Toscani
Grill
On The Bookshelf
`Jews In
American Politics'
From changed names to Orthodoxy, book traces Jews' rise in U.S. ranks.
1
SHARON SAMBER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
B
Washington
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elle Moskowitz, Solomon Hirsch and Edward Levi
were Jews involved in U.S. political life.
Moskowitz was the trusted adviser to the gover-
nor of New York in the 1920s. Hirsch was the
U.S. ambassador to Turkey in 1889. Levi served as President
Gerald Ford's attorney general in the aftermath of the
Watergate scandal.
Previously confined to the footnotes of political science
course guides or familiar only to political junkies, these figures
and others are part of a new book charting Jews' impact on
American political life.
All three are among some 400 profiled in Jews in American
Politics (Rowman & Littlefield, $39.95). The book isn't sim-
ply a "locate the landsman" exercise — it's an attempt to
address a number of issues, such as Jewish political behavior,
Jewish advocacy and the relationship between politics and
Jewish identity. It also provides important demographic infor-
mation and biographical profiles.
Today, as politics is seen as just another profession toward
which Jews gravitate, the changes in the level of Jewish politi-
cal involvement through the decades are interesting to follow.
Jewish involvement ranges from hiding one's Judaism in order
to enter politics, all the way to last year's watershed event —
when Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., became the first
Jewish vice-presidential candidate of a major party. The leaps
make for good reading.
The story of Oscar Straus, the first Jew chosen for a presi-
dential cabinet position, illustrates the trajectory of Jewish
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Lieberman Impact
Models for today's young Jews, include observant Jews such as
Lieberman, Jack Lew, the former director of the Office of
Management and Budget, and Stuart Eizenstat, the former
deputy treasury secretary, Forman said.
Lieberman said his experience in the 2000 presidential
campaign only deepened his feelings about public service.
"It has also convinced me as never before that American
Jews have an important and special role to play in the civic
life of this great_country,” he wrote in the book's introduction.
But American Jews still face a choice between ghettoizing
or assimilating, says Ira Forman, the book's co-editor.
The challenge is to create a different paradigm, said
Forman, who also is the executive director of the National
ve.lomArereAke.,
r. of Utah 1917-
rnorig.
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political involvement in the 20th century. When Straus was
appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, he told
how Roosevelt had said that Strauss had character, judgment
and ability, but his appointment also would serve to show
Russia that the United States "thinks of Jews."
At a public dinner several years later, however, Roosevelt
claimed that Strauss was chosen on merit and ability alone.
The next speaker, the prominent Jewish Republican Jacob
Schiff, did not hear Roosevelt's remarks and told the audience
how, years before, Roosevelt had sought his advice on a suit-
able Jew to appoint to his cabinet.
Some of the old challenges Jews faced in politics have not
entirely disappeared. While it is possible today to balance
one's Judaism with a political life — and it is much more
legitimate for a candidate today to have a strong religious
identity — having it all remains a conundrum.
6 Jewish
pots just
to name
a few.
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Jews that Mast people havens
heard of— or are surprised by
\ iichinann, son of the yeast and
their Jewish background or political affilia-
g company's founder-, ran the compa-
trans.
ny and a bank and was a patron of the arts in
One of the more famous and infamous is
Cincinnad. He owned the city's baseball team
Judah Philip Benjamin, a U.S. senator prior
and served two terms as mayor, 1901-1909
to the Civil War and then attorney general
and secretary of war and stare for
Confederate President Jefferson
Davis. A brilliant statesman and
lawyer, Benjamin advocated
emancipation in 1865 but
owned slaves and had little inter-
est in Judaism. He was ultimately
disliked by both Northern Jews
and Southern whites.
Simon Bamberger was both
the first non-Mormon and the
Simon
Julius
first Democrat to be elected gov- Judah Philip
Benjamin
Bomberger
Fleischmann