Henry “Scoop” Jackson, 1912-1983

As a congressman from 1941 to 1953 and a senator from 1953 until 1983 for Washington state, Jackson was one of the leading pro-Zionist and pro-Israel voices in Congress. He wrote legislative amendments in 1970 that facilitated the U.S. sale of F-4 Phantoms to Israel and in 1974 that pressured the Soviet Union to allow Jews to emigrate. He organized support for the arms airlift to Israel during the 1973 war.

Photo: Bernard Gotfryd, Library of Congress