AUGUST 12 • 2021 | 15

G

rowing up in the 
1930s and ’40s in 
Detroit, Carl Levin 
and his older brother and sis-
ter, Sander and Hannah, were 
close with their 
parents, Bess 
and Saul, who 
were part of an 
iconic political 
and Jewish 
family. But the 
inquisitive sib-
lings awaited 
Sundays with relatives in the 
family’s westside home, first on 
LaSalle Boulevard and later on 
Boston Boulevard.
It was during Sunday dinner 
the siblings grasped the impor-
tance of current affairs and the 
role of thoughtful debate as 
the family typically gravitated 
into a lively discussion inspired 
by the national radio program 
Drew Pearson Comments. It was 
a time when parents encour-
aged their kids to try to make 
the world a better place via the 
then-noble calling of public 
service.
Bess, active in Hadassah, 
and Saul, a lawyer who served 
on the Michigan Corrections 
Commission, were Zionists 
who imbued in their children a 
love of Israel and Jewish life. 
Family values rooted in 
Jewish tradition motivated and 
guided Carl and Sandy as they 
went on to serve in govern-
ment with resourceful dignity 
and a principled demeanor. In 
Congress, the brothers were 
drawn to the plight of Soviet 
Jews. And they supported a 
strong U.S.-Israel relationship 
but didn’t back away from 
questioning Israeli policy. 

VOICE OF REASON
In mourning his death at 
age 87, let us remember how 
special a leader and a fighter 

Carl was in the cauldron of 
politics. En route to retiring 
from the U.S. Senate in 2015 
after serving 36 years, Carl 
became an influential voice on 
national security and interna-
tional diplomacy. He provided 
a moral and ethical compass 
for future generations of young 
Jews who held a yearning to 
serve with a similar style of 
honor and humility. 
Carl sought balance over 
bluster — and compromise, 
where possible, over partisan-
ship. He was savvy, civil and 
articulate — and knew how to 
listen. He exuded leadership at 
every stage, from the Detroit 
City Council to the U.S. Senate. 
Never a flashy dresser or 
in awe of his standing, Carl, 
a proud Detroiter, connected 
with ordinary Americans. They 
appreciated his unswerving 
commitment to the well-being 
of the American people.
Carl cut his political spurs 
serving as unofficial campaign 
manager when Sandy won a 
state Senate seat in 1964. Carl 
won Detroit City Council 
terms in 1969 and 1973. 
The Harvard Law School 
graduates joined Congress 
within four years of one anoth-
er. Carl was elected to the 
Senate in 1978. Sandy won his 

House seat in 1982; he did not 
seek reelection in 2018.
The Detroit Central High 
graduates — Sandy was pres-
ident of his class and Carl 
served as treasurer of his — 
grew up sharing a room and 
came to share a passion for 
public service. 

SCALING THE HILL
In a 2013 JN interview after 
Carl announced he wasn’t 
seeking Senate reelection, his 
wife of six decades, Barbara, 
kvelled over the “great integ-
rity, energy and intelligence” 
he brought to Capitol Hill 
every day on Michigan’s behalf. 
Sandy described how Carl “has 
been able to get into the shoes 
of a lot of people and run on 
their behalf.
”
And run Carl did.
Surely borne from those 
Sunday dinner-table debates 
while growing up in the 
heart of pre-1950s Jewish 
Detroit, Carl, a Democratic 
liberal, understood the art 
of respecting opposing opin-
ions when it was clear they 
also mattered. 

Robert Sklar was Editor of the 
Detroit Jewish News from 1998 
to 2011, thereafter serving as 
Contributing Editor until 2020.

A ‘Moral and Ethical Compass’

continued on page 17

Robert Sklar
Former JN 
Editor

ought to inspire the service of 
new and returning senators.
”
Pulitzer-prize winning inves-
tigative journalist David Cay 
Johnston has made a career of 
skewering unethical politicians 
and officeholders. But he recog-
nized that Levin was something 
different.
“Carl Levin served as the de 
facto conscience of the United 
States Senate for 36 years,
” he 
wrote in lines for the cover of 
Sen. Levin’s book. “
As chairman 
of the Permanent Subcommittee 
on Investigations, Levin ferret-
ed out wrongdoing, abuses of 
taxpayers and failed policies, its 
reports all issued with biparti-
san agreement — a remarkable 
feat of dignity, duty and moral 
strength in our era.
”
Sen. Levin was not only 
interested in national and 
international issues; he was a 
staunch defender of Detroit’s 
auto industry. While he was 
an environmentalist, he often 
opposed imposing what he felt 
were unreasonable fuel econ-
omy standards and worked to 
have them not make domestic 
cars less competitive.
He also fought against having 
Japan take part in free trade 
talks, arguing that its unfair 
trade practices killed jobs in the 
U.S.
Not surprisingly, he battled 
hard to get the Senate to sup-
port the federal “bailout” of 
Chrysler and General Motors in 
2008-2009.

ISRAEL SUPPORT 
Levin was, throughout his 
career a strong, but by no 
means uncritical, supporter of 
Israel. He successfully worked 
to have the United States and 
Israel jointly develop missile 
defense systems.
“It is almost unimaginable 
to think of what would have 
happened if hundreds of mis-
siles and rockets over the years 
coming at Israel had not been 
destroyed in flight before they 

The Levin brothers, Sandy, 
9, and Carl, 6, by the family 
Pontiac in Detroit

COURTESY WSU PRESS

