ADL reports in 1978 on social, employment, educational and housing discrimination.

ADL protests Arab anti-Israel propaganda.

ADL took on a new international mission in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It intensified its ongoing Middle East interpretation program by negating Arab anti-Israel propaganda and keeping America informed of the facts concerning the Jewish State, the sole bastion of democracy in the Middle East. The League swiftly condemned in advertisements and press releases the United Nations' notorious resolution equating Zionism with racism, and responded to escalating Arab terrorism. ADL released a series of publications pinpointing the extremist activities of the PLO, including a widely circulated chronological listing of the PLO's worldwide terror over a period of ten years. ADL also vigorously battled the Arab boycott of firms doing business with Israel. ADL leaders played a key role in the passage of the 1977 Anti-Boycott Bill banning American participation in the Arab blacklist. At ADL instigation, the State Department limited travel for PLO representatives at the United Nations to a 25-mile radius of the UN. ADL also launched a missions program to Israel. Two of the earliest included Black leaders and religious journalists.

Anti-Semitism often was characterized by insensitivity, indifference and callous exploitation, such as an ad promoting a book about Meyer Lansky proclaiming, "Jews Control Crime in the United States." ADL published what was then a controversial study entitled The New Anti-Semitism, documenting worldwide insensitivity and indifference on the part of respected individuals and organizations here and abroad.

Long in the forefront in the battle for civil rights and equal opportunity, ADL grew concerned when race-based quotas and preferential treatment began being used as means for employment and promotion. The League filed amicus curiae briefs in a number of reverse discrimination cases which reached the United States Supreme Court. Domestic issues of civil rights and equal opportunity still occupied much of the League's agenda. ADL worked with various officers in the Department of Labor to root out discrimination in the workplace and devised guidelines adopted by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to ensure equal opportunity for employees.

In 1977, ADL established one of the first formalized Holocaust programs in the world, the Braun Center for Holocaust Studies. The Center developed curricula for elementary and advanced students and organized teacher-training workshops and seminars on the Holocaust. Boasting a comprehensive collection of Holocaust-related materials, the Center, later renamed the Braun Holocaust Institute, also publishes the only general-interest magazine on the Holocaust, Dimensions: A Journal of Holocaust Studies.

Educating through advertising campaigns.

By the end of the 1970's, ADL had evolved into an international agency. In addition to Regional Offices from coast to coast, the League opened offices in Israel and Europe. Following the 1976 military coup in Argentina, ADL mounted a campaign on behalf of persons who were imprisoned without charges and those who had "disappeared." In 1979, ADL relocated its Manhattan national headquarters to New York's United Nations Plaza.

Next: 1980-1990