Senator Jacob K. Javits and Soviet Jewish Emigration

Senator Jacob K. Javits rendered a critical service in writing the compromise wording and leading the negotiations over the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1974, which linked most- favored-nation trade status and subsidized low-interest government credits between the United States and the Soviet Union with a higher and more sustained level of Soviet Jewish emigration. As a Jewish Republican, Javits had to reconcile his relationship with the Nixon Administration, which regarded the linkage of trade agreements with human rights abuses as destructive of detente, with his support for Soviet Jews. Javits brought his ability to balance competing interests to make more moderate and flexible the amendment language. The influence of a Jewish Senator was critical because the established Jewish organizations were initially opposed to tying Soviet trade to emigration. His connections within the United States government and with the American Jewish leadership proved indispensable in aiding Soviet Jewish emigration.