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As a footnote here, are you familiar with the way LaGuardia would campaign relative to this ethnicity, where he was partly Jewish, had an Italian name...
His mother was Jewish and his father was Italian.
Which made many Italians think he was Catholic, but he was apparently a practicing Protestant.
That is correct. Well, with me there's a slight difference, and that is: everybody knows I'm Jewish, except the Jews. Now they do, but in the beginning the Jews didn't know I was Jewish. My name is not exclusively Jewish. Koch is often-times not Jewish. And it took a long time... Now they know.
They thought you were a Germanic Protestant.
Right. That which I'm pointing to now, that Hanukah candle, I was given as the Jew of the Year not very long ago -- this November or December of 1975 -- because of all of my efforts on behalf of Syrian Jews and Jews in this country and Soviet Jews. And I have said to people: “Listen, I am involved in so many fights for liberty. Should I consider the liberty of my brethren least of all? Never, never.” I make that very clear.
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