[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO AMBASSADOR MORRIS ABRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 28, 2000

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in 
mourning the loss of my dear friend, Ambassador Morris B. Abram. He 
passed away a few days ago in Geneva, Switzerland.
  Ambassador Abram was a dynamic leader in the Jewish community and 
commanded the respect and affection of all who knew him. Born in 
Fitzgerald, Georgia, in 1918, Abram was the former President of 
Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He also served 
previously as the president of the American Jewish Committee and 
Chairman of the board of Benjamin Cardoza Law School in New York City. 
As a respected attorney, he argued landmark civil rights cases in the 
1950s and 1960s, including the Supreme Court's 1963 ``One Man, One 
Vote'' decision.
  In 1982, Mr. Abram published his autobiography, The Day Is Short 
(Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich), detailing his legendary career and his 
battle with leukemia. But eighteen years ago, his career was far from 
over. Since that time, he served as Chairman of the NCSJ from 1983 to 
1988, and Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish 
Organizations for three years. In the area of public service, he was 
head of U.S. delegations to the United Nations Commission on Human 
Rights and to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. He 
was also Vice-Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Human Rights. Under 
President Bush, Abram was appointed U.S. Ambassador to the United 
Nations in Geneva. Following his ambassadorial service, he founded 
United Nations Watch.
  Denis C. Braham of Houston, Chairman of the NCSJ, paid an appropriate 
tribute to Morris Abram: ``The experiences that he brought to NCSJ from 
his leadership of Brandeis University and national Jewish groups made 
him uniquely qualified to head the organization at a time when the 
plight of Soviet Jewry was at the top of the Jewish global agenda. 
Morris was not just an American Jewish leader but a world Jewish 
leader.''

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