Nathan "Nate" Perlmutter (1923 – July 12, 1987) was the executive director of the

Anti-defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

from 1979 to 1987. Perlmutter joined the ADL in 1949, serving as regional director in Detroit, Miami, and New York until 1964. He became associate national director of the American Jewish Committee from 1965 to 1969. After that, he rejoined the ADL as assistant national director from 1973 to 1979, at which point he became national director. He served as ADL national director until his death in 1987. From 1969 to 1973 Perlmutter was vice president of

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. Perlmutter received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan.

ADL presidency (1973-1987)

In 1973, Nathan Perlmutter took the role of national director, serving until his death in 1987. Before Perlmutter's tenure, the ADL had been critical of the religious Christian right and criticized the

American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...

for its pursuit of evangelical support for Israel, concerned about rise in their belief in a "Christian America". Under the leadership of Perlmutter and his 1978-1983 co-director of interreligious affairs Yechiel Eckstein, the ADL shifted its approach. In the words of Eckstin, the organization began establishing "lines of communication" to Christians and people on the political right, leading to "implications for Jewish-Evangelical relations and for the question of support for Israel". Though tensions in the relations of the ADL to the religious right never eased entirely, collaboration increased. The ADL under Perlmutter began ignoring some of the more contentious policy positions on the religious right. Perlmutter said: "Jews can live with all the domestic priorities of the Christian Right on which liberal Jews differ so radically, because none of these concerns is as important as Israel". This shift reflected a similar shift occurring among other Jewish leaders, including those at the AJC, AIPAC, and the