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Submission of this paper to the Faculty predates date of submission to the Digital Commons. This document was received by the Digital Commons on August 29, 2007 and posted on September 14, 2007. Original document was submitted as an honors thesis requirement.

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Article

Abstract

The struggle for Soviet Jewry started primarily as a student movement in 1964 but after the Six-Day Israel War in 1967 the more resourceful American Jewish establishment took note of this issue. The consideration of the seriousness of the problem is evident in the amount of activity that emerged during 1971-72 in the United States concerning Soviet Jews. Tactics were utilized to put pressure on the Soviet government to relax their policies affecting the Jews and to make more liberal emigration policies were utilized. Such tactics included letter-writing campaigns, rallies and media coverage of Soviet injustices. There were also actions that persuaded the American officials to effectively influence the Soviets through restricting diplomatic relations between the two countries. Continuous efforts of different Jewish organizations in stirring up publicity and awareness of the issues pertinent to the struggle for Soviet Jewry resulted in the Soviet Union ease up of the immigration policies due to the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1974. Instrumental in this struggle was the involvement of non-Jewish religious groups, whose efforts generated a widespread general American support for the plight of Soviet Jewry.

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