War Puts Pall on ACLU Dinner

When the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California held its Bill of Rights dinner Wednesday night, the honors went to Gregory Peck, Ed Asner and former ACLU Foundation chair Laurie Ostrow. However, the attention went to the war with Iraq.

In the lobby outside the Bonaventure’s California room, two televisions were constantly tuned to ABC. During the reception, the TVs were the focus, and throughout the night there were rarely fewer than a dozen guests crowding around them.

“I don’t drink,” said one woman as she watched anchorman Peter Jennings, “but I could almost drink tonight.”

There had been discussion within the ACLU that the dinner might be canceled, but the difficulty in notifying guests was one reason for going ahead, even though, as Stanley Sheinbaum put it, “It’s not a night for a festive occasion.”

The other reason for carrying on was the feeling that “people who share values would get solace out of being together,” said Ramona Ripston, the local ACLU executive director.

Although the guests might have shared values, there was a wide spectrum of opinion concerning the bombing of strategic targets in Iraq and Kuwait.

Ed Asner said: “You knew it had to come. A blow had to be struck. Our troops were going stir crazy after five months in the middle of the desert.”

Sheinbaum said he opposed the action because he felt all diplomatic means had not yet been exhausted.

State Controller Gray Davis voiced the most oft-repeated statement when he said: “Somehow I just didn’t believe it would actually come to war.”

Once the 700 guests were seated, there was a return to the normalcy of a ballroom dinner.

The lemon chicken was served, the band played and the guests heard speeches from Asner, local ACLU president Eve Triffo, Ripston, ACLU officials Lloyd Smith and Paul Schrade, Norman Lear, songwriter Marilyn Bergman, UCLA associate vice chancellor Andrea Rich and Sheinbaum.

Peck received the Bill of Rights award for his long history of supporting civil rights (and “for being that handsome when he’s that old,” said an ACLU staffer).

“I had admired the ACLU but hadn’t joined until Bush called Dukakis a card-carrying member of the ACLU,” Peck said. “I thought that so scurrilous, I signed up the next day.”

“Gregory Peck has always been a firm, consistent supporter of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” Sheinbaum said. “And he’s done it without flash. He writes his own speeches. There’s no knee-jerk quality to his support.”

Asner received the Golden Lunchbox award for his support of organized labor. Ostrow was given the Eason Monroe Courageous Advocate award for her lifetime commitment to civil liberties.

Among those on hand were L. A. City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, director Robert Wise, agent Paul Schwartzman, Nancy Olson Livingston, cinematographer Haskell Wexler, director Norman Jewison, author Judy Quine and Chief Deputy City Atty. John Emerson.

Sidney Poitier was scheduled to present the award to his longtime friend Gregory Peck, but failed to attend because he thought the dinner had been canceled.

Two who supported the event (which raised $60,000 for the organization) by buying tables but who did not attend were singers Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra.

When the dinner ended at just past 10 p.m., there was the traditional rush to valet parking, but this night it was combined with a rush to the televisions.