Narratives

Click on the themes below to learn more about Max Fisher.

Introduction
Wisdom
9:59 minutes
Transcript
Generosity
9:34 minutes
Transcript
Service
11:55 minutes
Transcript
Leadership
13:01 minutes
Transcript

Wisdom

The spring of 1975 was a delicate time for US / Israeli relations. The Soviets were arming Egypt with advanced weaponry. The US had been a staunch ally of Israel but the Ford administration was wavering. Max Fisher had just returned from an important trip to Israel. It is very likely that he was the only person on earth who could convince President Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger that the Israeli leadership was willing to work within US guidelines to negotiate lasting peace with Egypt. But there was little time left before his close friend, President Ford, made a speech that would set the Middle East agenda for the rest of his term as President.

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Leon Dulzin, President Gerald Ford, Max M. Fisher
Max M. Fisher meets with Yigal Allon and Yosef Tekoah in 1972.
Max Fisher, Yitzhak Rabin and others
Max M. Fisher in a meeting with President Richard Nixon and others during the Rogers Plan negotiations.
Left to Right: Max M. Fisher, Sam Rothberg, Edward Ginsberg, Yitzhak Rabin, Golda Meir and Abe Fineberg.
Max Fisher greets President Ford during a White House dinner for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1976.
Max Fisher speaking in Israel
Max M. Fisher's April 8, 1975 schedule to meet the president.
Peter Golden, in an interview recorded in September 2003, describes Max Fisher's approach to his relationship with President Gerald Ford.
President Gerald Ford, Mary Fisher, and Max M. Fisher
Max Fisher with Leonard Garment in the White House.
Max M. Fisher's notes from 3 days in Israel
Bob McCabe, in an interview that was recorded in September 2003, describes Max Fisher's ability to make things happen and get what he wants done.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy toward Israel.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy.
Left to Right: Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, President Gerald Ford, and Max M. Fisher in the Oval Office
Robert Aronson, in an interview recorded in September 2003, explains that Max Fisher has been indispensable to the Prime Ministers of Israel because of his close relationship to US Presidents.
Max M. Fisher and former Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion
Max M. Fisher with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir
Max M. Fisher and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan
Max M. Fisher's typed White House comments for his April 9, 1975 meeting with President Ford about the Israeli Reassessment.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy.
Max M. Fisher and President Gerald Ford at the White House
Left to Right: Donald Rumsfeld, Max M. Fisher, President Gerald Ford, and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
Gerald Ford, in an interview recorded in September 2003, describes Max Fisher's as an American patriot with a deep love of Israel.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy toward Israel.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy toward Israel.
Max M. Fisher met with President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in the Oval Office on April 9, 1975 to discuss the reassessment of US policy toward Israel.
President Gerald Ford addresses a joint session of the US Congress on April 10, 1975. Vice-President Nelson Rockefeller and Speaker of the House Carl Albert are seated behind the President.
Max M. Fisher sits next to President Gerald Ford's daughter, Susan, during the "State of the World" address to a joint session of Congress on April 10, 1975.