Several files relate to the acquisition of tankers formerly used during WW II and later re-fitted for private businesses such as the American Trading & Petroleum Company. Files describing negotiations with the US government for one of the company’s ships, the American Trader, are included. Another Blaustein family member, Dr. Morton Blaustein, is represented in a large file (#1204). The papers describe Morton’s attention to business matters while his father was often called to national and international responsibilities. 

Of interest too is a file that relates in a special way to Amoco’s contribution to the history of American flight. In File #2602 is a copy of the receipt for ten drums of Amoco gas that fueled Charles Lindbergh’s trans-Atlantic flight to Paris in April, 1927. Prior to Lindbergh’s scheduled departure, the Standard Oil Company (California) phoned Jacob Blaustein and told him their shipment of gasoline would not arrive in time for the flight and asked that the American Oil Company rush an emergency shipment to Lindbergh. The fuel was shipped from Baltimore on the B&O Railroad to Hempstead, Long Island. 

The philanthropic service of the Blaustein family is more fully described in Series 5: Philanthropy, but Series I also includes many files dealing with the Jewish Federation & Welfare Council, the Jewish Welfare Fund, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, distributions of the Louis and Henrietta Foundation, and Blaustein’s contributions to the American Democratic Party. One extensive file (#285, 1956-1971) provides a thorough review of Blaustein’s activities and schedules on behalf of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and his ties with John Slawson, vice-president of the organization. File #333 contains annual reports of the Committee, and #2314 contains the continued selections of Blaustein as Honorary President after his official post of President ended.

Jacob Blaustein’s attention often turned to the needs of the Baltimore community. Through the resources of the family’s foundations, the clock atop the Mt. Royal Baltimore and Ohio Station, part of the Maryland Institute of Art (#4117) was repaired; a painting of Mrs. Elijah Etting was purchased for the Maryland Historical Society (#2364); a portrait of Lord Baltimore was acquired for the Peale Museum (#2086); and a lecture series was established for the Johns Hopkins Department of Philosophy (#4067). Blaustein was trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art and took an active interest in the business of the museum (#3299).

All of Jacob Blaustein’s business and philanthropy did not go unnoticed. A testimonial dinner in his honor was presented by the Palestine Economic Corporation in NY, December 1954 (File #1824) at which broadcaster Edward R. Murrow was the speaker. Locally, the Ad Club of Baltimore celebrated Blaustein with a testimonial May 25, 1955 (File #1914); and he was awarded an honorary degree by Lehigh University, June 18, 1956 (File #2985). In 1961, Mr. and Mrs. Blaustein were invited to dinner at the White House with the Kennedys (File #2033). 

A large part of Series 1 describes Blaustein’s extraordinary effort and successes at international diplomacy. Several files are of particular interest. File #416 documents Blaustein’s personal relationship with President Harry S Truman, including accounts of his many conferences with Truman related to Israeli/U.S. issues, descriptions of Blaustein’s diplomatic efforts with the administration (1948-1952) during the period of claims against Germany, and correspondence related to Truman’s personal visit to Alto Dale, September 29, 1945.  Other files note Blaustein’s association with major American political figures including Averell Harriman (#1527), Adlai Stevenson (#1530), President Dwight David Eisenhower (#1560), Sherman Adams (#1561), then Vice-President Richard Nixon (#2698), John Foster Dulles (#1589), and President Lyndon Johnson (# 2277).  Another interesting encounter was with the then President-elect John F. Kennedy, Sept. 18, 1960 (File #2890).

Other significant files cover Jacob Blaustein’s appointment as delegate to the United Nations 10th Assembly in 1955 and the close personal friendship and working relationship he enjoyed with Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld (Files #1936, #2041 and others listed under “United Nations” in Binder C). Blaustein was allowed several-hour conferences with Hammarskjöld during which they discussed openly Israeli/Arab problems and other issues before the Assembly. During a meeting on August 3, 1959, the Secretary General remarked that in conversations with Blaustein, he told Blaustein everything “including even personal references and opinions of personages.” He continued that this would normally be considered indiscreet, “but over the years he [Hammarskjöld] has never found Jacob Blaustein to violate his confidences.” Other persons noted in the files include Henry Cabot Lodge, Ralph J. Bunche, Andrew Cordier (#2278), and George V. Allen.

Jacob Blaustein’s papers reflect his sensitive efforts to reconcile the beginnings of the new Jewish State with his own attention to considerations of the American government. In the files are copies of correspondence with distinguished Israeli leaders of the period, David Ben-Gurion, Golda Meir, Menachem Begin, and Abba Eban. Blaustein’s support of the Democratic National Committee and his association with American government officials is evident. Several files describe his working relationship and friendship with John J. McCloy, the U.S. High Commissioner for Germany in 1949 and George McGee, Assistant Secretary of State (1950s) and later Ambassador to Germany. In the files are Blaustein’s and the AJC’s opinions related to the problems of displaced persons, human rights, and immigration. As early as 1946, under Blaustein’s leadership, the AJC was working for reparations from the German government for persons forced into slave labor. Files of historical interest are #329, describing Palestine (1944-1946) during the period of restricted immigration, and #342, reporting conditions in European Jewish Communities during the 1940s Nazi occupation.

Clearly Blaustein was dedicated to building a homeland for the world’s Jewry after the sufferings of so many in the 1940s. But it is also apparent, as emphasized in many of Blaustein’s addresses, that he believed that citizens of the U.S. were Americans and the citizens of Israel were Israelis (address in Pittsburgh 4/16/1950 File #1170).  His agreement with Ben-Gurion in 1950 and the reaffirmation in 1961 appear to be the basis of what defines the relationship between Israel and Jews in other countries. This was emphasized too in one of Blaustein’s important addresses (File #714) at Columbia in June 1964. Blaustein returns to this tenet often in his dealings with Zionist organizations, some represented by Nahum Goldmann.

Jacob Blaustein met with Konrad Adenauer in London on February 12, 1952.  File #1444 describes this conversation in which Blaustein discussed the position of the American Jewish Committee with that of the government of post-war Germany. The Committee was concerned about former Nazis who had acquired positions in the new German government. This was also the period when negotiations with Germany were ongoing – deriving from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany [1951-1966], of which Blaustein was Senior Vice President. File #1461 contains extensive material related to the planning, attendees, and results of the Conference and the on-going distribution of funds from the reparation settlements. Other files (#4055, #4513) include letters, schedules, reports, and Blaustein’s contributions to the meetings.  File #2249 contains material related to Saul Kagan, who served as Secretary of the Conference. Of particular interest is File #2150, describing the cooperation between Blaustein and Mark Uveeler, Director, Department of Cultural & Educational Reconstruction in distributing monies received from the post-war German government. File #2232 German Claims Conference includes other information about the distribution of funds. 

Blaustein’s association with other persons in that critical period in world history are represented in other files: File #1275 – Teddy Kollek, Director General of Ben-Gurion’s office; File #417 – Jacob Landau who was Director-in-Chief of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a world-wide system that distributed Jewish news from all over the world; and File # 1460 – Henry Bryoade, who became Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. The Bryoade file is important because it contains Blaustein’s peace initiatives with Ahmed Hussein, the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S. and correspondence related to Blaustein’s proposed trip into Egypt for a meeting with Nassar in 1954. Blaustein was notified only when he arrived in Paris that the meeting was canceled.

Blaustein was well-known in U. S. government circles, and on July 21, 1956, he presented a statement before the Senate Appropriations Committee (File #2117) on behalf of refugees worldwide. Another important address in this part of the collection is Blaustein’s testimony (January 23, 1950, File #749) before the U. S. Senate in favor of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide. In 1959, at the invitation of Polish Ambassador Remuald Spasowski, Blaustein traveled to Poland where he met with heads of government, visited industrial plants, and inquired into the situation of Polish Jews. Blaustein created a very detailed report (File #2700) after his return to the U. S. and gave briefings at the State Department.  Blaustein also proposed to U. S. Attorney General Herbert Brownell a plan to establish a National Commission of Internal Security and Individual Freedoms (File #1733). Although this commission was never formed, its purpose reflects Blaustein’s concern for the internal safety of the U. S. and the need for objective standards to assess charges of perceived disloyalty against employees.

Another large file in Series 1 (#3548) describes Blaustein’s relationship with the Baltimore Catholic archdiocese, Cardinal Lawrence J. Shehan, and the Vatican Councils of the period. During this time the American Jewish Committee had sought to have the Catholic bishops issue a statement deploring any display of anti-Jewish hatred or persecution. The 2nd Vatican Council in 1965 issued a Declaration that repudiated the charge of the collective guilt of Jews for the death of Jesus and was viewed as an important act of justice long overdue. The file includes correspondence, clippings, and accounts of meetings relating to this ecumenical achievement.

During his lifetime, Blaustein was celebrated in various ways with awards and commendations. His contributions were also described in the published works of American author Barnet Litvinoff (File #4553) in Ben-Gurion of Israel (New York: Praeger, 1954) and A Peculiar People: Inside World Jewry Today (London: Weidenfeld & Nichols, 1969). In the latter book, Litvinoff wrote this personal observation of Jacob Blaustein: He wears his wealth lightly, in the American way, is easily approachable, and likes to be everybody’s friend. Taking the affairs of world Jewry deeply to heart, . . . he has never neglected his domestic responsibilities as a prominent and fortunate citizen (p. 48).

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