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FORMERLY SOCIETY NEWS
volumexiii. no.2,January.1990
ffi
tuffi
A CandidAssessmentof Jews
In ChicagoPoliticsSince1920
Hold Exhibit-Related
Meetingat Spertus
On January14
A VeteranIndeoendentLooks Back
At VariedAchievements,
Shortcomings
PanelWill Discuss
by Leon M. Despres
LandsmanshaftenRoles
ews in ChicagoPolitics"is a fascinating
subject.A completeand
accurateaccountwould requirethe carefulattentionof a historian. assisted
by severalstud;nts.At best,I am preparedto sketch
someaspectsin the hopeof inspiring someoneto carry the subjectfurther.
I havetakenthe period from 1920on becauseit coverspart of my lifetime
and providesme with a frame of referencefor the material.I think I can
dealwith it moreaccuratelythan if I tried to go backto the Civil War.
Since about 1920,there has been a Jewishpopulationbasein
Chicagolargeenoughto encourage
ambitiousJewishpeopleto become
candidatesfor public office. I havegonethroughthe recordsof local aldermen,congressmen,
staterepresentatives,
statesenators,
city officialsand
stateofficials and compileda list of Jewsamongthem. You are not interestedin the detailsof that list-how many aldermentherewere,how many
senators-but it is importantto notethat therewerea greatmany.
Nevera Chicagomayor,however.Therewere two Jewishcandidatesfor Mayor, BernardEpton and Bill Singer,but nevera Jewishmayor.
Therewere many staterepresentatives
and statesenators,and severalJewish congressmen,
but no U.S. senator.There was one electedgovemor of
Illinois, Henry Horner;and a lieutenantgovernor,SamuelShapiro,who
Decameacunggovernor.
( ( f
^I
U
Many JewishJudges
There were many, many Jewishelectedjudges becauseour tradition hasattracted
Jewsinto the legalprofession.
A studyof Chicago'sJewish judgescould yield an interestinganalysisof their contributionto the
judges,I mentiononly Arthur Goldberg,the
law. Among distinguished
Chicagolawyerwho becamea justice of the United StatesSupremeCourt;
and SeymourSimon,a Chicagolawyerwho becamean outstanding
Illionnntrcd otr Pag? o
n opportunity to hear about landsmanshaftenas well as view an
extensiveexhibit aboutthem will
be affordedmembersand friends at the
Societymeetingset for Sunday,January
14,at SpenusCollege.The aftemoonwill
providean in-deptheducationconceming
fhe nurturi ng and acc ult ur at ing r oles
assumedby these friendly societiesfor
(ontinued
onru!:( 2
Although it is well over a hundred years si nce the fir st local Jews
attainedpolitical office, the real heydayof
Jewishpoliticianswas the decadesfollowing World War L As the Jewishpopulation
dispersesirself more widely throughthe
mefopolitan area, there are signs that that
heydaymay be drawingto a close.
The writer of the adjoining article, Attorney Leon Despres,has been
active in politics for over a half-century,
most prominently as an independentand
fearlessaldermanfor two decadesbefore
retidng undefeated. He here providesan
assessment
of "represeotative"
local Jewish
politicianssince1920as ivell as thoughrful
insightsinto recantpolitical history. This
paper was adaptedfrom an addressgiven at
a recentSocietymeeting.
new book titled N.1.1onAl.grttt A LiJi, ott
tht lliltl SiJt.b,v Bcttina Drcw. Thc book ii
a lirscinatingaccountol lhis Chicrgo iconoclasl who *as born ol Jcwish patrcnts.Hi\
p i i l e f n a I g l r n d p i r r e n l s !\cr c o r i g i n d 1 1 y
Chrislian Srvcdcs\\ho convc(ed to Orlho
ilnd chlngcd thcir n{Inc lionl
d()x Juclilisn'l
AItrrcn lo Abrahlrn. A{icr hc bcgan writing.
N e l s o n c h o n l l c d h i s n i l mc b r ck l o Al g r e u
a n d r a r c l y r e l c l r c d l o t h i s Jcr vi sh b a cl
ground.
Exhibits,Books
Providelmportant
Insights
xhib its an t l book s ar - ct wo ol lhc
T h c C h i c a g o J c w i sh H i sto r i ca l
cuslonrary vehicles uscd lo fcmind
S o c i c t l i s g r a l i l i c ( l t h r l i ts L a n d sr n d n us of our past hcrilagc and hist(r'y. President
shi!ltcnexhibit sharcslhc spotli-qhlwilh lhc
We hnve rccenlly been li)rlunlle lo be ben- Walter Both
olhcr cxhibils which rre bricfly clcscribc(l
eliciariesol a nunrbcrol cxhibils rnd b(x)ks
abovc. All arc wcll wo h vicwing as ollcr'
lhal aclllc to us rs Amcrican Jcw\ living in ry of lhc Jcws ol Alncricil.
i t t r .r: p . r r r o r u r t t ivcr c u u l nu r l i l c i r t C h i .r r g ,'
He has jusl wrillen r book. 711
C hicag o.
and ol our Europcanhcritlrgc.
On Wccl nc s c lav .Nov enr bc l 15. .l?$.\ in Ant(riru Fout- C(ntut l(s o.l un
Wr l r cr R o r h
I t t nt \ \ I - t I I t 'u I t | , t - I n l r r . h , r n l . H , . r 't z h . . r '. :
191i9.our Chicrgo Jcwish Hisloricrl Soci
Prcsiclcnt
r . \ , I r n l , r h c I l i . t , , f ) , 'l r l r \ J i w . , 'l A r r r e | i r . r
ety o pe ne d L r ma jor c x hibit at Spc lt us
Muscum ol Juclaicl on Landsmxnshlltt'll lr onr c a r l i c s t c o l o n i i l l l i e s t h r o u g h t h e
I t , r t l:r r ', 1 l l l ( C c r r | | i l t rJ ( $ r . h n n r r l r ! r 'i r l r ', n
in Ch icrg o." De s pile c old ir nd blus lc f l
in t hc r r i J l , {{Y l\ t '\ t h f t r i r \ . i n l l u r , , l J ', ', 'r
wca thcr. (hc o pcniDg. undc .t hc c hdir r r n
inmigr{nts
tion Easlcrn Europc. dncl lhcn
ship ol Jrnet Hagerup. was well attcDdcd
and warn rly a cclaim ed by lll who wc r e to lhc posl wdr movenrenlsol Jews 1()thc
s Lr bu r b s .Wh i l c n o l l b c u s c t l o n C h i c a g o
thcre.The l'estivilicsincludcd brief talks by
Jewry as such, Hertzberg s book drarvs it
A de le Ha st. Sol Br andz c l and Sidnc y
t a t l t t t t l l t r)rt t )t rt l
S orkin. Th eir pre s ent at ionsinc luded t he num b e r o f c o n t r o v c r s i a l c o n c l u s i o n s o n
J e w i s l r a n d o t h e r i m m i g r a n ts to Am e n ca
Am c r i c a n J e w r y 's p r e s e n t s t r t u s a n d i t s
history of landsmanshaftenin Chicago by
during the piLstcenlury.
Adcle, personalmemories of one of these continuing struggleto integrateinto AmeflA panel discussion leaturing Dr.
can
culture.
groups by Sol and a fascinatingaccounl of
A
d
e
l
c
H
a s t , D a v i d P a ssm a n , M a yn a r d
pictures
and artif'acts were
how many of the
Wi s h n e r , a n d S i d n e y S o r ki n w i l l b e th e
located by Sidney. All werc splendid.The Deutth E.rhibit,Algren Biography
cxhib it will b e o n dis play at Sper t us
Not tar fiom the SpertusMuseum main event of the day. Among them they
thro ug h Ja nu ary and all m em ber s and
there is anotherfine exhibit on the rrrarr will discussthe formation ol lriendly soci
f r ie nd \ a re u rge d t o r iew t his unique
floor of the ChicagoPublic Library Cultur- eties, the nature of the interrelationships
glimp se of co mm unal lif e of J ewis h in
al Center,featuring the photographsof that brought individuals together.the soci
Chicago a few decadesago.
StevenDeutch,"From Paristo Chicago, eties'functionsboth social and service,and
1932-1989."
A book bearingthe sametitle the activitiesin which they cngaged.
SpertusMeeting
On January14
ViennaExhihit, HertzbergHistory
The fbllowingnight the Museum
h o s t ed t he open i n g o f a n o th e re x h i b i t
alongsideours on "The Jewsof Vienna."
This exhibit,on loan fiom theJewishcomm unit y in V ienn a ,A u s tri a i s a p i c to ri a l
accountof what was once one of the most
"enlightened"
in WestJewishcommunities
ern Europe.It depictsthe history of the
Jewsof Viennafrom early medievaltimes
until theirdestruction
by the Nazisin l93lt.
l l . hor ^\ u\ . f or era m p l e l.h a l a t o n e ti m e
latein the nineleenth
centurytherelivedon
one block in ViennaSigmundFreud,Gustav MahlerandTheodoreHerzl.
At the openingnightof the VienwasRabbi
na exhibit,the principalspeaker
Art hur Her t z be rg , k n o w n to m a n y
Chicagoansas pastpresidentof the American JewishCongress,
and now a professor
a n d lhought -pr o v o k i n gJ e w i s hp o l i ti c a l
leader Hertzberg'sspeechcomparedevents
in the historyof the Jewsin Viennawith
supposedlycomparableevenlsin the histo2
a n d featuri ngthe bl ack-and-w hi tephotographswhich made Deutch famous as a
high-stylecommercialphotographer
as well
as an artistic photographerof everydaylife
is on saleat the
in Chicago(andelsewhere)
C e n l er.l l notesthal D eurchw as born i n
Hungaryof a very religious Jewish father.
Nothing further is saidon this subjectin the
book exceptthat Deutch'smotherand her
sonsdid not sharehis religiousfervorand
th i s "cul a deep chasm i n the fami l y."
Deutchand his family movedto Parisand
th e n l eft E urope i n the earl y 1930' sas
Hitlerroseto powerin Germany.
Deutch'sphotographsof skid-row
d e n i zensand other scenesgi ve us an
glimpseof Chicago.
unusualphotographic
D e u t ch w as a cl ose fri end of N el son
Algren. the Chicagowriter who wrote of
the boozejoints and the poor who drank
i nto obl i vi on al ong D i vrsron
th e msel ves
Street.Picturesof Algren are includedin
theDeutchexhibit.
Algren himself is the subjectof a
Exhihit Reinforces Prcgram
The presentation
by thepanelwill
be vi vi dl y rei nforcedby t he exhibitju. l
outsideBedermanHall, wherethe program
will be held. The exhibit,which includes
photos.ceremonial
object.rund insigniaas
well as the music of variousJewishand
non-Jew i shfri endl y so ciet ies,has been
mountedby the ChicagoJewishHistorical
Societywith theaidof a grantfrom theIllinois Arts Council and the NationalEndow
mentlor the Humanities.
JanetHagerupi.
generalchairman.
Contributionscame from many
sourcesi ncl udi ngthe Czechoslovakian
HistoricalMuscumin Berwyn.The exhibit
remainson displayat Spertus,618 South
MichiganAvenue,throughJanuary.
Panel Has VariedExpertise
Dr. Hast, pasr presidentof the
Societyand a historianassociatedwith the
Newberry Library, played a major role in
mounling the exhibit. Mr. Passman.a Sociely Board member.is l membcr ol a Ilnrily
lon g pro mincnt in r par t ic ular lands nr anshali, lhe Marir'rpolel Aid Socicty.Sidncy
Sorkin. another Board member. hrs been
collecling d ala o n I ands m ans haf lc n lor
decrdes rnd is currently conrpiling a book
( lhc subjcct.Mr. Wishncr will discussthe
Bielolzerkover.rn oulgrowlh ol lhe work
men s c irclc.
'fhc p an el pr es ent alion at 2t 00
PM will bc prccccicdat l:00 PM by a social
hour unci relieshnrentperiod during which
the cxhibil nray bc viewctl. The panel will
be introduced by Progrrrn Chairnlan Burt
Rob in.
The term landsmanshdlt. lilerrl
l\ lhe Yiddish lirr an organizltion o1-men
lroln u piirticulilr geogrrphicNl iLrcr. hils
hei,'rrtr tlrc u Drhr c llulc nll lbr or ! . r ni/ ulion'
of in lnlig ran ts regar dles sol t hc bas is of
thcif ofgilnizationor the specific purposes
lhe \ . nrlh !.i/ed . Tlr ey lr ur c s onr c t ir r r c '
bee n n amcd vcr eins . r ings . c ir c les or
sokols.
tr
Offer$1,000Award
ForManuscript
on
Sol Bjandzel examines
map locating shtetls at
Landsmanshatlen Exhibit
at Sperlus College.
Pbto h| Moscllc,hrdtt.
time officerof CJHS,who diedsuddenlyin evening.November15. Despiteinclement
early 1988.Her husband,attorneyJoseph weather,they cameto SpertusCollegefor a
Minsky.requested
creationof the fund, to previewof the exhibit.for brief talksabout
whichhundreds
of individuals
fiom several the display and its importanceand for fels ta tescontri butedand conti nueto con- lowshipandrefreshments.
tnbute.
Exhibit ChairmanJanetHagerup
Societymembersare eligible to welcomedguestsand explainedhow the
MinskyFundTo Puhlish
receivea complimentary
copyof eachMin- exhibit was developedand put together,
s k y Fund publ i cati onas i t appears.N o merely hinting at the huge effort and hunPrize-WinningEnn"y
monographappearedin 1989.Fund com- dredsof hours put in by the chairmanand
mitteemembers,in additionto Dr Cutler, hercommittee.
cashawardof $ 1,000andpublicaareJosephMinsky. Mark Mandle, Norman
tion of a monograph
or studyconDr. AdeleHast,who,amongother
Dr. Irwin Suloway.
cernedwith local Jewishhistory Schwanzand
things,wroteexplanatory
captionsfor each
A statementof rules and proce- item displayed,spokeof the history
a r e being of f er e d b y th e D o ri s M i n s k y
and
of manuscripts
may importance
MemorialFund of the Societyin connec- durefor thesubmission
ol friendlyandmutual-aid
socrlion with its l99Q rs11q5for manu"cripts. be obtainedfrom Dr Cutler at 3217 Hill eties:and SidneySorkin,the committee's
Manuscriptscan be submiltedto the fund Lane,Wilmette.IL 60091,([708]251-8927) major resourceperson.discussedhow over
a ny lim e t hr ough J u n e 3 0 a c c o rd i n gto or from the Society ofiice at 618 South the year. he ha\ col l e ct edinf or m lt ion
MichiganAvenue,Chicago,IL 60605. C
ChairmanIrvingCutler.
aboutthe groups.
T he m an u s c ri p st e l e c te db y th e
Sol Brandzeltold of his personal
fund committeetiom amongthosesubmitexperi ences
w i th a par t icularlandsm anted will be publishcdanddistributed
by the
shaft, that of S tashover M
. ar k M andle
Societyand will eam the cashprizefor its
servedas barman,di sp ensingwine and
author. Dr. Cutler remindsreadersthat a
monitoringotherrefreshments.
guidelinelengthof 15,000wordshasbeen
C onstantthrou ghoult he e\ ening
setandthal while the committeeis looking
wasthe praiseby guestsfor the varieddisfo r m anus c r ipt w
s h i c h c o n tri b u teto o u r
play of photos. objectsand maps in the
knowledgeof ChicagoJewishhistory.it Society'sDisplay On View
exhibit.which was aidedby a grantlrom
prelersonewhichwill alsobe of interestto
the IllinoisAns Counciland the National
the generalreader.
ThroughJanuary 3l
Endowment
for theHumanities.
The awardand publicationby the
A
free
catalogfolderof theexhibpproximatelyone hundredmemSocietyare madepossibleby incomefrom
it
is
available
to
visitors,who have until
th e M ins k y F un d . c re a te db y d o n a ti o n s
bersand friendsattendedthe openview
January
30
to
thedisplay.
from the family and many friendsof the
i ng ceremoni esof the S oci ety' s
late Doris Minsky, a co-founderand long- exhibit on Iandsmanshaften
Wednesday
r.J.s.
on
LocalJewish
History
Appreciative
Crowd
EnjoysSpertus
ExhibitOpening
3
on the Sabbath.Al's fatherwas, however.more
A JewishG-ManRemembers ride
"modern"and his childrenquicklydroppedmanyof the
His Daysas an 'Untouchable' Europeanreligiouscustomsof theirmother.
'Wallpaper' Wolff Workedwith
Ness D uring Prohibition
By WalterRoth
Al grew to be six feet, two inchestall with a
largeframethat stoodhim in good steadashe grew up in
the the Maxwell Streetarea,a rough neighborhoodat
times. He learnedthe art of prizefightingand met many
of the Jewishboys who later becamegreatfighters,like
BarneyRoss,"Zibby" Goldberg,CharlieWhite and
DaveyDay.In 1918,thoughunderage,
he enlistedin the
U.S.Army andwasin Hawaiion his way to the Far East
whenWorld War I ended.
In 1921,makinguseof his father'spoliticalconnections,Al embarkeduponhis careeras a civiliangovernmentemployeewith a job in the office of Denny
Egan,bailiff of the Chicagomunicipalcourt.It washere
that he earnedhis nickname"Wallpaper"when, as
bailiff, he evicted someone(pursuantto court order,of
course)he movedout everythingexceptthe wallpaper.
ow did a nice Jewishboy like you become
parr of the Untouchables?"
The questionhas
posed
"Wallpaper"
Wolff,
often been
to Al
not only by the writer but also by many of his friends.
He is the last memberof a team of fifteen U.S. Govemment agentsknown as the Untouchables,
who, underthe
leadershipof Elliot Ness,becamefamousin Chicago
from 1929to 1933fighting the bootleggerswho proliferatedduring the yearsof Prohibition(1920-36)when the
wasillegalin thiscountry.
saleof alcoholicbeverages
Al now livesin Lincolnwood,is eighty-sixyears Joining The FBI
old and is planningto write a book abouthis exploits.
After four yearsin the bailiff's office, Al applied
Perhapsin his book he will give us the answerto the for a job with the FederalBureauof Investigation(FBI)
questionI andothershaveaskedhim. For thepresent,
Al underthe then young J. Edgar Hoover.He did this
could not give any good reason,and he insinuatedthat I despitethe adviceof Julius"Putty" Annixter,a distant
would have to get my own answerfrom the story of his relativeof his motherand the owner of a well-known
life ashe tellsit.
WestSideJewishrestaurantand gamblingestablishment,
Al wasbom in 1903on Chicaso'sold WestSide who told him he couldmakemoremoneyelsewhere,
and
nearMaxwellStreet.His father.HariisWolff iHershie despitethe fact that therewerevirtuallyno JewishFBI
Welfe in Yiddish) had beenborn in Hamburg,Germany, agents.FBI agentsearnedabout$2,500a year at that
and cameto this countryin the late 1800's.Hanis met time.But Annixteralsotold him that if he wasgoingto
andmarriedRosa,an immigrantfrom Lithuania,became be a G-man,thenhe shouldbe an honestone and never
a physicianand openedan office at Twelfth and Canal be on the"take."It wasadvicethatAl heededwell in his
Streetsnearthe upstairsapartment
in whichhe lived.Al govemmentcareer,eventhoughhe saysthereweremany
wasborn thereand remembersthe chederand synagogue timeswhenhe wasofferedbribes.
he attendedas a boy was locatedat Thirteenthand
Assignedto the AlcoholicEnforcement
Division,
SawyerStreets(ShaareiTorah Anshei Maariv). He Al was sentto placesin Kentuckyto raid distilleries.
In
learnedhis Bar Mitzvah parshaby word of mouth from 1929Al requested
a transferback to Chicago.He was
"potch" assigned
the rabbithere,helpedalongwith an occasional
to Elliot Ness'teamin Chicagoasan undercovto inspirehim.
er agent.Scrupulous
honestyandresistance
to corruption
"Untouchables."
earned
the
team
the
nickname
He has
AttendeclJewish Traininp School
many storiesof his raidson the speakeasies
and the
He attendedthe JewishManualTrainingSchool numerousarrestsof bootleggersin Chicago.Sincehe
locatedat JuddbetweenClinton and JeffersonStreets. was an undercover
agent,no one knew his true role, so
That school,foundedby wealthyGermanJewsto edu- he says,not evenhis wife and children.As Al rememcatechildrenof more recently-arrived
immigrants,pro- bersit, he lookedlike a "Kraut" and when he didn't
ducedmany Jewishcommunalleadersand successful shavehe lookedlike an Italian.
businessmen
duringits thirty yearsof existence.
Al's
Al was marriedin 1926to HannahRubensat
motherwas quite religious,wore a shaiteland did not
TempleBeth Israel,a congregation
to which he still
belongs,by RabbiSamuelMendelsohn.
He and his wife
Although a number of new careerchoicesopenedup for had two sonsand one daughterwho now live in other
Jcwish men during thc years following World War I, law enforce- partsof thecountry.
56
ment at the federal level was not one which welcomedmany.
ChicagoanAl "Wallpaper" Wolff was a rare exceptionto the rule.
He not only becarnea JewishC-man, he becamcan "Untouchable,"
servingunder the famousElliot Ness.Fonunately,he is still among
us and has rccounledsome of his experiencesto Society Prcsident
Walter Roth, who has narratedin this joumal the storiesof persons
on both sidesof the law
Attitude Toward Bootlegging
The storiesAl tellsof his adventures
with the
Untouchables
wouldfill a book,andhopefullv
Al
-haswill do
that in lhe nearfulure.For now-Al sayshe
no hard
feelingsaboutthe Chicagogangstersand bootleggers,
eventhoughhe foughtthem at the time. As Al puts it,
arrested.Al says he was at the railroad station when Al
Caponc was finally sent away alier his conviction Ibr
incometax evasion.
Life After tlrc Unturchablcs
Shortly after that. in 1932. the Untouchables
were disbandedand AI was assigncdto difl'crcntarcasof'
governmentservice.At various tinreshe was in thc Nar'coticsDivision.thc InternalRevenueServicerntl durirrg
World War Il. in thc Officc of Plicc Acfirinistratiorr,In
his years ol'service. he often encounteredopen anti
Semitisrnbut his toughnessenableclIrim to survive.As
World War II ended, Al rcturned 10 Chicago and cndccl
his governmentemploynrcnt.He owned irnd opelaled a
rrumberof restaurants("Wolif's Inn") in the do$'ntowr)
areaand wound up his businesscareerwith the operation
of a privateclub at 201 EastSuperiorStreet.
Since Al had bcen an undercoverageni. no onc
knew of his true identity until the filmrng of the movie
"The Untouchables."Then ParamountStudiosdiscovered his whereaboutsand used him as a consultant lbr
the movie which, of course,memorialrzedElliot Ness
and his federalagents.With the passingof his wif'e a fcw
years ago! Al lives in the limelight and glow of Chicago's turbulentpast.
The last of "The untouchables":
Al "Wallpaper"Wolfl as he lookstoday
"They were doing their job and I was doing mine." By
the late Twenties,Prohibition was so unpopularin larger
U.S. cities and public patronage of bootleggers so
widespreadthat they were often thought of as ordinary
businessmen.
Repealwas near at hand.
He is reluctant to name DeoDlehe knew or met
who uere engagedin illegal activitibs.He doe\n't wanl
the children or grandchildrenof thesemen to be brought
into the public light again. From his viewpoint he says,
many of the so-calledgangstersreally were good guys to
their people. Even Al Capone set up soup kitchens for
poor Italiansat Christmastime.
He knew many of the Jewish bootleggersbut
always gave them equal treatment.He remembersgoing
to the bathhouseson FourteenthStreetand. in his undercover role, overhearingthe bootleggersdiscussingtheir
illegal activities.On their way out, he would have them
NewmanRecalls
Story of Yiddish
Theaterin Chicago
eaturedat the Novemberl2 meeting
ol lhc S oc ic tyw a s a w c l l -rc c c i v c d
talk by DannyNewmanon thehisto
ry of Yiddishtheaterin Chicago.The meeting washeldat EmanuelCongregation
M r . Ne\ m a n . a p u b l i c re l a ti o n s
experlwho specializes
in culturalorganizations,spoket'romthe vantagepoint of one
who grew up with Yiddishlheatcrand later
re p r es ent ed
it s las t g re a t s ta rs ,i n c l u d i n g
SeesSe/fAs Trailblazer
He is a proud American Jew finally able to talk
about his undercoverdays as an Untouchable.In rcminiscing about his extraordinarycareer in the service of
his country and his love for America, he put it this way:
"I think my destiny was fbr a nice Jewish guy to
overcome all these obstaclesto working in all thosc
departmentsas the only Jew. There is no country in thc
world like America becausewe still have ficedom. wc
still can pray and do anything we want. We can gel mar
ried and have children. I am proud to be a Jew. but I'rn
an American first. I was born and went to schoolshere. I
served in the American Anny. I was born an American
citizen; I don't know of any othcr countly likc Amcrica.
I was blessedbeing born here.I am glad nry tathcr didn't
miss the boat coming here. I would have swum across
the occan1()get to America."
J
MauriceSchwartz.JacobBen Ami and ol'
courschis latewile. Dina Halpern.Unfbrtunately.his subjectnecessarily
dealtwith the
pJ(l only.u\ YidLli.hthc ler in Chicugoi. no
viable.
longercommercially
H e traced l ocal Y i ddi sh theatcr
from its amateuroriginsamongthe rmmrg ra n ts from E asternE urope i n the earl y
grouplaterin
1880'sto the first professional
thatdccade.
andthroughlhc not alwayshigh
s ta n dardbul i ncreasi ngl ypopul artheal er
companies
whichfollowed.
A ttenti on w as devoted to the
"golden years"which beganafter World War
I w h e n popul ari ty,great actorsand hi gh
standardswere widespreaduntil the Depres-
s i o n , d e c l i n i n g i m n r i S r a ti o na n d l h c a ccu l
t u r a t i n g d i s u s e o f Y i d d ish r s l r cvcr r d i r \
l a n s u i l S ei n C h i c l g o r c s u l l ctl i n th e cl i sa p
pearanccof lhe arl lbnn locally.
M r . N c w m a n a l so d i scu sscd th c
q u J l i r y o l l l r e r e p c r l o i re r r r r ,l th .. .r t ti r r : .
r e c a l l i n g l i t l c s a n d n a m cs w h i ch \l r u ck i l
c h o r d a m o n g s o m e o l d e r m e m b cr s o l l h c
audience.
T h e s p e a k e r wr s i n tr o d u ccd h y
Sociely Vice Presidcntand Pfogr.rn Ch irm a n B u r l R o b i n . w h o p r e si d cd o vcr th e
nrceling.As usual. rclieshmcnls were in the
Chuirmrn
c a p a h l e h u n t l s u l H o . ni l r l i l \
Shirley Sorkin.
LJ.S._.t
5
A GandidAssessment
of
ofT politics but they have lived also for the goals of government.
Having gone through the list of Jcwish persons
who
have
been active in politics. I noted that during
I trliIut\l Ir'on Iu !t t)u')t,
these past seventy years nearly all were men. Thus,
nois SupremeCourt Judge.Wc also havea couplc of oththere's no use our saying "his or her"about them sincc
crs who received sentencesor comnritted suicide (one)
almost without exceptiononly "his" is appropriate.
ls a rcsullof theGreylordinr estigation....
'
BecauseI cannot give you a detailed history or
enumeration
of hundredof names.I have taken five indiContributiotts Not Alu'aysGoocl
viduals to illustratethe history of Jews in Chicago poliThat brings me to the next point I want to make.
tics. I am going to discussJulius Rosenwald, Henry
an important one. Generally,when an ethnic or cultural
Horner,Jack Arvey, Earl Bush and Sidney Yates,whom I
or religious group talks about its contributionsto the
have taken as examples.I am using them to illustratethe
societyof which it is a part, the tendencyis to stress"the
broaderhistory embracedby my subject.
great people we have contributed,the great accomplishments we have made...."In fact, however,the contribuRosenv'ald and Republicans
tions of such groups are always mixed. This is most eviEveryone knows who Julius Rosenwald was.
dent when you hear thc Italian-American societiestalk
Although he did not run for public office, he was
aboutthe contributionsof ltalian-Anrericansin Chicago.
intensely interestedin politics and never shied away
Italian-Americanshave made very great contrifrom it. He was a committed Republican. but in the
butions,including many marvelouspeopleand invalu1920's I think most Jews were still Renublicans.The
able urban qualities,bul there is also Al Capone.Gcnerparty shift from Republicanto Democraricdid not occur
ally, when the ltalian-AmericanCivic Leaguetalks about
on a really big scaleuntil 1932.Why were most Jews of
contributionsto Chicago, it tries to be quiet about Al
that time Republicans?Becausethe Republicanparty
Capone and some of the othcrs whom they'd rather not
was the party of Abraham Lincoln.
mention. BUI there they are! I think that when a historiMy maternalgrandfather.for example,who came
cal societyconsidersthe conlributionsof Jews to politics
here from Hungary in 1867,naturally becamea Republiin Chicago, it owcs an obligation to try to be accurate
can becausethat was the party that had freed the slaves.
and complete. We can talk about Jewish contributions
party of union and freedom,while the other
with pride, but we have to take into accountthat the con- It was the
party was the party of the lbrmer slave-holders.So,a libtribution is varied. It is a coat of many colors and not all
eral, forward-looking person imbued with the ideals of
the colors are handsome.
propheticJudaismwould be a Republican.
As an example of a proud claim, I cite a stateRabbi Emil G. Hirsch, who was Chicago's leadmenl I found by Jacob Freed,who wrote about Jews in
ing
Reform
rabbi and was considered a liberal, was a
the modem world. In his chapteron the American Jew as
Republican. ln public lectures she spoke with sarcasm
a civil servant.he makes this claim for the contribution
about the Democratic party. My own father,who had
of Jews:
populist views. was a Democrat, and many Jews were
Plcdgcdto the serviceand freedomof many
Democrats;but the prevailing view was Republican.
fol lull opportunity to lite. liberty and the pursuit of
Julius
Rosenwald.who was a member of Rabbi Hirsch's
happincss.thcy ally the moral qualities and ethical
congregation,sharedthe views of most other respectable,
principlesof propheticJudaism to those qualities of
successfulJewish personsin support of the Republican
th e Enlig htcnm c nl and Am c r ic an I if e whic h h a v c
given this nation so much ol its spiritual stalureand
party.
civilizalio rr an d t hc y im plc m c nt ed t heir ins ig h t s i n
In 1926 he did somethingvery interestingthat I
the spheresoi public life in Ihe court chamber, the
want to discuss,somethingI considernoble and fine and
legislativehall and the cxccutivc office. in thc marin the best Jewish tradition. even though it was unwise.
ketplace. public accomnrodations.dnd the halls of
One branch of the Republican Party, which included
reamrng.
among others Mayor William Hale Thompson and
You might try aftercompletingthis articleto State'sAttorneyRobertE. Crowe.was \upportinga canmeetthis stan- didate named Frank Smith for the United StatesSenatc.
.judgehow well Chicago'scontributions
dard.
Smith had been the chairman of the lllinois Commerce
Commission,and as chain.nanhe had been unduly favorMotircs lbr Political Actit,itl,
able to the utilities. He had accepted large sums of
The GermansociologistMax Webersaidthal in money from them. When he ran for the Senate, he
politicsthereare two kindsof activists thosewho are receivedenormouscontributionsfrom SamuelInsull. Ira
in politicsbecause
they live.lbl politics,and thosewho Copley and Clement Studebaker,Jr., the leading utility
live off politics.In all the historyof Chicago,mostpeo- magnatesof Illinois. He had acceptedso much money
ple activein politicshavebeenthosewho live ofTpoli- that the election was effectively being bought by the
tics.Somepeoplein politicsaremixed.They havelived public utilities. Even befbre he was elected,the Senate
LocalJewish Politicians
6
itselfconducted
an investigation
of the campaign.Smith
won theprimary.
Rosenwald,
eventhoughhe was a Republican
and stronglyorientedtowardbusiness,
was horrifiedby
the corruptionand issueda strongstatementagainst
Smith.Rosenwaldfelt that Smith was disgracingthe
RepublicanPartyand decidedto supportanothercandidate,Hugh McGill, a fbrmer statesenatorwith fine
qualifications.
Rosenwald
ralliedthebestelements
in the
Partyto supportMcGill.
An Offer Made
The n , on his own, Rosenwaldtoo k a d a rin g
action.He went to seeFrank Smith at the Consress
Hotel.in hopesthat he mighrprevenrrhe harmShirh
wasdoingto thestateandcountryhe loved,andlimit the
damageSmithwasdoingto his Republican
Party.Fortunately,Frank Smith immediatelywrote down what
occumedat the CongressHotel and disclosedhis notes
five yearslater.Thus we havea reliablecontemporane-JuliusRosenwald:
nobleandfine...but
unwise
ousaccount.Hereis partof whatSmithput down:
Coutt(s| Chiraeo HisbrkaI So(iet|
"After we shookhands,Mr. Rosenwaldsaid,
als.In his politicalactivities,he lived/or politics,not oJf
'You wouldjust aboutas soonexpectthe Deity himself politics.
hereas you would me.' And I answered,'It is said the
Lest I createa falsepictureof that period,I want
Deity is everpresent.Sit down.' Rosenwald
said,'May I to tell you
that at the sametime, in the 20th Ward,there
talk plainly?''Of course.'Rosenwaldsaid,'I do not
was a JewishbossnamedMorris Eller who was one of
want to hurt your feelings.You know that if you are
the worst committeemenwe have ever had. He was a
electedUnitedStatesSenator,
you can't be seated,don't
trusteeof theSanitaryDistrictduringits mostscandalous
you?'I saidI knewno suchthing.ThenRosenwald
said, days. He was
City Collector.In the samesummerof
'Last Friday,when we werediscussing
waysand means
1926that saw Rosenwald'seffort ro cleansethe Party,
of financinga campaignfor Mr. McGill, I told themI did
Ellertookpart in whatlheycalledrhePineapple
Primary.
not want to be the angelof the campaign,but
that if I in which
bombs
were
used
to
win
elections.
thoughtwe couldelectMccill, I wouldput up $500,000.
Now. I want to say somethingto you Mr. Smith.Not in A Dffirent Kind of Repuhlican
the interestof any candidate,but just becauseI am a
Two yearslater when Eller ran for committeeRepublicanand because
I am interested
in the Republi- man again,the ward was beginningto changecolor, and
can partyand the Stateof Illinois.If you will withdraw an African-American
namedOctaviusGranadayfiled to
from the Senaterace, I am here to offer you 10,000 run againstEller.When
Granadayinsistedon running,he
sharesof SearsRoebuckstockthemomentyou signyour was killed
by a bullet not by Morris Eller,but by the
withdrawalnotice.In a few monthsthat stock will be peoplewho
workedwith him. During Prohibition,Eller
worth $750,000.You can give as your reasonfor with- was a closeally
of the Caponegang.He was someone
drawingthat your healthwon't permit you to take the not to be
opposed.He
controlledthe vote in the ward.In
campaign,or any other reasonyou want to give. The the summer
of 1926,the vote in the 20th Ward for the
10,000sharesof stockwill be deposited
in escrowin anv key candidates
on the ticket was: Savage,6,9l8;
Trude,
bankyou namcto be lumedoverto you whenyourwith- the reform candidate,
3'71. Eller had delivered94.8 oerdrawaloccurs."'
centof rhevotelThat was impossible
withoutmassive
votefraudsandan environment
of fraudandcoercion.
Unv'isebut Noble Gesture
I me n t io n E lle r o n ly t o g iv e b a l a n c et o t h e
Well, SmithdeclinedRosenwald's
offer and was account.From 1920 to about 1932,the times were
elected.The Senate,however,refusedto seathim. The Republican.
Therewere men of greathonor,greatprodisgracewasthussomewhalmitigated.It wasimprudent bity and greatideals;and therewere also Morris Eller
ol' Rosenwaldto make suchan offer. It was unwiseto andotherslike him.
offer a candidate10.000sharesof stockto withdrawin
favor of anothercandidate.
Yet is was a very nobleact, Horner Runsfor Got'ernor
andI havechosenit as an illustrationof the periodfrom
My secondexampleis Henry Horner.He is the
1920to about1932because
it exemolifies
ReoublicanJewishpersonwho hasachieved
thehighestofficein Illipredominance
andalsogive: us an example
of i public- nois.It is still a sourceof satisfaction
to think thathe was
spiritedJewishRepublicanactuatedby the highestide- electedand thathe amassed
an honorable
recordwithout
the swingof hadstimulated.
blemish.He wasa Democrat.He illustrates
the Jewishvote to the DemocraticParty,which hasperIn the primary,he won. In the 24thWard,where
sistedeversincehis 1932electionas governor.I do not Jack Arvey and Mo Rosenbergwere active,Horner
There received15,614votesand his opponentMichaelIgoe
meanto saythatthereareno JewishRepublicans.
are. Republican
BernardEptonnearlybecamemayorin 241.That was98.4percent,betterthanMorris Eller had
and donein the Pineapple
1983.But since1932the greatpoliticaldiscussions
Primaryof 1926.You cannotsay
careershavebeenin the DemocraticParty.
that therewere no vote fraudsin that 24rhWard election
wereirregularities,
but in that
thereundoubtedly
Hornerhad beenan exemplaryjudge of the pro- because
percentage
primary
him
in
the
in
that
ward
the
unusually
high
and
batecourt from l9l4 to 1932.I remember
great
high
lurnout
were
attributable
to
the
outpouring
of
Jewprobatecourt-a figure of
dignity. He wasa man of
and,aboveall, a man of ish voters,just as Washingtonwas able to win similar
humor,of splendidappearance
probityand excellentlegalability.In 1918,when he majoritieslater.
cameup for his first re-election,1400lawyersformeda
Appears
non-Dartisan
committeeto re-electhim. He commanded Anti-Semitism
Mayor Thompsoncampaigned
In
the
election
the total admirationof the Chicagobar.
Illinois he arguedthat "they've
against
Horner.
Around
In 1932the bossof Chicagopoliticswas Anton
gone
get
to
Jerusalem
to
a governorfor you." lf Homer
Cermak.Cermakhimself wantedto run for governor.
is
elected,
he
told
farmers,
the price of pork will go
Homerdecided,however,thathe wouldrun for governor
anti-Semitism,
but whenthe elecdown.
He
appealed
to
and enteredthe primary.Cermakrealizedthat his own
the
fall
1932,
it was a Rootion
returns
came
in
in
of
p o l iti cal r ep u tation was not good enou g h t o win
sevelt
Horner
ran
far
ahead
of Roosevelt.
sweep,
and
for governor.He wasnot evensurethe Demostatewide
Roosevelt's
Illinois
majority
was
449,000;
Homer'swas
cratic Party would win in 1932,and so he decidedto
had
contributed
to
the
sweep
of the
566,000.
Horner
back Hornerfor governoras a long shot and, perhaps,
whole
Democratic
ticket.
evenas a probableloser.He did this in very much the
He was a very good govemoralthoughalwaysa
sameway that Arvey later backedPaul Douglasand
party
I rememberthe time he spoketo Unioffice-holder.
Adlai Stevenson
for high office,basedon thecalculation
versity
of
Chicago
faculty membersat the Quadrangle
thatit wouldhelpthelocalticketevenif Hornerlost.
Kerwin told me aboutit afterClub.
Professor
Jerome
Horner'scampaigncaughton like wildfire.There
questioned
wards.
The
faculty
him aboutpatronage.
was a tremendousoutpouringof support.There were
you
going
"What
to do aboutpatronage
They
asked,
are
"Physiciansfor Horner,""Lawyersfor Horner,""Non"I'm
goingto appointthe
appointments?"
He
answered,
partisanSpeakersfor Horner,""Restaurant
Ownersfor
people
party
best
lhe
can
find
for
me." I was a little
Horner" and a Citizens for Horner group that attracted
his
statement,
but
I
suppose
I wasreally
shocked
then
by
With an honorableJewishcandidate
100,000adherents.
him.
He
did
appoint
the
bestpeoexpecting
too
much
of
for govemortherewas an outpouringof Jewishsupport
ple
party
inaugurated
excellent
the
could
find,
and
he
suchas had neverbeforeoccurredhere.The only phenomenonlike it occurredin our lifetime with the 1983 programs.
One of his best programswas the strengthening
and 1987outpouringof African-Americansupportfor
of the Illinois CommerceCommissionand its excellenl
HaroldWashington.
programsto protectconsumers
of electricity,telephone
Attt'acIsNear Unit'ersal Support
and gas.Then, toward the end of Horner'sfirst term,
Therewas enthusiasm,
really super-enthusiasm,
Mayor EdwardKelly was ableto drive throughthe Illiwho nois legislaturea bill to licensehandbooks.
as a splendidcandidate
over Horner'sbreakthrough
Handbooks
for were a great sourceof incometo the Mafia and also to
wasJewish.Therehad beena fine Jewishcandidate
governorthirty{wo yearsearlierwhenSamuelAlschuler the political machine,but if handbookswere licensed,
of AuroraranagainstRichardYates,but Alschulerwasa Kelly apparentlyfelt that he could becomethe senior
stateandmostJew- partnerwith the Mafia.Hornerwasshockedby the meaDemocrat,Illinoiswasa Republican
In 1932ReformJews, sureand,withoutconsultingKelly, vetoedit with a very
ish voterswerethenRepublican.
Horner.He was a member strongveto message.
That finishedHornerwith Kelly.
evenif Republican,supported
Jewssupported When the 1936primarycame,Kelly found a candidate
of Sinai Congregation.
Conservative
him too.
him. OrthodoxJewssupported
Chicago's
to run againstHorner,Dr. HermanBundesen,
Kelly
figured
that
Bundesen's
free
Poles
health
commissioner.
votes
he
also
appealed
to
As the
showed,
very
wide
book
care,
which
had
had
circulation,
of
on
baby
and Swedesand Germans.Two hundredUniversity
could beat
Chicago faculty membersformed a committeefor would get him so many votesthat Bundesen
Horner.
president
of
Chicago,
of the University
Horner.The
RobertMaynardHutchins,declaredfor Homer,a declarationfor governorwhich I think a Universityof Chica- RunningAgainstthe Bosses
Insteadof giving in,
go presidentwould not make today.The Women's
Hornerroseto the occasion.
judge,who
Horner,
in
this
had neverbeen such a campaign
RepublicanClub of Evanstoncameout for
therebydemonstratingthe breadthof supportthat Horner before,really lashedout. He begantalking about "Boss
8
"Get rid of Bossism.""Let's
Kelly.""Dump the Bosses."
get rid of vote frauds.""Let's havehonestelections."
"Let's havepermanent
registration."
He went up and
down the statewith his campaign.Pat Nash,the co,
chairmanof the Cook County DemocraticParty,said
permanent
registration
would costthe machine200.000
votes.and so all the strengthof the machinewas mobilizedto opposeHorner.
Homerhad a goodfriend,Ben Lindheimer,who
was himselfvery rich and was able to raisemoneyfor
the campaign.They raisedmoneyfrom stateemployees
alsoand from statecontractors.
The campaignbecamea
crusade.EdmundJarecki,the countyjudge in chargeof
Cook Countyelectionmachinery,was on the outs with
Kelly and favoredHorner.Many Republicanscrossed
over to vote for Homer.
On the other hand, Bundesenwas indeedvery
well known. Forty- sevenout of Chicago'sfifty ward
committeemen
supportedBundesen,not Horner.Even
someOrthodoxJewishleaderscameout fol Bundesen.
HenryHorner:honorablerecordwithoutblemish
Like NationalChairmanRon Brown'scominsto ChicaC.) tt(sI Chitup Hirtt)tiet *x i?^
go lo 5upportDaley.the federalgovernment,
Farry HopHe wassupporting
the campaignof
kins and the WPA threw supportinto Chicagoto help It wasanti-machine.
William
Lindsay,
who
was
running
against
the machine
Bundesen.The Washinglongovernmentand national
judge.
and
years
later
he
made
a
It
was
the
last time he
party supportthe official nominee,whetherBundesenor
worked
against
the
machine.
After
Lindsay
lost, Arvey
Washingtonor Daley.
joinedup.
Horner won the primary. In the 24th Ward,
In l9l8 Arvey becamean assistant
State'sAttoralmostentirelyJewish,whereArvey was ward commitney.
You
have
to
remember
that
the
State's
Attorney's
teeman,thevotewasoverwhelmingly
for Bundesen.
You
office
was
then
in
Republican
hands.
When
Arvey
winr
might haveassumedit would havebeenfor Homer,but
in,
he
became
a
bi-partisan
protege
of
a
Republican
the machinehad to deliverand the committeeman
was
first of all a Party Democrat.He deliveredfor the party State'sAttorney.He was like Abe Marovitz,a lifelong
Democratwho alsobecamean assistant
State'sAttomey
cnalrman.
under
a
Republican
Stare's
Alorney's
auspices.
Thiswas
In the fall. Hornerwas the nomineeand was rereflection
a
predominance
of
the
of
the
Republican
Party
elected.ln his secondterm he was very good again.He
at
that
time.
sponsored,supportedand pushedthroughall kinds of
In 1923Arvey becamealderman.
socialprogramsof importanceto this state.In the 1938
The solidJewprimary,he won anothervictorywhen ScottLucaswon ish populationin the 24th Ward provideda basefor
the nominationfor UnitedStatesSenatorwith Homer's ambitiousJewishcandidates.
Arvey was aldermanfor
strongsupport.Unfortunately,
two daysbeforethe 1938 eighteenyears.During thoseyearshe roseremarkably.
election,Hornersuffereda cerebralthrombosis.
a stroke In 1934,afterhe had beenaldermanfor elevenyears,he
fiom which he neverrecovered.
and ran the ward organization.
From thenuntil lhe end becamecommitteeman
andverylighlly.He toleraled-no
of his term he wasonly nominallygovemor.A groupof veryefficiently
dissent.
menaroundhim ran the state.In October,1940he died. He saw to it that the voteswereenorrnous.
FranklinD.
Like JuliusRosenwald,
Homeris certainlya personwho Rooseveltsaid that Chicago's24th Ward was "the best
Democraticward in America."In the 1936elecrion,the
livedalmostentirely.ftrpoliticsandnot ofi politics.
ward'svotewas98 percentfor Roosevelt,
29,000to 700.
Artey, an Intercstin,qC harat ter
That wasjust eightmonthsafterArvey had corralled
Third.I wantto discussJackArvev.a verv inter- votesto try to beatHorner.
estingcharacter.
Arvey'r recordillustrateithe tict that
careerscould be built and werebuilt in the Democratic Beutmes D emot'raticB oss
Party.He representsmost of the Jewishofficeholders
Arvey becamechairmanof rhe City Council
since 1920.He lived ol./politics,but also to a great financecommitteeand the numberthreepoliticalperson
extenthe lived for politics. He was primarily a ward in Chicago.afrerKelly and Nash.ln rhi Crry Council
committeeman,
primarilyin the business
of politics,but Arvey did not toleratemuchdiscussion,
andcertainlyno
alsoa mandeeplyinterested
in thegoalsof government. dissentamongpartyaldermen.
He waseffectivein the
He droppedout of Crane High School but later City Councilashe wasin the ward.In l94l hejoinedthe
attendedJohnMarshallnight law school.In l9l4 at the NationalGuardand was in the Pacificas a judseadvoageof nineteenhe engagedin his first politicalactivity. cateandcoloneluntil 1945.
It was a tough election contest.Nobody knew
how it would tum oul. But Douglas and Stevensonwon
by more than half a million, and Truman carried the
state.The morning after election day, at a generalmeeting of the Democratic precinct workers in one of the
downtown hotels,Arvey announced,"We're in business
wholesale."[t was a great phrase.What he was thinking
was, "We've got the president,we've got the govemor,
we've got the senator,we've got the state'sattorney,
we've got everybody up and down the line. We're in
businesswholesale."He had made a brilliant.brilliant
move. lllinois was indebted to his farsightednessfor a
wonderful governorand U.S. senator.
An,ey Stuntbles and Falls
In 1950 Arvey stumbled: he backed Daniel
Gilbert fbr SherifTof Cook County. "Tubbo" Gilbert had
been a police captainand top assistanlstate'sattorney.It
was disclosedthat on a modest police officer's wage he
had amasseda fortune. "l made wise investments."he
JackArvey:
accompfished
much...nor
wh",,t
said.
,^,,r r,,,,",
Tlii,)i*1l.u,..
When the press disclosed Gilbert's wealth, the
After he returned,he becameCook County party whole 1950 Democratic tickel was discredited.It went
chairmanin 1946.He had a very good visionof where down to defeat, and Arvey was removed as chairman. He
the party could go and what it could do. 1947was the was switched to DemocraticNational Committeeman.a
year of the mayoraltyelection.AlthoughKelly had far less important position, and remained there unlil
pushedArvey into the partychairmanship,
Arvey decid- 1972. He did not get along well with Mayor Richard J.
ed thatKelly couldnot be thecandidate
for mayor.
Daley. In 1960 Arvey wanted to support Stevensonfor
Kelly had acquireda bad politicalreputation president. Daley was for Kennedy and they disagreed
amongreformelementsfor his debasement
of the public openly. In 1972 Arvey voted for liberal changesin the
schoolsandthecorruptatmosphere
of his administration.national delegatesrules, and Daley removed him as
However,what finishedhim was a strongstatement
he nationalcommitteeman.
madeon the right of peopleto live anywherein Chicago
In 1976, when the party came to choose deleregardless
of race.In doing so he had arousedsuch gatesfor the DemocraticNational Convention,Daley did
stronghostilityamonganli-Blackwhitesthat Arvey felt not even put Arvey's name on the slate. Of that action
Kelly would not win. Arvey usedKelly's statementto Arvey said, "I've been a delegateto every Democratic
win committeemen's
supportagainsthim, and Kelly was National Convention except 1944 when I was in the
dumped.I am sureArvey wasnot a manwho advocated Pacific. I might not have gone if I had beenelected,but I
racialprejudice,but he concludedthat Kelly's statement feel hurt not even to have been named." As lons as
wasthe reasonKelly couldbe dumped.The Democratic Daley lived. Arvey had no eflective part any more in-the
Partydid win the mayoralty,andKelly'ssuccessor,
Mar- DemocraticParty organization.
tin Kennelly,was
mayorfor eightyears.Arvey hadsaved
The Final Years
the office for his party.
He becamewealthy through his law practiceand
Political AcumenPays OJf
also devoted himself energeticallyto raising money fbr
In 1948theyearagainseemedpoliticallydismal. charity,for Hebrew University,Israel Bonds,the NationIt was believedthat Trumanwould lose,Deweywould al Conferenceof Christiansand Jews,BrandeisUniversiwin and the DemocraticPartywould be out of national ty and Weiss Memorial Hospital. He achievedan envioffice. It was alreadyout of stateoffice. With brilliant able name and reputation.
insight,Arvey decidedto throw the dice.takea chance
When Daley died, the party then elected him
andbacka coupleof distinguished
non-prol'essional
can- chairman emeritus,with the intention of restoring some
didates.Underhis influence,the partyregularsagreedto honors to him. Arvey said. "l have been a Democratall
supportProfessor
Paul H. Douglaslbr Governorand my life and I will die one." When askedwhat he thought
Adlai E. Stevenson
fbr U.S. Senator.
Thenthey realized of Daley, his mortal party enemy, Arvey said. "I regard
thatthatdecisionrnightbe a mistakebecause
theyf'eared Daley as a good fiiend and ally. All through his political
that Douglasas governormight show dangerousinde- carccr I have been at his side to help him. I did not hurt
just as Hornerhad done a few yearsearlier. him. He was a very inrpulsiveman. but he was a great
pendence
for mayor and a great leader."Arvey was not a personto say
So they choseDouglasfor senatorand Stevenson
governor.
anythingmean aboutanyone.
10
In thesunrmer
of thc ycarin whichhe died.in a
interviewwith RogerSimon.Arvey said."l want to say
onemorething,onc morethingto sumup whatpolitics
meanto me. I will tell you someand thc organization
thin-l.I am not a strictlyreligious
man,thisI knowlbut
my lif'chasbccnguidcdby what I learnedat a Yom Kippur servicc.No. no. you cannotprint it. This is too corny.
Not whileI'm alive.Wait.WaituntilI'm gone.Thenyou
tell them what I learncdfrom Isaiah:that you do not
pleascthe Lord by wearingsackclothand ashesand by
showinggrief. You plcasethe Lord by f'eedingthe hunand clothingthe nakedanddoingjusticeto your f'el-ery
low man. When I'm goneyou tell them that this quotc
explains
me.
A Mi.rcd Legact'
Arvey lived oT.fpoliticsand he livedlirr politics.
person-with somesidesthatwere
He wasa remarkable
not wholly admirable.but he was the prototypeof hunHe elected
dredsin the DemocraticPartyorganization.
Adolph Sabath,who was a usefulconCongrcssman
gressman
tbr nranyyears.He put his law partner,Samuel
judge.
Epstein.on the bench.Epsteinwasan outstanding
for the politicalcareersol'dozensol'
He wasrcsponsiblc
olTiceholders.
I m et Ar vey when he became a ma s t e r in
chanccry.
around1932.He wasstill in the City Council.
The positionof masterin chancerywas very lucrative
because
in mortgageforcclosurcs.
and therewerethena
greatmany of them,you had to takeyour casebefbrea
masterin chanacery;
mostly
and he got a fee depending
on the size ol'the mortgage.I was then a bcginning
lawyerworkingfor the Sonnenschein
finr, andwe hada
lot of mortgagefbreclosures.
While I wasthere,his law
pirrtner,SamuelEpstein,whom I knew,camein andtold
He
me this wasArvey'sfirst caseas masterin chancery.
pointcdto a pictureon the wall. a portraitby JohnDoctoroff. a skillful portfaitistwho was then very popular,
and said,"That's Mo Rosenberg.
MasterArvey's sponsor."I did not know whata "sponsor"was.I wasinexpein law, but I
riencedin politicsand barelyexperienced
was inrpressedby the portrait of Mo Rosenbergand the
ideathat a man had a "sponsor."Epsteinexplainedthat
Arvey was a politicalprotegeof Mike and Mo Rosenberg.The 24thWardorganization
that Arvey grcw up in
wrs MikeandMo Roscnberg's
organization.
Mo Roscnber,qand Corruption
Soonafiermy visit to Masterin ChanceryArvey.
Mo Rosenberg
wasindictedfbr incometax violations.In
the 1920'sand 1930'she had beengiven,at very favorprices.thejunk whichtheutility compaablesub-market
get
to
rid of. He was able to resellthe junk
nies had
throughRosenbergIron and Metal Companyat enormous profits.He usedthoseprofits in part for himself
and in part,as the utilitiesexpected,to supportDemowas a way the utilities
cratjc organization
candidates.lt
had of making essentiallycashcontributionsto the
machinethroughthe deviceof virtuallygiving away
was intlictcdfbr incometax
scrapn.)ctal.
Mo Roscnber-e
evasion.
Mayol Kelly anclothclswcnt 1oPrcsitlentRooRooscvcltscnt
sevcltto ask that the casebe disnrisscd.
fbr thc file. openedit, looketlthroughrt. closedit and
s a id ." l t h in k y o u ' d b e t t e rg o b a c k t o C h i c a g o . "H c
declinedto intervene.Rosenberg
then tried to staveol'f
the incvitablcby makinga l'ull confession.
He went to
presence
Washington
Dcpartmcnt
of
in
thc
to the
Justice
how
much
money
of the U.S. DistrictAttorneyand told
gave
whonr
he hadobtaincdandto
he
it: $95,000to Cermak.$200.000to GeorgeBrcnnan.$2.5.000
lbr manning
judicial
polls
the
in the
clectionof 1929.and so on. He
"very important."He told
judicial
were
said
elections
aboutthe strongboxhe had at the old PullmanTrust &
SavingsBank.wherehe kept $1.000and $5,000and
$10.000bills. He nanreddozensof aldcrmenandlegislatorsandothersin politicsto whom the moneywent.The
conf'ession
still wasn'tenough.
The criminalcascagainsthim wascontinuedtbr
onereasonor anothcruntil finallythejudgesaidit would
go to trial tbr sureon the ncxt Monday.On Friday,Mo
Roscnberg
en(eredMichaclRecseHospitalfor an appendectomyand died on the operatingtable.To this day
nobodyon the outsideknowsfbr surewhetherhe had a
real appendicitisor was just making anothereffort to
staveoff thetrial.
At the funeralon the fbllowing Tuesday,Judgc
Harry Fisher,who was a greatman but a productof the
machine,said."TodayMo Rosenberg
appealsto a higher
court."Mo Rosenberg
is the otherhall of Arvey andthe
otherhalf of thepeopleibr whomArvey is a prototype.
Eurl Bush,urt UrtdcrratedPt,litiriart
The fourthfigureI wishto discussis Earl Bush.I
He is an example
think he nevergot his full recognition.
of Jewishpeoplewho havebeeninfluentialandactivein
politicswithoutholdingotTice.Earl Bushwasa newspaper personwho becameDaley'spressattachein the
1954-55campaign.He was a geniusat publicity.After
the Election,Daley kept him on as his public relations
man.
Bushis personallyresponsible
fbr the successful
public imagewhich Daley projected.Bush managed
Daley'spublic relations,and
Daleyhad the brillianceto
seehow valuableBush was."The City That Works."
"The l-Will Spirit" were phrasesthat Bush pushed.
Daleywould end almosteveryspeechwith an appealto
"The I-Will Spirit." Nobodyever knew what the I-Will
Spirit was. Nobody knows today,but it had a great
effect.that I-Will Spiritdid. "The City That Works"was
certainlya greatslogan.The city did not work, but the
slogandid.
whatBushwasa geniusat turningto advantage
everoccurred.For example,whenDaleywasresponsible
oncefor a three-Dercent
increasein realestatetaxesand
the papersso reportedit, Bush said,"Wait a minute.
That's$8.00for a man who hasa $5.000home."ln that
11
way thc tax incrcaseclid not sound like vcry nruch. Incidcntally.tod.t)'55.tXX)does nol sound likc nruch lor a
home.
Bushwas constantlycovcringlbr Dalcl'.Hc uscd
prcssulcsto gct g(x)d publicit)'.Hc ditl n()t
astouncling
hcsitatcto rpply whatevcrprcssurcthc nrachincor thc
city governmenthad on advertisers
l0 inl-lucnce
lhc telcvision antl radio station antl thc ncwsnaocrs.tlndcr
Ditlcy., orelcrs.hL'rr.'quilctl
lhrrtirll rttoriti .ilrpt. lilrnt'rl
in Chicago hc shown 10 hinr I'irst bccausclrc u,anlcd lo
make ccrtlin thal thc) gave a rood inrase ol lhc citr.
When Dalcy gavc his ordcr to shoot to kill lootcrsanrl
thcn dcnicd he gavc it. and the lclevision canlL-ril\
replayedDalcy's statcmenlto slrow that he did give it.
Bush said it was "damncd bad reporting." "You shoultl
have rcoorlcd whitl hc nrcanl." Bush saicl."not what hc
saicl."
Whcn thc BBC did a finc documentaryon Chicago. Bush lnade sure it could not be shown publicly anywhere in Chicago. I had to sec it in a privatc home. Il
was a great docunentary. but il was not totally complimentaryto Chicago.
Bush in Trouble
When 1968came with an impending Democratic
conventionin Chicago, Bush said, "This year I'll give
police permission to chase thc cameras." Sure enough.
he did give "permissionto chasethe cameras"with a
very bad result fbr Chicago. All in all, however,Bush
was phenomenallysuccessful.
He finally involved himself pcrsonally in a
scandal.His first scandalwas about his brother-in-law.
Henry Holzman. who was shown to have received a
qucstionablecontract for building Chicago Dwelling
Associationprefabs.Earl Bush said, "l don't know anything about it. I never heard about it," and that was thc
end of that scandal.However. around 1973. it was disclosed that Earl Bush. whilc pulsuing his nrodestcareer'
as public relationsassistantto the mayor. had a substantial ownershipintereslin Dcll Airport AdvertisingCompany. which had the nronopoly lor display advcrtisingat
O'Harc. He was indictcd and convictcd and was fired on
Octoberll. 1974.
This year.January31, l9ll9. his convictionrvas
sel asidc becauscof the SupremeCourt dccision aboul
rnail fraud cases.Bush ncver went to iail. but hc did
community scrvi ceon probation.Inasmuchas his conviclion was l'inallvset asidc.it scemsonly just that he
didn't go to.jail. In thc statcmenthe glvc this year.two
days alier the conviction was sct aside.he said. "l leel I
nevcr did anything wrong. And under the sanrccilcumstancesI would do the sarnelhins. Il mav have been
unclhic l. bul it was not crirninal."
Therc are othcr Jewish oersonsfor whom hc is a
kind ol prototypc.olhcl Jewish personswho have hrd
important roles in governmentalaf'flirs without holdin,q
of'fice. Three examples are Ben Lindheimcr. who was
12
Ilorncr's intimate ll'icncl.atlviscr and supporter:Charlcs
Swibcl. u,ho u its Jitne I31rnc's intimate adviscr'.lcss
adntirrblcthan[-indheimcr:and David Axelrod who was
rccenlly thc sccond Mayor Dalcy's cantpaignPR person
antl vir'luallva sub-candidtte.
like Ear'lBush.
A Gtttttirtrly Atltttir.,ltlcP,,litiri,ttt
Thc lilih individLralI havc chosr'rrto disr:ussis
Sidncv Yalc\. Itakc hinr as an examplcol a gcnuincl;
admirableJcwishpcrsonrtow in pLrbliclifc. His pLrrents
curnc ll-nrnVilna. Ilc u as bonr in Michael Re-escHospital. livcd on Maxwell Stlcct. nrovctl to Lakcvicw.
altcndcclNcttelh(n'sl
Puhlic School.graduatccl
with honols lhrrn Lake View High Schoolitnd went to thc Unir ersitr ol Chica-qoCollcge and Law School. Bclwccn
crtllescanrl law schoolhc plaircdprotcssionalbaskctball.
Hc was an exccllcnt basketbirllplayer. who used to gct
$-5.(X)
a ganre.thc going rate when he plaved.
He graduatedfionr law school in 193-3.startedlo
pfacticc law and. in 1936.wcnt to work lbr Governor
Horncr's lllinois CornmcrceCorrmission. ln 1936 hc
worked tbr Horner in both the prirnary and the elcction.
In 1939 hc joined his l)ther-in-law's lirm. Then. likc
Arvey. he tried independentpolitics. He startedout as an
anli-machine candidate l'or alderrnan.against Jamcs
Young. the regulars' candidate.Hisslogan was "Smash
the machine." Well. he lost and. like Arvey.he then
joined the regulars.During World War II he was in the
U.S.Navy.
Whcn he returned.he was still in the 46th Ward
organizationunder Committeeman Gill. and early in
1948 he went to Gill and said hc'd like to run for
Congress.Gill laughcdat hinr. The Congressional
district was a swing district. sometimesRepublicanancl
sometimesDemocralic.Gill told hrm. "No. we have to
have a Gennan candidate,and John Haderleinis going to
bc our candidate."Thcrc was nothinu SiclnevYatcscould
clo. In Aur:ust.howcver. r.rhcrrthe incumbentChicago
Postmasterdied. the party tlecided it neededa GenranAmerican lor Postmaster.Haderleinwas looointecl.thus
crcxlinsa | cancyon lhe lickel lbr Congresrional
clndioatc.
It wils Au,qusl.I9zll'1,
lessthan ninety days betbrc
thc elcction. Thc commillceman'soroblcnt was to set
s()rr)eonc
to run. IQJX lor)kc(llikc rr blt l lcar. Trurrirrrr
sccmedto bc a loser.Gill called uD Sidncv Yatesand
irrkcd."Do ; ou rtill u anl lo rurr foriConlr'err.'""Yer. I
do." "Can you Iinancc your own campaign')" Sidner,
Yrtes said hc could. Hc beganrunning fbl Congrcss.
I renrenrbcrthat hc uscd to cat lunch downtowll
wilh sorle other lawycrs.One ol the lawycrs told nrc that
onc aftcrnoonthcy wcre sitting Lrroundalier lunch. nonc
ol them havins nruch to do. Sidney Yatessaid."l have to
go to a political nreetingfbr my campaiun."The Iawycr'
told mc. "Wc said to Sidncy. 'What's thc use of going'l
Nothing'sgoin-sto hirppen."'But Sidney left and campaigned.and did so vigorously.and in the great sweepof
1948he carriedhis districtby 18,000votes.
Yotesan OutstandingCongressman
He 's be e n a remarkablecongress ma nju
, st
remarkable.There are two sidesto SidneyYates.One is
his side in Congress,
wherehe is courageous,
independent and fearless.The other is his oositionin the citv
wherehe goesalongquietly.In Congresi
organizalions,
he immediatelybeganfighting the oil and gas monopoliesandtheirrates.
When McCarthyismcame,he was one of seven
Representatives
who opposedthe terrible Hobbs bill,
andhe wasoneof the very few to voteagainstthe internal securitylaw. Thesewere McCarthyitemeasures
which were very popularat the time. It took a lot of
courageto be againstthem.
He was alwayson the ball on housing.Always
on healthissues.He hasbeenand is a sreatchamnionof
thearls.He wasslow to opposerheVi6tnamWar,burhe
finally beganvoting againstappropriations.
He was Sidney Yates: an amazing, even impeccable conglessman
againstthe attackson the environment,
especiallywhen
they wantedto sendSST aircraftover the whole United facl is that urbanproblemsare problemsthat haveto be
States.He has beenan antazing,even an impeccable, metby New Dealmeasures."
congressman.
In individualcasesof injusticehe alwaysstands Inspircd E.rcellencein Puhlic Seryice
out. Yet when he comesback to Chicaso.he doesnot
He has shownundividedfidelitvto the oublic
d e v i a tefr om his alliancewith lhe m-achin eWh
. e n interesl.
He hasbeenan examplelbr a numberof others
Singer.for example,ran for aldermanin the 43rd Ward in politics.I cannotlist themall, and if I omit some,it's
as an anti-machine
candidate,
Yatesdeclinedto supporl just becausethey are so numerous.He is the prototype
him. SincethenSingerhasmadepeacewith themachine for Abner Mikva, the statelegislator,congressman
and
and becomea prosperouslawyer.
judge; SeymourSimon,a splendidsecondoutstanding
WhenI ranfor aldermanin '55. Yateshadbeena roundaldermanandvery greatSupremeCourtjudge;for
congressman
for sevenyears.By chancewe wereon the RobertMann, a remarkablestatelegislator;for Robert
sameplanegoing to Washington.
He was most encour- Marks, Aaron Jaffe, Martin Oberman,Harold Katz. I
agin_e
to me andgaveme excellentadvice.It wasadvice think I can alsonameAlan Greiman.Ellis Levin and
thatwasnot confidential
or secret,on how to be a candi- ArthurBeman.
date what to do, how to act. But at the end he said.
At the beginningI quotedwhatJacobFreedsaid
"Don't tell anybodyI told you all this." He had told me
about
Jews
in public serviceand the propheticideals.
no secrets.but he knew I was runningagainstCommit
Have
Jews
in
Chicago'spubliclife beenfaithfulto those
teemanBarnetHodes'candidate
in the 5th Ward.andhe
ideals?
part,
In
manyhave;in greatpart,somehave;and
did not want me to go aroundand saythat SidneyYates
some.
not
at
all.
The pictureis mixed like that of other
told me how to behave.
peoples
political
in
life in Chicago.
A rccentstatement
by Yatesgiveshis fundamen"l
tal views: still think peoplewill supportthe DemoBal, I think there is an edse in our favor. We
craticPartybecause
it standsfor theNew Dealprograms havebeena perseculed
peopleanJ we understand
the
and the other socialprogramsthat the party gave.The burdensof discrimination.
We havea sreatersensitivitv
programswe createdweresupposed
to providea means lhanmort othersro \ocialinjuslice.
a;d llhink tharior
fbr peopleto movefbrward.Do you go backto creating our numberswe havecontributed
just a few more than
slums?Do you go backto miserable
conditions?
Do you our arithmeticalshareof peoplein public lif'ewho have
do away with educationthe way Reaganwantsto? Do been responsiveto the propheticidea.What is the
you do away with healthresearchafter all the benefits propheticideal'lI think it was best statedby Amos. It
we've seenemergeto make us the healthypeoplewe wasrepeated
by Martin LutherKing in his 1963March
are?Do you do away with cancerresearch?
Do you do on Washington
speech.I think it is wharwe would like
away with public transportation?
The fact remainsthat to havefrom everyJewishpersonin public life. Somepeoplein the city still needhousing;the problemis that timeswe get it very generously,
but it's what we'd like
thereis so little privatehousingbuilt for peoplein the to havealways:"Let justiceroll down Iike watersand
lower economiclevel. So you look for solutions.The righteousness
like an ever-flowingstream."
:l
JewishWestSide
Revivedat Penn
SchoolReunion
1500ReliveOld Times,
SeeCutlerSlideShow,
I
Ith ou gh s ec ular in nat ur e. lhc
reunion ol- I
recentwildly-succcssl-ul
I
gradualesol'the William Penn EIementary School had thc ovcrtoncsol-a nos
t alg ic ba ckward Iook Nl Chic ago J ewis h
history. Of the nearly 1.5(X)pcoplc atlcnd
ing thc rcunion. it is eslimlled thrt 99.97
were Jewish,as were the studentsattcnding
rhut Wc\r Sidc school during the first forty
yearsor so lbllowing its opening in 1907.
L ocate d at Six t eent h Slr eet and
Avcrs Ave nu e in t he hear t of t hc J ewr s r r
West Side, thc school enrolled primarily The WilliamPenn School buildingas it currentlylooks
Cotutt s| Dr.IttitryL tlu
Jewish students until aftcr World War III
and it was csscntially a middle-aged and newsletter
for theyearsI937 57, anda full ish hislory. including exhibits,the laping ol
older crowd who filled (and ovcrflowed.) recordof the reunionhavc beengiven to o r a l h i s t o r i e s . t h e c o l l e cti o n o f a r ch i vcs.
t he Ro se mon t-O' Har e Ex pos it ion Cent er rh e Soci ety l or the C hi cago Jew i sh publication of Cri( ./go ,leuish Hist(r't". ptoBallroom on October 28. Hundredshad to Archives.
I.J.S .O vision of speakersand meeting places and
be turned away lbr lack of space.
th€ customary social hour which precedes
meetings.
fi
Cutler Slideshou,F eatured
Amongthecrowdwho relivedold
rimesin the Chicagoarea'slargestJewish
neighborhoodever and waicheda triplescreenslide show on the "Old NeighborDr. Irving
hood"givenby CJHSco-fbunder
Cutler werc perhapsa dozen former Penn
teachers.
somcof themin theireighties.A
twenty-fburpageoversizedsouvenirbook
let containeda directory, letters from formemoriesof growingup in
mer teachers,
the areaand photosof communityinstitutions.chiellyJewishones.
A not he r p o p u l a rfe a tu reo f th e
reunionwas Dr. Cutler'sWe\l SideTour,a
C J HSs um m c r\ t u p l e .\a h i c hth o u g hg i v e n
twice fbr rhe graduateson Oclober29 had.
applias usual.to turn awaydisappointed
cants.
PaopleCame.fittm 28 States
Prelerence
lbr thetourswu. given
to oul- o[ - lor nc
. r r s i rtte n d i n S
l h e re u n i o n .
Thesewere 42 irom Califbrnia. l4 from
Florida.3t-romArizonaand25 liom olher
states.One attendeehad graduatcdfrom
P enn alm os t s e v e n ty y e a rs a g o . T h e
rc union was or g a n i z e db y a c o m p l e te l y
non-professiona!
volunteercommilteecre
atedat thc suggcstion
of Fred Bassol the
classol l94ll at Penn.
A c om p l e te
c o l l e c ti o o
n f th e v u ri the schools
ous issuesoi the Pennygram.
NewYearMeans Dues PurposelyKept Lov'
D ues are kept low in or der t o
RenewalTime
enableanyoneactivelyto participatein the
oci etys efforts.R egu larduc. rbegin ir t
ForCJHSMembersS$25.00
per year,with seniorsand students
ettersremindingreadersto renew
theirCJHSmembership
arecurently in the mail accordingto MembershipChairmanMarianCutler.All m€mbers h i p sexceptthoseof l i fe membersand
individualswho havejoined for the first
time sinceJuly expiredat the end of rhe
year,and timelyrenewalis neces
calendar
\rry in orderto in\ure receivingC,[/(.r{r,
.lauishHistd 'l andmeetingnotices.
Many Benefits of Membership
Among the olher benefitsavailable to membersare reducedratesfor the
Society'spopularsummertours,therightto
invitaattendthe annualmembers'brunch.
discounts
on purtionsto exhibitopenings,
chasesat the SpertusMuseumandfreebus
\e rv i ce to mcel i | | !\ rl di \l !nl l ocal i on..
Menrbersin goodstandingare alsoeligible
to receivea free copy of each monograph
publishedby the Doris Minsky Memorial
F u n drs i l dpperr\.A Iqqo publ i crl i oni \
planned.
Althoughcxtremelymodest,the
So ci ety' sdues structuremakespossi bl e
localJewmostSocietyeffonsto preserve
abl e to bel ong for l es sersum s. A f ull
schcduleof duesappearson the last pageof
thi s publ i cati on.Mrs. Cut ler r em indsus
that the vol untarydecisionby m any t o
\eleclone of the higherduescategorie'is
what m.rkesit possibleto continueour lowestfates.
membersto send
Shealsoadvises
i n thei r renew al sw i l hout delay t o pr event any interruptionin Societybenefits.
They are a bar8ai nJs ! ell ai a cont r i
buti on l o thc prcserra t ionof Chicago'.
Jewishhistory.
E
Flash
Plannow to attendour March meettngdevoted
to DiurlmurAdler.the archilect.
with Louis Sullivan.of the world-famous
AuditoriumBuildingnow celebrating
its cen
tennial.
Planscall for a meetingin thebuildincludingthe
ing anda tour of the struchture,
will bepresent.
theaterSomeof hisdescendants
Moredetailslater
"Graduales" of the Chicago Home for Jewish
about their oresent whereabouts? See storv for details.
you
any ol theseyoung personsand/ortell us
someoi which
andrenewfriendships.
Donation
to Archives nisce
Add
startedfifty or sixty years before.They NewMembers
gatheredfrom sixteen statesacrossthe
RecallsDaysof
country.The reunionwasorganizedby Roy To SocietyStrength
JewishOrphanagesKlowden.An early photograph,presumably
he Societycontinues
to grow asnew
of a groupof "graduates"and the home's
director,andstoriesof the reunion have
recentlybeendonatedto Societyarchives
by Carolyn Wollner.The photo appearsto
or t y - s lx y e a rs a g o , J u s t a s rt w a s be from l92l and is reproducedon this
approachingits fiftieth year of oper- page.The Societyseeksto identify as many
ation, Chicago'sfirst Jewishorphan- individuals
If you canhelp,get
as possible.
a g e c los ed.I t was a v i c ti m o f c h a n g i n g in touchwith the editor at 348-2800.
socialservicephilosophy,which by 1943
h e ld t hat f os t erho me sw e re Ie \\ i n s ti tu - Foundedwith Donation
tional and more desirable(and cheaper)
The Chicago Home was founded
placesfor orphanedchildren.
in 1894 with a cash gift from a wealthy
That the Chicago Home for Jew- J e w i sh busi nessmani n W averl y, Iow a,
ish Orphansdid a goodjob of providingfor W . K . S l i mmer.It openedi ts doors i n a
parentlesschildren has been testified to in rentedhouseat 3601 SouthVernonAvenue
publishedprcviouslyin this with a capacityof thirty-onechildren.In
reminiscences
journal and elsewhere.lt was reinforced 1899it movedinto its own largeqpurposesome ten yearsago, however,when over built quarterson Drexel Avenue,across
200 "alumni" held a reunionat the Max from the Jewishold people'shomeearlier
DolnickCenter.
e s ta b l i shedby C hi cagoGermanJew i sh
community.
Loc'atedin Woodlawn
The ChicagoHome was later supThe "Aitchkays"or homekids as plementedby the Marks Nathan Home on
they were called when they lived at the the WestSide,which primarilyservedchilhome at 6208 South Drexel Avenueand dren of EasternEuropeanbackground.
exist in the area
attendedFiske Schooland Hyde Park High Virtually no orphanages
of lg78 to remi- today.
Schoolmet in September
O
SeekIdentification
Of Thosein I92l Photo
membersassistus in our effortsto
collect, preserveand disseminate
the recordsof Chicago's
Jewishpast.Joining rhe ChicagoJewi:.hHistoricalSociety
during the past few monthswere the followrng:
Mike & Rose Ann Abr.ms
A.G. Bel h l v r el
Idrh Riskind
M- ti. Hechl
Milton Hern
Ri s k i n d
Inin-c Sachs
Marcia & Mich{el S.per
Evr Shure
Thi s l i st bri ngs t he t ot al new
membershi pfor l ast ye ar t o ll7. Since
many were for couples,the actual number
of individuals
addedto our rolls in 1989is
very near 150. They materiallyaugment
our strengthand assi stus in our var ious
effortsto preserveour past.
MarianCutler
MembershipChairman
15
Officers1989-90
Wa l t c r R ( ) 1 h . . . . . . - . . . . . . . . .....................Pr csi ci e n
WhatWeAre
Membership
Thc Chicago Jewish Historical Society was
lounded in 1977and is in parl an outgrowth
ol lu.a l Jcu rsh ;r:rrti c iput ionin I hr Am ( f ican Bicen tcn nia l ce lebr at ions of 1976.
Muricl Robin was thc for.rncling
president.
I1 has as its purposc lhe discovcry.prescrvillion a nd disse minalion ol- i li) r m r lion
c{ )ncea Dingthc Jcwi s h c x pc r ic nc c in lhe
Chicagoarcii.
Membership in the Socicty includcs a subscriplion to Chitugo .lcuish Hl.\1.r'!: each
monographpublishcdby the Doris Minsky
Mcnrorial Fund ts it lppears: discounlson
Socielv lours dn(i at thc Spcr-lusMuscunt
Slor e a n d t h c o p p o r t u n i t y l o l e a r n a n d
inlbrm olhers conccrning Chicago Jcwish
histolv and ils preservalion.
M c nr be r s h i p i n l l r c S o c i c t ) ' i s o p c n t o a l l
iilcrcs{cd pcrsonsitnd ofganiration\.
B u r t R o b i r r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ............Vi
Pr ecc
si d e n t
E l a i n eS u 1 o w d y . . . . . . . . . . ....................Se cr cta r y
H c r n r a nD r a z n i n . . . . . . . . . - ...- ..............Tr ca su r e r
WhatWe Do
T hc So cicly see ks o ul, c ollc c t s and pr e
servesrppropri{lc written. spokcnanclphologrup h ic re co rds: p ublis hc s his t or ic r l
intor miLlio n: ho lds public m c c lines it l
w hich va riou s aspe c lsol Chic ago J ewis h
hislory are trea lcd ; m ounls appr op r t e
e\hihil.; iurd ofl'er. tourr uf Jcwi\h hi\rori
cal sites.
MinskyFund
The Doris Minsky Memorial Fund, established in memory of one of the Society's
Iounders an d lon gtim e leir der s , s eek s t o
publish annually a nonogftrph on an aspect
of Chicago area Jewish history. Members
may receive a copy of each monograph as
it is published. Manuscripts may be sub
mitted and contributions to the Func are
welcomc at any trme.
Look
to the
nock
Cao''t u)},ich
!JF5Tr'
cl)tcaco
DuesStructure
Mcmbership
runson ii calcndaryear.liorl
JanuarythroughDccenrbcr.
New members
.j o i n i ngafter Jul y I are gi ven an i ni ti al
enrbership
throughDcccntberof the tbllowing ycar.The lbllowing duesschedulc
applies1()categorics
indicated:
Directors
Leah Axclrod. Daniel Bcederman.Charlcs
Bcrnstcin.Sol Brandzel. Dr. Irvin-!lCutler.
Mrrian Cutler. Clarc Grccnberg.Dr. Adclc
Hast':'.Janct Hagcfup. Ritcllcl Hcintovics'r'.
M l t r l M i l n d l e . D r . E d w a l d M a zu r . To n t
M c i t c s . J o s c p h M i n s k v . El si c Ol l i n sk;.
D{\ id Plssntiil. Jancs Ricc. Muricl Robin
R o g c r s : '. M o s c l l c S c h w r r t,,. N o r l l r l
S c h w x r l r 'r '. M i l l o
S h U l In a n . Sh i r l c]
Solkin. Sidncy Solkin. Dr. Irwin Sulowlr,
'i'lndicillesPlsl President
ChicagoJewish
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C h i c a goJew i shH i stori calS oci cty.D ucs
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