Nation: Jewish Lobby Loses a Big One

Carter shows new skill, Arabs play it cool

At the end, the battle over the Middle East plane deal turned into one of the most bruising Washington lobbying fights in years. Operating with growing confidence, the President and his top aides turned in their most skillful selling job on the Senate so far. The emerging Arab lobby displayed surprising sophistication and shrewdness. The Jewish lobby responded massively, but was undercut by confused signals from Jerusalem, as well as by some indecision in its own ranks, and it suffered a rare loss in Congress.

Carter repeatedly had such high officials as Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and Defense Secretary Harold Brown work on key Senators. He enlisted the help of former President Gerald Ford and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, as well as that of Nelson and David Rockefeller. In closed Senate hearings, State Department experts spread out maps with Saudi Arabia's Soviet-influenced neighbors inked in red—an appeal particularly effective with Republican Senators most worried about Russian moves in the Horn of Africa and in Southern Yemen. Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher's testimony on the Hill was crucial as he reported a dialogue held last month between Vance and Israel's Moshe Dayan. If the choice for Israel came down to getting the whole package killed, thereby losing its own new planes, or seeing Egypt and Saudi Arabia get aircraft too, which did it prefer? Recalled Christopher: "Dayan said they would rather have all the sales than to have none."

Even when Senate approval of the package seemed assured, Carter did not let up. In the final days before the vote, especially over the weekend, he worried about the potential impact of last-minute pro-Israel lobbying. The President once again telephoned at least two dozen Senators, including many Republicans, to plead that they stay with the package. In political terms the result was ironic. Despite Republican National Chairman Bill Brock's insistence that his party could use the issue to undermine the usual Jewish support of the Democratic Party, G.O.P. Senators voted 26 to 11 for Carter's position, whereas Democrats rejected the package, 33 to 28. Carter won with rare help from such conservatives as Barry Goldwater, Strom Thurmond, John Tower and Sam Hayakawa.

Saudi Arabia's successful drive was masterminded by Frederick Dutton, an experienced Washington hand who once lobbied on the Hill for Jack Kennedy.

Dutton, who has promoted Saudi causes since 1975, worked closely with the National Association of Arab Americans, an increasingly effective 2,000-member lobby. Both Dutton and his key associate, Public Relations Consultant Crawford Cook, tried to play down their influence. Said Cook: "I'm certain that the vote would not have gone the way it did had the Administration not been as strong on this issue as it was."