American Jewish Committee
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The American Jewish Committee, also known by its initials, AJC, was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world.[1] It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organization in the United States.[2]
Like the American Jewish Committee, another institution prominent in American Jewish life is the American Jewish Congress. It often goes by the initials AJC. For ease of identification, the two organizations are often referred to as the AJCommittee or the AJCongress.
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[edit] History
The American Jewish Committee was established in 1906 by a small group of American Jews concerned about pogroms aimed at the Jewish population of Russia. "According to the official statement of the committee...it is to prevent infringement of the civil and religious rights of Jews and to alleviate the consequences of persecution." (New York Times, Nov. 11, 1907, pg 16). AJC has since headed advocacy campaigns on issues such as Holocaust denial, church-state relations, and American dependence on oil. Today, the organization has local chapters in 33 American cities, as well as in 8 countries around the globe.
The President elected in 1907 was Judge Mayer Sulzberger of Philadelphia. He served as President until at least 1912.
In 1908 the Executive Committee consisted of: Dr. Cyrus Adler of Philadelphia, head of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington; Joseph Cohen of New York, Henry Cutler of Providence, Rev. Dr. Emil G. Hirsch of Chicago, the Rev. Dr. J.L. Magnes of New York, Louis Marshall of New York; Jacob H. Schiff, New York; Isador Sobel, Erie, Penn., and Cyrus L. Sulzberger, New York." (New York Times, Nov. 9, 1908, pg. 3)
Louis B. Marshall served as president from 1912 until 1929. Under his tenure, AJC helped create in 1914 the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, established to aid Jewish victims of World War I, and later to play an instrumental role in aiding Jewish victims of World War II and the Holocaust.
In January 1941, Sol M. Stroock (d. Sep 1941) became President. He had been a member of the Jewish Theological Seminary since 1906. He had also served on the Executive Committee of the AJC since 1930, and since 1934 as its Chairman. The Sep 12 column of the New York Times has quite a lengthy series of eulogies about Mr. Stroock.
AJC played a leading role[clarify] in paving the way for a significant upturn in Jewish-Christian relations in the years leading up to the Roman Catholic Church's 1965 document Nostra Aetate, and in the ensuing years.
In the 1970s, AJC spearheaded the fight to pass anti-boycott legislation to cou