Document qaXEyN5rdrJ3qqJVK9a8zZ6o5

FILE NAME: WR Grace (WRG) DATE: April 24, 1982 DOC#: WRG005 DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION: 1982 Newspaper Article - Reagan Appointee J Peter Grace is Under Fire 04/29/96 at 12. 42:10 otto arobros inc (617) Page 2 W ASHINGTON--L ast m onth. New York industrialist J. Peter jSrace prom ised President Reagan th a t 1 would be a ``tireless bloodmound" who would "root out ineffi ciency and w aste" as the preOdentially appointed chairm an erf a new p riv ate-secto r task force on governm ent efficiency. Since then, however, the 68- year-old chem ical company execu tive has become the targ et of an es calating campaign to oust him as head of th e P rivate Sector Survey on Cost Control in the Federal GovernmgnLhogause of his ties to fir. O ttd A m bros/V ho was convict ed at Nuremberg of Nasi war crim es. f As in other battles over con troversial Administration appoint ments, each side seems equally de termined not to give in. . Rep. Lantes Complains ' Rep. T hom as P. L antos (0 - Hillsborough). the driving force b e h in d a national letter-w riting (campaign, calls the March 3 ap pointm ent "singularly insensitive" to Jewish people, but a W hite House #spokesm an said the President ! stands behind th e appointm ent be- cause "w ho he names is up to him " *and. m oreover. Grace's associate | has paid his debt to society. Ambros. a brilliant scientist, was convicted of mass m urder and ( slavery--he provided a German *chemical plant with 200.000 labo rers from the Auschwitz concentre- J, tion camp. He served several years |o f an eight-year sentence. For many years he was employed as a technical adviser to W. R. 'G race & Co., an nuernauonai che- Imical company cf which J. Peter <Grace is chairman --------------------- -- and enic* execu-------------------- tive officer. G race w rote the U.S. ambassador to Germ any in 1958 to help Ambros obtain a visa to visit th e United States, saying he adm ired Ambros "not only for his ability but--more im portant--for his character, in term s o f truthfulness and integri ty ." In an interview . Lantos, who aid ed th e H ungarian underground as a Jew ish teen -ag er in w ar-ravaged Budapest, said angrily: "I find it in com prehensible th a t Reagan ap pointed G race, knowing his ties to this convicted crim inal." In New York. M eir Jolovitx, na tional chairm an of th e Jew ish De fense League, said his organization view s th e appointm ent "w ith great contem pt" and believes th a t Grace's "act of commission is not to be for given. nor is it to be forgotten." A t G race's New York office, a spokesm an said the controversy over Ambros. now retired and liv ing in Mannheim. W est Germany, seem s uncalled for. "W e do not fed there was any thing w rong in employing this man in a technical position years after w hatever he did." the spokesman said, adding th at Grace is "extrem e ly proud" of the appointm ent and "would not m ake It em barrassing in any sense." T he W hite House knew of G race's relationship w ith Ambros, the spokesm an said. Indeed, in reply to a protest letter from Lantos. Jam es W. Nance, a presidential assistant for national security and director of the privatesector task force, w rote that, be sides consulting for Grace and a num ber of oth er private companies, "even more recently Dr. Ambros' services w ere used by the Depart m ent of Energy/ T hat bit of information so in censed Lantos th a t on March 25 he fired off another letter to Nance, dem anding details of Ambros* em ploym ent by the U.S. governm ent. As of Friday he had received no re sponse. Nance did not return a re p o rter's telephone call and an E ner gy D epartm ent spokesman said he could find no record of Ambros' em ploym ent. Supporters point to Grace's to m history of philanthropy involving civic and church organizations arts to his 17 years as treasurer of the N ational Jewish Hospital in Denver and assert th at he is not anti S em itic. Lawm aker *Noi Impress*** But Lantos says he is "not im pressed." N either are the peope who in recent days have w ritten angry letters to President Reagar w ith copies to Lantos. A sampling: --A Pensacola. Fla., attorney called Grace's appointm ent to tnt task force "dem eaning and degrad ing to our governm ent." --A Clevelander called the ap pointm ent "an abomination and ar affront" to Jew ish people. --From Los Angeles a man w rote: "If there is any single issue th a t could turn moral people off your Administration, it sure is . . . the appointm ent of J. P eter Grace. The last w riter said, as did some others, th at he is a conservative R e publican who supported Reagan during his campaign for the pres idency. The implicit th reat in the drive against G race's appointment is, of course, a defection of Jewish sup port for Reagan, which was sub stantial in 1980. 04/29/96 12:41 TX/RX NO.6527 P.002