Mark E. Talisman

Mark Elliott Talisman (July 16, 1941 – July 11, 2019) was a United States Chief Congressional Aide and Legislative Procedural Expert. As an aide to Ohio Congressman Charles Vanik, he was considered to have played an instrumental role in securing passage of the 1974 Jackson–Vanik amendment, which enabled the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate from the Soviet Union. In 1975 he created the Washington Action Office of the Jewish Federations of North America and served as its director for 18 years. He was also active in Holocaust Survivors affairs, as Founding Vice Chairman of the Holocaust Memorial Council, which later became the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. President Jimmy Carter appointed him as Vice Chairman, alongside Eli Wiesel, who served as chairman. The Holocaust Museum Memorial Council was wholly responsible for the establishment of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in Washington, DC.