Jewish Community Relations Council Boston-MacIver Report

The MacIver Report was commissioned by the National Community Relations Advisory Council (NCRAC) in order to ascertain the efficacy of services and interrelationships of specific Jewish community services organizations under the umbrella of NCRAC, which served as their policy making body. These organizations included the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans, and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. The Executive Committee of NCRAC adopted a resolution on January 12, 1950 that enabled representatives of the Evaluative Studies Committee (with support from the Large City Budgeting Conference) to select a social scientist, not associated with any Jewish organization, to objectively evaluate the activities, objectives, methodology and results of these particular organizations.

This Evaluative Studies Committee included NCRAC representatives from community Jewish relations councils, who shared four votes between them, including Harry I. Barron of Cleveland (Chairman), Mortimer Brenner of Brooklyn, Sidney Hollander of Baltimore, Leon Mesirov of Philadelphia, Sidney Shevitz of Detroit, Bernard H. Trager of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Lewis H. Weinstein of Boston. National agency representatives, also sharing four votes, included John Slawson of the American Jewish Committee, David Petegorsky of the American Jewish Congress, Samuel H. Nerlove of the Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai B’rith (Benjamin R. Epstein was an alternative), and Emanuel Muravchik of the Jewish Labor Committee. Also participating in the Committee without voting privileges were Ben Kaufman of the Jewish War Veterans and Rabbi Jay Kaufman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Participating from the Large City Budgeting Conference, and sharing two votes, were Louis J. Cohen of Newark, Samuel A. Goldsmith of Chicago, Ephraim Gomberg of Philadelphia, Arnold Gurin and Harry L. Lurie of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, Isidore Sobeloff of Detroit, Benjamin Ulin of Boston, and Edwin Wolf II of Philadelphia.

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