Harry Truman's attempt to swing Jewish and Catholic votes against Dwight Eisenhower may have gone too far, even for roughhouse U.S. politics.
Quick to voice shock over the President's implication that Ike condoned an anti-Semitic and anti-Catholic immigration policy (see above) was one of U.S. Jewry's leaders, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver of Cleveland. Former president of the Zionist Organization of America, Dr. Silver pointedly called on Eisenhower in New York, then issued a statement:
"Much is permitted in a campaign, but the attempt by implication to identify a man like General Eisenhower—whose humanity and broad tolerance are known all over the world—with anti-Semitism...
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