visa, go to Vienna, be recognized as refugees and then come to the United States. With only 40,000 openings a year, America was now unavailable as a home for the majority of Soviet Jewish emigrants. So the Russian Jews chose to fly to Tel Aviv.”
The last details for Fisher to help set in motion were the new and immense fund-raising requirements. In February 1990, a special Gen- eral Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations convened in Mi- ami Beach. Members of the CJF consented to undertake a fund-raising campaign, Operation Exodus, for the express purpose of settling the Soviet immigrants in Israel — an atypical move for the CJF, which customarily confines its work to filling domestic needs. The goal of Operation Exodus was $420 million, and American Jewish communi- ties pledged to provide their allocated sum from the proceeds of this special campaign or, if necessary, from money that they would borrow to cover their commitment.
In March, even before the official kickoff of the campaign, Fisher attended a United Jewish Appeal breakfast in New York City with, among others, Edgar Bronfman and Leslie Wexner. Before the orange juice was served, Fisher was called to the phone. Former Ambassador Walter Annenberg, a close friend from the Nixon and Ford administra- tions, was on the line.
“Max,” said Annenberg, “I feel keenly about this. I’d like to be helpful. What are you looking for?”
Never one to be shy in pursuit of a good cause, Fisher replied: “How about five million a year for three years?”
“Fine,” Annenberg said.
After hanging up, it occurred to Fisher that the size of Annenberg’s commitment might stimulate the generosity of the big givers at the breakfast. Fisher called the ambassador back and asked if he could announce his pledge in public. Of course, Annenberg said.
“Walter’s pledge,” says Fisher, “was a real spark. I made the an- nouncement, and by the time coffee was poured $58 million was pledged to Operation Exodus.”
During 1990, Soviet Jewish immigration to Israel reached 181,759. Through the first six months of 1991, nearly 87,000 more arrived. PLO
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leader Yasser Arafat was shocked. In an interview, he complained that the inrush of Soviet Jews was more ominous for the Arabs than the creation of Israel.
With luck, Fisher thought, Arafat would be right. By December 1992, estimates claimed, over 1 million Soviet Jews will have come to Israel. Even with the drastic absorption dilemma generated by the inflow, Fisher was confident that over the long run the increased pop - ulation would bring stability to the region; he concurred with what his friend, Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agen- cy, told The Jerusalem Post: “The immigrants will bring peace.”
***
Playing so large a part in steering Soviet Jewry to Israel should have been enough for Fisher — the culmination of a lifetime of building bridges between Washington and Jerusalem. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir had told him that it was “a miracle.” Maybe it was, Fisher thought, and he was pleased with his contribution, but it wasn’t suffi - cient to satisfy him, His gnawing sense of having left things undone was never far below the surface.
History, Fisher knew, could not be trusted. History had recorded al- most nothing of his role, and what it did record was often incorrect. Recently, he had read an essay by the distinguished Israeli political com- mentator, Moshe Zak. Zak wrote that Fisher had been enlisted by Nixon to persuade Golda Meir to accept the Rogers Plan, and alluded to Fish- er again as one of the Republican Jews recruited by Ford to pressure Yitzhak Rabin during the 1975 Reassessment. Nothing could be further from the truth. But perhaps Fisher had wanted it that way —to leave no tracks, to live out of the limelight and savor his own brand of freedom. Still, there were moments when he enjoyed a respite from his feel- ings of dissatisfaction — for instance, over the Memorial Day week- end of 1991 —as he sat in his glass-walled garden room in Detroit and another drama, to which he had lent his hand, unfolded.
Beginning on Friday, May 24, the Israeli government began an emergency airlift of 14,500 Ethiopian Jews —almost the entire Jewish
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population of that country. More than two dozen planes were in the air simultaneously, and each craft had two or three people to a seat. Less than forty-four hours later, the Ethiopians were safely in Israel.
For years, at countless meetings, Fisher had asked the White House and State Department to back Israel’s attempts to in gather the Ethiopi- ans, and argued their case whenever he could. In 1984, when a famine forced nearly 8,000 Ethiopian Jews to flee into the Sudan, Fisher raised the issue again with the administration. He found several sympathetic listeners, particularly then-Vice President George Bush. Assigned by President Reagan to oversee the logistics of the situation, Bush was relentless in his efforts to free the Ethiopian Jews caught in the Sudan, becoming the driving force behind a covert operation that ferried 7,000 of them to Israel. Neighboring Arab countries soon pressured the Ethi- opian and Sudanese governments to halt further emigration. By March 1985, eight hundred Ethiopian Jews were still trapped in the Sudan. Vice President Bush stepped in again, sending U.S. C-130 Hercules transports to fly the 800 to Israel.
“George Bush’s repeated efforts on behalf of the Ethiopian Jews were remarkable,” says Fisher. “Had he not been personally involved, I doubt they would have survived.”
The plight of the Ethiopian Jews wore on until the spring of 1991, when President Menguistu Haile Mariam of Ethiopia came under siege by rebels. Fisher was on the phone to Washington during this period, trying to find a way out for the Ethiopian Jews. He contacted the White House. Bush, now the president, needed little prodding. For a third time, he took the situation in hand, appointing former Senator Rudy Boschwitz as his special envoy to Ethiopia. Boschwitz urged Men- guistu to let the Jews go. In May, Menguistu fled the country. Bush threw his personal weight behind the rescue mission. He sent a letter to the acting head of the Ethiopian government, Lieutenant General Tesfaye Gebre-Kidan, promising him that the United States would as- sist in bringing the civil war to an end if the Jews were immediately allowed to depart for Israel. Gebre-Kidan consented. Meanwhile, Bush prevailed upon the State Department to convince the rebels to delay capturing the capital until the Jews were gone.
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Now, sitting in his Detroit garden room, Fisher was reading about the airlift in The Times. When the newsprint was piled at his feet, he phoned the president, praising him for his help in seeing the Ethiopian Jews to safety. Yes, Fisher said, he had talked with the prime minister in Israel. Israelis were dancing at Ben-Gurion Airport, while the Ethiopians knelt down to kiss the tarmac. Fisher and Bush moved on to more personal matters: the president’s illness —the atrial fibrillation, an erratically fast heartbeat, that had recently been diagnosed. Fisher assured him that he had no need to worry; he had been suffering from the same thing for al- most twenty years. All you had to do was take your medication and keep busy. The president laughed, and they said goodbye.
Fisher slouched in his chair, stretching out his legs and closing his eyes. The early summer sunlight lit the glass wall behind him. A long- time associate, much involved in organized world Jewry, was sitting on the couch across from Fisher. He commented that it had been quite a noteworthy day; the Ethiopians being airlifted to freedom was an accomplishment on the order of saving the Soviet Jews.
Suddenly, Fisher straightened in his chair and opened his eyes; they narrowed, taking on his familiar look of concentration, and strangely, defiance.
“The day’s not ended,” Fisher said.
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Acknowledgments
This book could not have been written without the help of dozens of people. First, of course, is Max M. Fisher, who provided me with the opportunity to sift through his archives and shared hundreds of hours of his memories and observations with me. His wife, Marjorie, was no less generous with her time; she fielded my questions day or night, and I will always respect her forthrightness when it came to discussing the more challenging moments of her life.
Many others (some of whom sadly passed away before this book was completed), contributed their time to Quiet Diplomat, and I will forever be in their debt. I hope this list is complete, but if not, I offer my deepest apologies: Nathan Appleman, Marjorie Fisher Aronow, David Aronow, Bernadine Aubert, Yehuda Avner, Mandell L. Berman, Philip Bernstein, Harold Berry, Louis Berry, Floyd Bornstein, Matt Brooks, John Bugas, Joyce Switow Burkoff, Stanley T. Burkoff, George H. Bush, Shoshana Cardin, Hannah Chinitz, Walker L. Cisler, Howard Cohen, Fred E. Cope, Julie Fisher Cummings, Peter Cummings, Sim- cha Dinitz, Zvi Dinstein, Robert J. Dixon, Melvin Dubinsky, Leon Dulzin, Daniel J. Elazar, Sol Eisenberg, Arthur G. Elliott Jr., Ephraim Evon, Hortense Falk, Ron Pirth, Mary Fisher, Phillip W. Fisher, Mar- lin Pitzwater, Steven Flax, Edsel Ford II, Gerald R. Ford, Henry Ford II, Norris Priedlander, Leonard Garment, Suzanne Garment, Bertram Gold, Irving L. Goldman, Uri Gordon, William Haber, Alexander M. Haig Jr., Gottlieb Hammer, Betty M. Hansen, Dwight Havens, Yehu- da Hellman, Shari Hillman, Malcolm Hoenlein, Jerold C. Hoffberg- er, Charles Hoffman, Jason Honigman, Stanley B. Horowitz, Charles Horvath, Dennis N. Horwitz, Clay Howell, Joseph L. Hudson, Cal- vin Hughes, Eliezer Jaffe, Miles Jaffe, Jacob Javits, Mendel Kaplan, Irving Kessler, Henry A. Kissinger, George Klein, Martin S. Kraar,
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Teddy Kollek, David Lissy, Bill Kovach, David J. Mahoney, Morton L. Mandel, Aron M. Mathieu, Robert E. McCabe, Paul W. McCracken, Kathryn McIntosh, Sharon Ross Medsker, Ruth Miles, Israel Miller, William G. Milliken, Seymour Milstein, John N. Mitchell, Richard G. Morse, Robert A. Mosbacher Sr., Joseph Nederlander, Richard M. Nixon, Kathy O’Connor, Shlomo Osherov, Shimon Peres, Joseph E. Persico, Martin R. Pollner, Yitzhak Rabin, Ronald W. Reagan, Sey- mour Reich, Charles Roessler, George W. Romney, Anne Fisher Rose, Lew Rose, Harry Rosen, Gail Fisher Rossen, Herschel Schacter, Avra- ham Schenker, Maurice S. Schiller, Shirley Krell Schlafer, Alan E. Schwartz, Carmi Schwartz, Yitzhak Shamir, Jane Fisher Sherman, Larry Sherman, George P. Shultz, Joseph J. Sisco, William G. Slaugh- ter Jr., Maurice H. Stans, Al Stark, Jacob Stein, Mark Talisman, Doro- thy Fisher Tessler, Frank Tessler, Melvin I. Urofsky, Richard VanDu- sen, Richard Van Tiem, A. Alfred Taubman, Remer Tyson, Howard Weisband, Henry Penn Wenger, Joseph J. Wright, Henry K. Yaggi Jr., Coleman A. Young, Chaim Zohar.
I would also like to thank Irving Bernstein, Zelig Chinitz and Arthur Klebanoff for their wise comments on the manuscript; Jerome Eck- stein, for being my teacher then and now; Peter Iselin, Judith Sokoloff, Elizabeth Coccio and M.S. Solow for their editorial assistance; Sam Bloch, for turning a manuscript into a book; Gus Cardinali, who guid- ed me through Detroit and provided history lessons at every corner; Elizabeth Stephens for helping me comb the Fisher Archives and al- ways knowing where to look; Beth Brinser, my research assistant, who saved me countless months of digging; and my wife, Annis, whose loving encouragement and sage advice sustained me from the first page of this book to the last.
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