Chuck’s Schumer’s Profile in Courage Moment

By Douglas J. Workman

Dear Senator Schumer:

            I write to you in desperation.  Somehow I believe that the fate of the Iran Agreement will come down to you.  As the foremost defender of the State of Israel among the Democratic United States Senators, your opinion will matter much much more than just your one vote.  You represent the most Jewish State in the United States.  More than one in four American Jews resides in New York.  And if you take into account Jews like me who grew up in New York and moved elsewhere, I suspect that number is closer to one in two.  Your Democratic colleagues will be looking to you for guidance.  A vote by you in favor of the Agreement will provide cover to virtually every other Democratic Congressman.  They will be able to tell their constituents that the leading Democratic supporter of Israel and a Jew supported this deal.  How could they then vote against their President and Senator Schumer?  On the other hand, if you vote against this Agreement, you will be making your mark in both the history of the United States and the Jewish people.

            You are about to have the opportunity to live a Profile in Courage moment.  As I am sure you are aware, Profiles in Courage was a Pulitzer Prize book published in 1957, ostensibly written by then Senator John F. Kennedy.  The book profiles eight United States Senators who defied the opinions of their party to do what they felt was right.  There is no denying that the Senators suffered political consequences as a result of their actions as you might be by going against a Democratic President who can play political hardball and even put the Agreement in front of the United Nations Security Council before you and your colleagues have an opportunity to vote on it. 

            I call to your attention the case of Senator Edmund G. Ross from Kansas, which is Chapter Six from Profiles in Courage.  Senator Ross cast the deciding vote against the impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson. The proceedings began because doctrinaire “Radical Republicans,” then in control of the Senate, passed the Tenure of Office Act to prevent a president from firing cabinet members without Senate consent. This was done to try to prevent Johnson from firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.  When Johnson fired Stanton, impeachment proceedings ensued.  The House quickly voted to impeach, which brought the impeachment trial to the Senate.  Much like you may be with the Iran Agreement, Senator Ross cast the deciding vote against convicting President Johnson.  While Senator Ross agreed with the Reconstruction policies of the Radical Republicans, he knew that removing the President based on partisan disagreement was wrong.

            Although Ross suffered personally from his vote, history has vindicated his actions as being both courageous and righteous.  You have it within you to take the same type of actions as being in the best interests of both the United States and the State of Israel.

            If the history of the Jewish people has taught us anything, it is to believe genocidal maniacs when they threaten the Jewish people.  Although President Obama believes that the Mullahs of Iran can be both rational and anti-Semitic as he stated in his interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, you have to know better.

            The President explained that the purpose of the Agreement was to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, which was his justification for not including releasing American hostages as part of the deal.  Yet the embargo on conventional weapons will be lifted on the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism.  Iran was arming Hezbollah and Hamas before the embargo.  What do you expect will happen afterwards?  And who do you think those arms will be used against?

            The major purpose of Zionism is for the Jewish people to no longer be dependent on the whims of foreign powers.  Thankfully there exists the State of Israel to protect the Jewish people.  Israel can and should do whatever is necessary to safeguard its citizens.

            But you also have something you can do and that is stand up in front of the American people and reject this deal, which will at least give some credence to the next Administration to abrogate it.

            History has a tendency to repeat itself.  Look back to the Bible and the Book of Esther and you will find the Jews of Iran threatened by an anti-Semitic evildoer.  When asked to risk her life to aid the Jewish people, Esther initially balked.  Her cousin Mordecai put her in her place.  "Do not imagine to yourself that you will escape in the king's house from among all the Jews.  If you remain silent at this time, relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere and you and your father's household will perish; and who knows whether at a time like this you came into being for just this purpose?”

            This is your moment; you will only have one opportunity to get this right and history is going to judge you for your actions.  Will you be like the American Jewish leaders of the 1930’s and 1940’s who refused to pressure President Roosevelt on behalf of their Jewish brethren or will you do the right thing and vote against the Agreement?

Sincerely,

Doug Workman

Doug Workman is a lawyer in Los Angeles and member of Valley Beth Shalom.  He has written in the Jewish Journal on a number of occasions.

This first appeared in http://www.jewishjournal.com/opinion/article/chucks_schumers_profile_in_courage_moment