GOP Official Drew Up List on Jews

Frederic V. Malek, chosen recently by Vice President George Bush to be deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee, compiled figures in 1971 on the number of Jews among top officials of the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the direction of then-President Richard M. Nixon, who had ordered Malek to investigate what White House memos described as a “Jewish cabal” at the agency.

Malek was then White House personnel chief and had been assigned to evaluate the bureau’s staff. On July 27, 1971, he reported to White House staff chief H. R. Haldeman that 13 of 35 top agency officials were Jewish. Reporters found his memo last week in the archives from Nixon’s presidency.

Less than two months later, two senior bureau officials who are Jewish were moved to less visible positions. According to Malek and memos and notes of meetings in the archives, Nixon was concerned that agency officials were twisting unemployment data to put his Administration in an unfavorable light.

Malek, who managed the Republican National Convention in August, said Friday that he had gathered the statistics, “but in no way did I take part in moving anyone out of the BLS.”