Ben Rubin (December 20, 1886 – February 24, 1942) was a cigar maker,

zookeeper A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public.Hurwitz, Jane. Choosing a Career in Animal Care (World of Work). New York: Rosen Gr ...

, union activist and member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

from

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

who served four terms. He was elected in 1930 and served one term as a

Socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. He was later elected as a Progressive on a fusion ticket, serving for six years (1937–1942). Rubin's district had the largest concentration of

African Americans African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa ...

in Wisconsin, and he was the author of a number of

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

bills on topics such as

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, employment by regulated

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, and

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Background

Rubin was born December 20, 1886, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended public school to the age of ten, when he became an apprentice in a

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and Fermentation, fermented tobacco leaves made to be Tobacco smoking, smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct comp ...

factory. He worked as cigar maker up to 1919, and during these years was a member of and served offices in the Cigar Makers' Union. In 1919, he went to work as a zookeeper in the Washington Park Zoological Garden. When first elected to the Assembly in 1930 he had been president of the Building Service Employees Union and

secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...

of the Central Board of Milwaukee municipal employees' unions, and had been (by his estimate) a member of the Socialist Party for about twenty years.

Assembly service

In 1930 he was elected to the Assembly's Sixth

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

district (the Sixth

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of the City of Milwaukee), with 1389 votes, unseating Republican

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

Frederick W. Cords who drew 927 votes, with 350 for

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

John N. Kaiser, and 55 for Lee Talton. He was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

. In 1932 Rubin was a candidate for re-election, again facing Cords and Kaiser and two independents. This time Kaiser (with

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

at the top of the Democratic ticket) was the victor, with 2240 votes to Rubin's 2130, Cord's 1412, and another 129 for the two independents. In 1934, Rubin came within somewhere between nine and twenty-seven votes of unseating Kaiser. 104 paper

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s were lost before a

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was held, with a

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later admitting he'd burned them as wastepaper. The final official count was 1289 for Kaiser (Democrat), 1262 for Rubin (Socialist), 1002 for Fred G. Miller (Progressive), 638 for Frederick G. Peterson (Republican), and 49 for an independent and "scattering". In 1936 (at which time he was serving his fourth term on the

executive board A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of the Milwaukee Federated Trades Council, Rubin again faced Kaiser in the general election, this time nominally as a Progressive (there were no official "Socialist" candidates during this era of Progressive/Socialist "federation" tickets, and no Socialist

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

). Rubin unseated Kaiser with 3576 votes, to Kaiser's 2607 and Republican Paul Coleman's 1008. He returned to the committee on labor, and was also assigned to the committee on

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. During this period he also served on the

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and

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board of the Milwaukee County employees' retirement system."County Pension Board Vote Dates Are Slated" ''Milwaukee Journal'' November 20, 1942; pt. 2, p. 1, col. 2 He was re-elected as a Progressive/Socialist in 1938 and 1940 (winning four-way and three-way races); and died in office February 24, 1942. He was succeeded by Progressive

Phillip Markey Phillip Markey (August 1, 1913 – January 7, 2003) was an American lawyer who served one term as a Progressive member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. He was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Background Markey was born in Milwaukee on August 1, ...

(federation no longer being in effect).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Ben 1886 births 1942 deaths American trade union leaders Cigar makers Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Milwaukee Politicians from Pittsburgh Socialist Party of America politicians from Wisconsin Wisconsin Progressives (1924) American zookeepers 20th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature