President Carter by Stuart E. Eizenstat

Author:Stuart E. Eizenstat
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

MONDALE’S MISSION, BAGELS AND ALL

Tensions with Israel and the Jewish community were so high and the negotiations so unpromising that Mondale was sent on a mission to Jerusalem and Cairo from June 30 to July 3, 1978. He had strong pro-Israel credentials and deep relationships with American Jewish leaders, some of whom he brought with him. It was an unusual government mission. For one thing, it was the first trip by any vice president to Israel, and also the first to serve traditional Jewish food on board—lox, bagels, and blintzes for breakfast, courtesy of the White House chef. Only in America could you find a New York City delicatessen on Air Force Two.

I was aboard and was struck by an important difference between Mondale and Carter. On my many trips with the president, he would hold brief conversations with officials accompanying him aboard Air Force One and then retire to his cabin to work. Carter then summoned his aides, myself included, to discuss the issues that we expected to arise on the trip.

But Mondale was a politician’s politician. He enjoyed working the cabin, bantering, chatting, schmoozing with the Jewish leaders as we flew across the Atlantic, and then turning serious during a refueling stop in the Azores by trying to comfort them about the president’s intentions toward Israel and the peace process. It was a political performance to behold.83

The effect of this extraordinary visit on the Jewish leaders was mixed. They were surprised at the depth of feeling against the administration that they encountered in the Israeli leaders they met separately from the vice president’s official gatherings. Rabbi Saul Teplitz, president of the Synagogue Council of America, told Ambassador Lewis during a private briefing: “For the first time in 30 years, I got the feeling here that as an American I am somewhat in the enemy camp.”84

Despite the extensive outreach to the Jewish community, the administration’s persistent efforts to wrest concessions from Israel were having a corrosive impact on American Jewish opinion, even though they would be a necessary part of any Middle East peace agreement. A prominent Jewish businessman and campaign supporter of the president warned the White House that unless conditions changed for the better by 1980, “Jewish resources would be used to support a challenge to the President’s nomination.”85

With Jewish leaders lobbying for a stronger voice inside the White House, Ed Sanders, a former president of AIPAC and Los Angeles lawyer, joined the staff, although Carter would have preferred to have him at a distance in the State Department. Sanders demanded a role in launching Middle East policy as opposed to just helping to minimize the damage from the crash landings. He proved a wise colleague, but he was never seriously involved in policy making.86

Behind the public imbroglios stood major White House policy disputes that Mondale managed at first to conceal. He had sent the president a draft of his speech to the Knesset, and Carter wrote a tough note in the margins reading in part: “Fritz, be firm on speech points and talking points.

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