Jacob Koppel Javits ( ; May 18, 1904 – March 7, 1986) was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washi ...

. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, he also served as the state's

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. Generally considered a liberal Republican, he was often at odds with his own party. A supporter of labor unions,

Great Society The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the University ...

and

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

, he played a key role in the passing of civil rights legislation. An opponent of the War in Vietnam, he drafted the War Powers Resolution in 1973. Born to Jewish parents, Javits was raised in a

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. He graduated from the

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in Ne ...

and established a law practice in New York City. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

's Chemical Warfare Department. Outraged by the corruption of

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was a New York City political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789 as the Tammany Society. It became the main loc ...

, Javits joined the

and supported New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. He was elected to the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

in 1946 and served in that body until 1954. In the House, Javits supported President Harry S. Truman's Cold War foreign policy and voted to fund the

Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...

. He defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. in the 1954 election for

Attorney General of New York The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government o ...

, and defeated Democrat Robert F. Wagner Jr. in the 1956 United States Senate elections. In the Senate, Javits supported much of Lyndon B. Johnson's

programs and civil rights legislation, including the

Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. It prohibits unequal application of voter registration req ...

and the

Voting Rights Act of 1965 The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...

. He voted for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution but came to question Johnson's handling of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. To rein in presidential war powers, Javits sponsored the War Powers Resolution. Javits also sponsored the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, which regulated defined-benefit private pensions. In 1980, Javits lost the Republican Senate primary to

Al D'Amato Alfonse Marcello D'Amato (born August 1, 1937) is an American politician born in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. He served as United States Senator for New York between 1981 and 1999. He subsequently founded a lobbying firm, Park Strategies. ...

, who campaigned to Javits's right. Nonetheless, he ran in the general election as the Liberal Party nominee. He was defeated by D'Amato, alongside Democratic nominee Elizabeth Holtzman. Javits died of

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

West Palm Beach, Florida West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lagoon. The populatio ...

in 1986.

Early life

Javits was born to Jewish parents, Ida (née Littman) and Morris Javits, a descendant of the 17th-century rabbi Jacob Emden who was known as the Ya'avetz, which was later anglicized to Javits. Javits grew up in a teeming Lower East Side tenement, and when not in school, he helped his mother sell dry goods from a pushcart in the street and learned parliamentary procedure at University Settlement Society of New York. Javits graduated in 1920 from George Washington High School, where he was president of his class. He worked part-time at various jobs while he attended night school at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, then in 1923 he enrolled in the New York University Law School from which he earned his LLB in 1926. He was admitted to the bar in June 1927 and joined his brother Benjamin Javits, who was nearly ten years older, as partner to form the Javits and Javits law firm. The Javits brothers specialized in bankruptcy and minority stockholder suits and became quite successful. In 1933, Javits married Marjorie Joan Ringling, daughter of Alfred Theodore "Alf" Ringling of Ringling Brothers Circus fame. They had no children and divorced in 1936. In 1947, he married Marion Ann Borris with whom he had three children. Deemed too old for regular military service when

began, Javits was commissioned in early 1942 as an officer in the U.S. Army's Chemical Warfare Department, where he served throughout the war and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Political career

In his youth Javits had watched his father work as a ward heeler for

, and he had experienced firsthand the corruption and graft associated with that notorious political machine. Tammany's operations repulsed Javits so much that he forever rejected the city's Democratic Party and in the early 1930s joined the Republican- Fusion Party and The New York Young Republican Club, which was supporting the mayoral campaigns of Fiorello H. La Guardia. After the war, he became the chief researcher for Jonah Goldstein's unsuccessful 1945 bid for mayor on the Republican- Liberal-Fusion ticket. Javits's hard work in the Goldstein campaign showed his potential in the political arena and encouraged the small Manhattan Republican Party to nominate him as their candidate for the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

's Twenty-first Congressional District (since redistricted) seat during the heavily-Republican year of 1946. Although the Republicans had not held the seat since 1923, Javits campaigned energetically and won. He was a member of the freshman class, along with John F. Kennedy of

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

and

Richard M. Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. He served from 1947 to 1954, when he resigned his seat to take office as New York State Attorney General. Throughout his career in Congress, first in the House and later in the Senate, Javits was part of a small group of liberal Republicans that was often isolated ideologically from their mainstream Republican colleagues. One scoring method found Javits to be the most liberal Republican to serve in either chamber of Congress between 1937 and 2002. Although he frequently differed with the more conservative members of his party, Javits always maintained that a healthy political party should tolerate diverse opinions among its members. He rejected the idea that either party should reflect only one point of view. Javits liked to think of himself as a political descendant of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

Progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

Republicanism. He was strongly committed to social issues and believed that the federal government should have a role in improving the lives of Americans. During his first two terms in the House, Javits often sided with the Truman administration. For example, in 1947 he supported

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Frankli ...

's veto of the Taft-Hartley Bill, which he declared to be antiunion. A strong opponent of discrimination, Javits also endorsed legislation against the poll tax in 1947 and 1949, and in 1954, he unsuccessfully sought to have enacted a bill banning segregation in federally-funded housing projects. Unhappy with the

witch hunt A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern per ...

atmosphere in Washington during the Cold War, he publicly opposed continuing appropriations for the

House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly dubbed the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloy ...

in 1948. Always a staunch supporter of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Javits served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee during all four of his terms and supported congressional funding for the

and all components of the Truman Doctrine. In 1954, Javits ran for New York State Attorney General against a well-known and well-funded opponent, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. Javits's vote-getting abilities carried the day, and he was the only Republican to win a statewide office that year. As attorney general, Javits continued to promote his liberal agenda by supporting such measures as anti-bias employment legislation and a health insurance program for state employees.

U.S. Senator

In 1956, Javits ran for

U.S. Senator from New York Below is a list of U.S. senators who have represented the State of New York in the United States Senate since 1789. The date of the start of the tenure is either the first day of the legislative term (Senators who were elected regularly before ...

to succeed the retiring incumbent Democrat

Herbert H. Lehman Herbert Henry Lehman (March 28, 1878 – December 5, 1963) was an American Democratic Party politician from New York. He served from 1933 until 1942 as the 45th governor of New York and represented New York State in the U.S. Senate from 194 ...

. His Democratic opponent was the popular Mayor of New York, Robert F. Wagner Jr. In the early stages of that campaign Javits vigorously and successfully denied charges that he had once sought support from members of the American Communist Party during his 1946 race for Congress. He went on to defeat Wagner by nearly half a million votes. Although his term began on January 3, 1957, he delayed taking his seat in the U.S. Senate until January 9, the day the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an officia ...

convened, to deny Democratic Governor

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986), better known as Averell Harriman, was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. The son of railroad baron E. H. Harriman, he served as Secretary of Commerce un ...

the opportunity to appoint a Democratic Attorney General. Thus, on January 9, the Republican majority of the State Legislature elected Louis Lefkowitz to fill the office for the remainder of Javits's term. Upon taking office, Javits resumed his role as the most outspoken Republican liberal in Congress. For the next 24 years, the Senate was Javits's home. His wife had no interest in living in Washington, D.C., which she considered a boring backwater and so for over two decades Javits commuted between New York and Washington nearly every week to visit his "other" family and conduct local political business. In foreign affairs, he backed the Eisenhower Doctrine for the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and pressed for more foreign military and economic assistance. Javits was re-elected in 1962 and

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

. Javits voted in favor of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960,

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, and

, as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the

, and the confirmation of

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African- ...

to the U.S. Supreme Court. He endorsed Lyndon Johnson's

programs. To promote his views on social legislation, he served on the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee for twenty years, most of that time as the second-ranking minority member. Javits initially backed Johnson during the early years of America's involvement in the

and supported, for example, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 but later turned against it. Javits also supported a single-payer healthcare system and coined the term " Medicare for all." Also in 1964, Javits joined David Rockefeller to launch the non-profit International Executive Service Corps, which was established to help bring about prosperity and stability in developing nations through the growth of private enterprise. In 1966, along with two other Republican senators and five Republican representatives, Javits signed a telegram sent to Georgia Governor Carl E. Sanders regarding the Georgia legislature's refusal to seat the recently-elected

Julian Bond Horace Julian Bond (January 14, 1940 – August 15, 2015) was an American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer. While he was a student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, during the e ...

in their state House of Representatives. The refusal, said the telegram, was "a dangerous attack on representative government. None of us agree with Mr. Bond's views on the Vietnam War; in fact we strongly repudiate these views. But unless otherwise determined by a court of law, which the Georgia Legislature is not, he is entitled to express them." By the end of 1967, Javits was becoming disenchanted with the Vietnam War and joined 22 other senators in calling for a peaceful solution to the conflict. In 1965, Javits appointed Lawrence Wallace Bradford Jr. as the Senate's first African-American page. In 1971, Javits appointed Paulette Desell as the Senate's first female page. By 1970, his rising opposition to the war led him to support the Cooper-Church Amendment, which barred funds for US troops in

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

, and he also voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Increasingly concerned about the erosion of congressional authority in foreign affairs, Javits sponsored the 1973 War Powers Act, which limited to 60 days a president's ability to send American armed forces into combat without congressional approval. Despite his unhappiness with President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...

over the Vietnam War, Javits was slow to join the anti-Nixon forces during the

Watergate scandal The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

of 1973–1974. Until almost the very end of the affair, his position reflected his legal training: Nixon was innocent until proven guilty, and the best way to determine guilt or innocence was by legal due process. His position was unpopular among his constituency, and his re-election in Watergate-tainted 1974 elections over Ramsey Clark was by fewer than 400,000 votes, a third of his 1968 margin of victory. During his last term. Javits shifted his interests more and more to world affairs, especially the crises in the Middle East. Working with President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...

, he journeyed to Israel and Egypt to facilitate the discussions that led to the 1978

Camp David Accords The Camp David Accords were a pair of political agreements signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin on 17 September 1978, following twelve days of secret negotiations at Camp David, the country retr ...

1980 Senate race

Javits served until 1981; his 1979 diagnosis with

(also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) led to a 1980 primary challenge by the comparatively lesser-known Long Island Republican county official

, who received 323,468 primary votes (55.7 percent) to Javits's 257,433 (44.3 percent). Javits's loss to D'Amato stemmed from Javits's continuing illness and from his failure to adjust politically to the rightward movement of the

. After the primary defeat, Javits ran as the Liberal Party candidate in the general election. His candidacy split the Democratic base vote with

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...

Elizabeth Holtzman of

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

and gave D'Amato the victory by a

plurality Plurality may refer to: Voting * Plurality (voting), or relative majority, when a given candidate receives more votes than any other but still fewer than half of the total ** Plurality voting, system in which each voter votes for one candidate and ...

of 1%. Javits received 11% of the vote.

Electoral history

U.S. House of Representatives, New York 21st District 1946 * Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 46,897 votes (46.02%) * Daniel Flynn (D), 40,652 votes (39.9%) * Eugene Connolly (American Labor), 14,359 votes (14.1%) 1948 * Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 67,067 votes (50.9%) *

Paul O'Dwyer Peter Paul O'Dwyer (June 29, 1907 – June 23, 1998) was an Irish-born American politician and civil rights lawyer who served as President of the New York City Council during 1974–1977. He was the younger brother of Mayor William O'Dwyer, and t ...

(D, American Labor), 64,654 votes (49.1%) 1950 * Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 42,516 votes (49.8%) * Bennett Schlessel (D), 37,363 votes (43.8%) * William Mandel (American Labor), 5,419 (6.35%) 1952 * Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 89,866 votes (63.4%) * John C. Hart (D), 47,637 votes (33.6%) * William Mandel (American Labor), 4,148 (2.93%) New York State Attorney General 1954 * Jacob Javits (R), 2,603,858 votes (51.7%) * Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (D), 2,430,959 votes (48.3%) U.S. Senate, New York 1956 * Jacob Javits (R), 3,723,933 votes (53.3%) * Robert F. Wagner Jr. (D), 3,265,159 votes (46.7%) 1962 * Jacob Javits (R), 3,272,417 votes (57.4%) * James B. Donovan (D), 2,178,212 votes (40.1%)

* Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 3,269,772 votes (49.6%) *

(D), 2,150,659 votes (32.7%) *

James L. Buckley James Lane Buckley (born March 9, 1923) is an American politician, jurist, and lawyer who currently serves as a senior judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Buckley served in the United States Senat ...

(Conservative), 1,139,402 votes (17.3%)

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

* Jacob Javits (R, Lib), 2,340,188 votes (45.3%) * Ramsey Clark (D), 1,973,781 votes (38.2%) * Barbara Keating (Conservative), 822,584 votes (15.9%) 1980 Republican Primary * Jacob Javits, 257,433 votes (44.3%) * Alfonse D'Amato, 323,468 votes (55.7%) 1980 General Election * Jacob Javits (Liberal), 664,544 votes (11.0%) * Elizabeth Holtzman (D), 2,618,661 votes (43.5%) * Alfonse D'Amato (R, Conservative) 2,699,652 votes (44.9%) * Richard Salvadel (Free Libertarian), 21,465 votes (0.4%) * William R. Scott (Communist), 4,161 votes (<0.1%) * Thomas Soto (Workers World), 3,643 votes (<0.1%) * Victor A. Nieto (Socialist Worker), 2,715 votes (<0.1%)

Death

Javits died of

(ALS) in

, at the age of 81 in March 1986. In addition to spouse Marion Ann Borris Javits, he was survived by three children: Joshua, Carla, and Joy. He was predeceased by his brother, who died in 1973. His nephew, Eric M. Javits, was a diplomat who served as the U.S. Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the Conference on Disarmament. He is interred at Linden Hill Jewish Cemetery in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York. Javits' funeral service was conducted at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan. 1400 people attended the funeral. Among them were former President Richard Nixon, Governor

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as ...

and former Governor Hugh Carey, Mayor Ed Koch and former Mayor

John Lindsay John Vliet Lindsay (; November 24, 1921 – December 19, 2000) was an American politician and lawyer. During his political career, Lindsay was a U.S. congressman, mayor of New York City, and candidate for U.S. president. He was also a regular ...

, Attorney General Edwin Meese, former Secretary of State

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the preside ...

, Cardinal

John Joseph O'Connor John Joseph O'Connor may refer to: * John O'Connor (cardinal), archbishop of New York * John J. O'Connor (bishop of Newark), American prelate of the Catholic Church. * John J. O'Connor (New York representative), U.S. Representative from New York * ...

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

, David Rockefeller,

Victor Gotbaum Victor H. Gotbaum (September 5, 1921 – April 5, 2015) was an American labor leader. From 1965 to 1987, he was president of AFSCME District Council 37 (DC37), the largest municipal union in New York City. Biography Gotbaum was born in Brookly ...

Douglas Fairbanks Jr Douglas Elton Fairbanks Jr., (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor, producer and decorated naval officer of World War II. He is best known for starring in such films as ''The Prisoner of Zenda'' (1937), '' Gunga Din'' (1939) ...

and Arthur Ochs Sulzberger. Other mourners included Senators

of New York, Senators Nancy Kassebaum Baker of

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to ...

Bill Bradley William Warren Bradley (born July 28, 1943) is an American politician and former professional basketball player. He served three terms as a Democratic U.S. senator from New Jersey (1979–1997). He ran for the Democratic Party's nomination fo ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

, Lowell Weicker of

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, as well as former U.S. Representative Bella Abzug.

Legacy

Throughout his years in Congress, Javits seldom enjoyed favor with his party's inner circle. Few pieces of legislation bear his name, yet he was especially proud of his work in creating the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federa ...

, of his sponsorship of the

ERISA The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) (, codified in part at ) is a U.S. federal tax and labor law that establishes minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. It contains rules on the federal income tax ...

, which regulated defined-benefit private pensions, and of his leadership in the passage of the 1973 War Powers Act. Javits used his office to advance ideas that furthered the policies even of Democratic presidents. In the fall of 1962, he proposed to a group of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

parliamentarians that multinational corporations jointly create a new kind of investment vehicle to promote private investment throughout

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...

. He intended his idea to complement President John F. Kennedy's Alliance for Progress. Two years later, some 50 multinational corporations formed the Adela Investment Company, much as Javits had proposed. The senator was generally considered a liberal Republican and was supportive of labor unions and movements for

. In a
essay
published in 1958 in the magazine ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

'', he predicted the election of the first African-American president by 2000. In 1964, Javits refused to support his party's presidential nominee, his conservative colleague,

Barry M. Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

. Senator Javits sponsored the first African-American

Senate page A United States Senate Page (Senate Page or simply Page) is a high-school age teen serving the United States Senate in Washington, D.C. Pages are nominated by senators, usually from their home state, and perform a variety of tasks, such as delive ...

in 1965 and the first female page in 1971. His liberalism was such that he tended to receive support from traditionally-Democratic voters, with many Republicans defecting to support the Conservative Party of New York. Javits played a major role in legislation protecting pensioners, as well as in the passage of the War Powers Act; he led the effort to get the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act passed. He reached the position of

Ranking Minority Member In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...

on the Committee on Foreign Relations while he accrured greater

seniority Seniority is the state of being older or placed in a higher position of status relative to another individual, group, or organization. For example, one employee may be senior to another either by role or rank (such as a CEO vice a manager), or by ...

than any New York Senator before or since (). Along with Dwight Eisenhower, he was among the first and most important statesmen in passing legislation promoting the cause of education for gifted individuals, and many know his name from the federal Jacob Javits Grants established for that purpose.

Honors and commemoration

Javits received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1983. New York City's sprawling

Jacob K. Javits Convention Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James ...

was named in his honor in 1986, as is a playground at the southwestern edge of

Fort Tryon Park Fort Tryon Park is a public park located in the Hudson Heights and Inwood neighborhoods of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The park is situated on a ridge in Upper Manhattan, close to the Hudson River to the west. It extends mos ...

. The

Jacob K. Javits Federal Building The Jacob K. Javits Federal Office Building at 26 Federal Plaza on Foley Square in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City houses many federal government agencies. At over 41 stories, it is the tallest federal building in the ...

at 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan's Civic Center district, as well as a lecture hall on the campus of

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York syste ...

on Long Island, are also named after him. The Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act of 1988 was named in honor of Javits for his role in promoting gifted education. The

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Departme ...

awards a number of Javits Fellowships to support graduate students in the humanities and social sciences. The

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U ...

awards the Senator Jacob Javits Award in Neuroscience to exceptionally talented researchers in neuroscience who have established themselves with groundbreaking research. A 1983 US Congressional Act established those awards in honor of Senator Javits as a longtime supporter of research into understanding neurological disorders and diseases. In his memory, NYU established the Jacob K. Javits Visiting Professorship in 2008.

References

Sources

* * * ''Who's Who in America, 1966–1967''

External links

Archive of Senator Jacob K. Javits
at the Special Collections Department at

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Javits, Jacob Koppel 1904 births 1986 deaths 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American politicians American people of Russian descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American prosecutors Columbia University alumni Neurological disease deaths in Florida Deaths from motor neuron disease Jewish American military personnel Jewish American people in New York (state) politics Jewish United States senators Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives Lawyers from New York City Liberal Party of New York politicians New York State Attorneys General New York University School of Law alumni People from the Lower East Side People from the Upper West Side Politicians from Manhattan Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Recipients of the Four Freedoms Award Republican Party United States senators from New York (state) Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) United States Army officers United States Army personnel of World War II Yiddish-speaking people