I am fortunate that my parents, who took the family to the first convention in Charleston, West Virginia, kept the *program booklet.  I was still quite young, and I did not realize who the officers were.  However, I had talked once with a person, Jimmy Silman, Jr., who also had attended that first convention, along with his entire family.  When he heard about my work in recording the History of the Druze in America; and subsequently, the conventions, he was amazed that I had made a remark about Ameen Joseph Merhi as the first President.  He answered, “Well, it did not happen quite that way.” He did not want a run-in with Sami Merhi, I am sure, and he did not discuss it any further.  So, my sleuthing began. I remembered that I had the first booklet of the convention in Charleston in 1947, The First Mihrajan of AL-BAYAN, so I immediately looked for the officers. The officers are listed in Arabic;

Mr. George (Mahmoud) Sadek was the President,
Mr. Nafe Katter, Sr. was the Vice President,
Mr. Richard Rashid was the Secretary, and
 Mr. Haney Abou Mislah (Massey) was the Orator.
 Mr. Mickey Sanjid was the Chairperson.

Also, in the convention booklet, there is a dedication by the Syrian-American Club of Washington, D.C. There is a paragraph on the page by Ameen S. Haddad, the President.

In this massage, we like to extend greetings to all our friends and
co-workers and salute the newspaper “Al-Bayan, and its president,
Mr. G. Mahmoud Sadak and its executive committee, congratulating
them on the fine achievements of “Al-Bayan” and its constructive
program and wishing them all best luck and success.

That first convention was “The First Mihrajan of AL-BAYAN.”  The name
became just “The Convention” after that. It was not until 1962 that
the name of the organization officially became The American Druze Society.

*The booklet, The First Mihrajan of AL-BAYAN can be found in my collection at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have checked numerous previous copies of the “Our Heritage” magazine that I have access to before Sami Merhi became president, and he was the first to list the Annual Conventions along with the officers.  Therefore, he did just as he liked, and he listed his uncle, Ameen Joseph Merhi, as the first president of the American Druze Society in 1947 rather than. Mr. George (Mahmoud) Sadek, First President of the American Druze Society.

Also, in the American Druze Society, 1986 Year Book*, there is an article by Henry Flehan “American Druze Society is Born.”  In the third paragraph, “To the best of my knowledge, the following people are the founders of the American Druze Society-------.”  Again, there is no mention of Ameen Joseph Merhi among the founders, nor is there any notation that Mr. Ameen Joseph Merhi attended the first meeting of the founders held in his hometown, Charleston, West Virgina, an unusual occurrence for a first president.  Mr. Henry Flehan also notes that the founders neglected to leave written records; making Sami Merhi’s list of officers an easily ‘doctored’ document of the list of presidents... *The American Druze Society, 1986 Year Book can be found in my collection at the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Another misconception that often appears in the ADS publications is regarding those that are “founders of the American Druze Society.”  In Volume #19, Number 1, there is an article about Jack Hamady “A Tribute to Uncle Jack: A Founding Father (1909-2001).”   Again, Jack Hamady’s name is not among those that Henry Flehan listed as the “founders.”