ABSTRACT
Ronald Reagan's landslide election to the presidency was largely the result of his success in mobilizing the support of Northern white ethnic voters who had previously served as loyal and reliable constituencies of the Democratic Party. Reagan's success in persuading the Senate to approve the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) sale was interpreted at the time as a major defeat for organized American Jewry. The sale actually turned out to provide the Jewish state enormous political benefits which were not seen at the time. George Klein noted that the Jewish community became deeply dismayed when, contrary to his campaign pledge to pursue a staunch pro-Israel policy in the Middle East, Reagan decided to approve the AWACS sale against the strident opposition of organized American Jewry, which regarded the deal as a threat to the security of Israel. Klein's correspondence with the White House illustrates the severe damage the AWACS debate had inflicted on relations between Reagan and Jewish community.
