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The legal agreement with Earl Raab requires that he be notified of the request and allowed thirty days in which to respond. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Earl Raab, "Executive of the San Francisco Community Relations Council, 1951-1987; Advocate of Minority Rights and Democratic Pluralism," an oral history conducted in 1996 by Eleanor K. Glaser, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 1998. Copy no. Earl Raab. Cataloguing information RAAB, Earl (b. 1919) Jewish community leader Executive of the San Francisco Community Relations Council. 1951-1987; Advocate of Minority Rights and Democratic Pluralism, vi, 264 pp., 1998. Early years, political activity, City College, NY; Army combat intelligence; marriage, writing for Commentary; to San Francisco, 1951, executive director Jewish Community Relations Council: issues of anti- Semitism, neo-Nazi activities, Soviet Jewish emigration, church and state, civil rights, black- Jewish relations; cooperation with Farm Workers Union, San Francisco and California Mental Health associations, Bay Area Human Relations Clearinghouse, Human Rights Commission, World Without War Council, San Francisco Organizing Project, American Association for the United Nations; discusses political environment of the sixties and seventies, Israel, retirement involvement with Jewish studies. Appendices include extensive examples of Raab s writings. Introduction by Rabbi Douglas Kahn, executive director, Jewish Community Relations Council. Interviewed 1996 by Eleanor K. Glaser, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Regional Oral History Office, on behalf of future researchers, wishes to thank the following persons whose contributions made possible this oral history of Earl Raab. Edward and Cathryn Bransten Sue Bransten Jerome I. Braun Judith Chapman Jesse Feldman Dr. Emanuel Friedman Joyce & Stanley Friedman Lawrence Goldberg William & Frances Green Peter Haas Jewish Community Endowment /Louis Dessauer Trust Ron Kaufman Betty Leland Madeleine Haas Russell Donald Seiler Rita R. Semel Robert & Joan Sinton TABLE OF CONTENTS- -Earl Raab INTRODUCTION by Rabbi Douglas Kahn INTERVIEW HISTORY BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION vi I EARLY YEARS, BORN APRIL 2, 1919, IN NEW YORK CITY 1 Family Migrations Move with Mother to Brooklyn Schooling Boys High School, Brooklyn, 1933-1936 Religious Education in Roanoke, Virginia 5 City College, New York City, 1936-1940 6 Political Involvement 6 Ant i- Communism, anti-Nazism II U.S. ARMY 11 Work in Baltimore, Maryland, before Being Drafted Combat Intelligence and Officer s Training School 12 Panama, the Galapagos, and Kassie 14 III CIVILIAN LIFE 17 UC Berkeley A Farm in Maine 17 IV MOVE TO SAN FRANCISCO, 1950 19 "There s No City Like San Francisco" 19 V JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL 21 Associate Director, Original B nai B rith Survey Committee 21 Organization of Office 23 Anti-Semitism in San Francisco 24 Importance of Democratic Pluralism 26 Totalitarian Personality 26 VI WORK WITH COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS 30 Farm Workers Union 30 San Francisco and California Mental Health Associations 30 Anti-Poverty Program and Civil Rights Movement 31 Chairman, Bay Area Human Relations Clearinghouse, 1952-1962 32 Human Rights Commission, 1964 33 Fair Practices Committee 33 Affirmative Action 34 Black-Jewish Relations 37 World Without War Council 38 San Francisco Council on Religion, Race, and Social Concerns 39 Reverend Jim Jones 40 VII PERSONALITIES 42 Governor Pat Brown 42 Mayor George Christopher 43 Mayor John Shelley 43 Mayor Joseph Alioto 44 Jewish Community Relations Council Leaders 44 Mayor George Moscone 46 Mayor Dianne Feinstein 46 VIII STATE, LOCAL, AND NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS 49 San Francisco Organizing Project 49 President, San Francisco Mental Health Association and Founding President, California Mental Health Association 49 Vice President, American Association for the United Nations 52 U.S. Opposition to Genocide Pact 53 IX POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT IN THE SIXTIES AND SEVENTIES 54 The Right Wing and the New Left 54 American Civil Liberties Union 57 Nazis in San Francisco and Skokie, Illinois 57 X ORGANIZATION OF JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL 60 Key Staff Members 60 Eugene Block 60 Rita Semel 61 Naomi Lauter 62 Rabbi Douglas Kahn 62 Committees and Projects 63 XI NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND LOCAL RELATIONSHIPS 71 National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council 71 East Bay Jewish Community Relations Council 73 Koret Foundation 74 XII JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL AND ANTI-SEMITISM 76 The Core of Its Program 76 Role of the Media 77 Other Defense Organizations 78 Types of Anti-Semitism 78 Violent Groups 81 Controlling Anti-Semitism 81 Senator Pete McCloskey 82 Dual Loyalty Issue 83 Favorable Attitudes Toward Jews 84 XIII ISRAEL 87 Identification with Israel 87 XIV CONSENSUS WITHIN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 90 Divisive Issues 90 Changes in the Community Relations Agenda 92 XV MORE ON ISRAEL 96 Attitudes of American Jews 96 Effect of Incursion into Lebanon 98 American Foreign Policy 98 Arab Boycott 100 Emigration from Ethiopia and Syria 101 XVI AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE 103 Northern California Chapter 103 American Presidents and Israel 104 Relationship with South Africa 105 The 1996 Election in Israel and the Peace Process 106 XVII COUNTERING NEO-NAZI ACTIVITIES 108 Rudolf Hess Bookstore Survivors Committee 109 The Holocaust Memorial 110 Other Genocides 111 Isolating the Nazis 112 More on American Civil Liberties Union 114 XVIII CIVIL RIGHTS 115 Legislation 115 Bay Area Human Relations Clearinghouse 115 Fair Employment Practices Laws 115 Racial Integration 116 Proportional Representation 119 XIX BLACK- JEWISH RELATIONS 121 Andrew Young Affair 121 Anti-American Radicalism 122 Economic Competition 122 Pro-Arab Students at San Francisco State University 124 XX CHURCH-STATE ISSUES 126 Importance to Jews 126 Supreme Court Decisions 127 Equal Access 128 Government Aid to Religious Schools 129 Prayer in Schools 130 Creationism 131 XXI OTHER RELIGIOUS GROUPS 133 Muslims 133 National Council of Churches 134 Moonies 134 XXII SECTARIAN POLITICAL ACTIVITY 137 Civil Rights Period 137 Fundamentalists 137 Jewish Political Affiliation 139 XXIII SOVIET JEWRY 1A1 Early Activities in the 1950s 141 Soviet Jews Begin to Organize 142 Israel s Role 143 Project Yachad 145 Trip to Moscow, 1967 146 Jackson-Vanik Act: Government Action 148 XXIV IMMIGRATION ISSUES 150 Immigration to U.S. versus Israel 150 Syrian Jews 151 Liberalization of Immigration Laws 152 Illegal Immigration 153 English-Only Controversy 153 XXV PUBLIC SCHOOLS 157 Importance of Motivating Students 157 School Integration 159 Quality of Education 161 Education and Bigotry 162 Affirmative Action and Quotas 164 Holocaust Education Program 165 Religious Holidays 166 Conference at Van Leer Institute in Israel, 1987 167 XXVI JEWS, GOVERNMENT, AND POLITICAL PARTIES 170 Necessity for Democratic Pluralism 170 Concern Regarding Governmental Power 172 The Republican Party and Welfare Reform 174 XXVII JEWISH ATTITUDES REGARDING WAR AND PEACE 178 Vietnam