Louis Lipsky
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Louis Lipsky (November 30, 1876 – May 27, 1963) was an American
Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...
leader, President of the
Zionist Organization of America The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA; ) is an American nonprofit pro-Israel organization. Founded in 1897, as the Federation of American Zionists, it was the first official Zionist organization in the United States. Early in the 20th century ...
, magazine editor, and author of books on Jewish culture and politics.


Biography

Louis Lipsky had three sons: David Lipsky, a theatrical press agent,
Eleazar Lipsky Eleazar Lipsky (September 6, 1911 – February 14, 1993) was a prosecutor, lawyer, novelist and playwright born in the Bronx, New York, United States. He wrote the novels that formed the basis of two very successful films, '' Kiss of Death'' ( ...
, a novelist, and Joel Carmichael, a historian. His grandson is Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist and author of the seminal book on politics and sports: How We play the Game (Beacon Press); great-granddaughter is the filmmaker Emily Carmichael. His sister, Lena, married economist and congressman Meyer Jacobstein. Lipsky has constantly called attention to the plight of European Jewry at
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
requesting to organize their rescue. Already in 1931, Lipsky warned of menace to Jews if Hitler wins. As he's representing the "darkest forces of rampant chauvinism."


Journalism career

Lipsky began his career as a reporter in
Rochester, NY Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
eventually moving to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
where he joined the staff of the ''
New York Morning Telegraph ''The Morning Telegraph'' (1839 – April 10, 1972) (sometimes referred to as the ''New York Morning Telegraph'') was a New York City broadsheet newspaper owned by Moe Annenberg's Cecelia Corporation. It was first published as the ''Sunday Me ...
'' as a reporter covering theater news and serving as a drama critic. Lipsky was the editor of the magazine, '' The American Hebrew'', from 1900 to 1914 and periodically the editor of ''The Maccabean-magazine'' (later became ''The  New Palestine (magazine)'').


Zionist activism

He left the magazine to become secretary of the Federation of American Zionists, the organization that would become the ZOA, and in that capacity edited the first Zionist publication in English, '' The Maccabean''. He was Chairman of the ZOA from 1922 to 1930 and served as its President from 1926 to 1930.Sandberg, Louis (November 2001)
"A Guide to the Papers of Louis Lipsky (1876-1963), Undated, 1898-1976"
American Jewish Historical Society. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
The ascension of Lipsky to Chairman and President of the ZOA was part of a power struggle against the leadership of
Louis Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis ( ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to ...
over issues of structural organization and financial planning and came about in part due to the influence and support of
Chaim Weizmann Chaim Azriel Weizmann ( ; 27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was a Russian-born Israeli statesman, biochemist, and Zionist leader who served as president of the World Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization and later as the first pre ...
who preferred Lipsky's candidacy. The "Lipsky" and "Brandeis" factions of Zionism were reconciled in 1930 when an eighteen member administrative council, split equally between their respective supporters, was elected to govern the ZOA."Religion: Zionist Chiefs"
(July 28, 1930). ''Time Magazine''. Retrieved December 1, 2013.
Lipsky's first collection of essays on Zionism was published in 1927 as ''The Selected Works of Louis Lipsky'' and reprinted in 1977 as ''Thirty Years of American Zionism''. He also published ''Gallery of Zionist Profiles'' (1956), an early history of the Zionist Movement told through profiles of its leaders and thinkers, and ''Tales of the Yiddish Rialto: Reminiscences of Playwrights and Players in New York's Jewish Theatre'' (1962).


See also

* The New Palestine (magazine)


References


Further reading

*
Deborah Lipstadt Deborah Esther Lipstadt (born March 18, 1947) is an American historian and diplomat, best known as author of the books ''Denying the Holocaust'' (1993), ''History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier'' (2005), ''The Eichmann Trial'' ...
, ''The Zionist Career of Louis Lipsky'', 1900-1921. Arno Press, Series Dissertations in American Biography, New York 1982,


External links


Guide to the Papers of Louis Lipsky (1876-1963)
at the
American Jewish Historical Society The American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS) was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish history and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation an ...
, New York. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lipsky, Louis 1876 births 1963 deaths Zionist Organization of America members