Publication date:
29 December 2010Length of book:
714 pagesPublisher
Scarecrow PressISBN-13: 9780810857315
Since 1841, 200 Jewish men and women have served in the United States Congress. Their ranks have included Democrats and Republicans, Whigs and Socialists, radicals and reactionaries—a microcosm of the political diversity of the United States. Their influence in Congress has been significant, yet they have been largely overlooked in the history books. In The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members, Kurt F. Stone profiles all of the Jews who have served in the House or the Senate.
This volume features entries on every Jewish member of Congress, from David Levy Yulee, who, in 1841, was elected to the 27th Congress as a Delegate from the Territory of Florida, to the Jewish senators and representatives of the 111th Congress. Arranged in chronological order, the members range from Bella Abzug to Edward Zorinsky and feature such historical figures as Barry Goldwater, Jacob Javits, Herbert Lehman, and Abraham Ribicoff, along with those still serving in Congress, such as Barney Frank, Dianne Feinstein, Joseph Lieberman, and Al Franken. Each entry identifies the member's political party and years of service, provides a biographical sketch, and includes references for further study. This is the most comprehensive and extensive resource on the legacy of Jewish representation and influence in the United States Congress.
This volume features entries on every Jewish member of Congress, from David Levy Yulee, who, in 1841, was elected to the 27th Congress as a Delegate from the Territory of Florida, to the Jewish senators and representatives of the 111th Congress. Arranged in chronological order, the members range from Bella Abzug to Edward Zorinsky and feature such historical figures as Barry Goldwater, Jacob Javits, Herbert Lehman, and Abraham Ribicoff, along with those still serving in Congress, such as Barney Frank, Dianne Feinstein, Joseph Lieberman, and Al Franken. Each entry identifies the member's political party and years of service, provides a biographical sketch, and includes references for further study. This is the most comprehensive and extensive resource on the legacy of Jewish representation and influence in the United States Congress.
In July 2009, following eight months of ballot recounts and court challenges, the celebrity comedian-turned-politician Al Franken took the oath of office as a United States senator from Minnesota. In so doing, as Kurt F. Stone notes in his fascinating new book The Jews of Capitol Hill, Minnesota became the first state in U.S. history to have elected four Jewish senators: Rudy Boschwitz, Paul Wellstone, Norm Coleman and Franken. Even more interesting, notes Stone, is the fact that it was not New York, New Jersey, Florida, California, Pennsylvania “or some other state with a large Jewish population to elect four Jewish senators, but Minnesota, whose Jewish population amounted to less than 1 percent.” This is only one of the many little-known and surprising facts contained in Stone's meticulously researched, well-organized and highly readable compendium of historical facts and biographical information about the Jewish experience in Congress, past and present.