Nathan David Perlman (August 2, 1887 – June 29, 1952) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Life

Born in

Prusice Prusice () is a town in Trzebnica County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district ( gmina) called Gmina Prusice. The town lies approximately north-west of Trzebnica, and north of the ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

, Perlman immigrated to the United States in 1891 with his mother where they settled in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. After attending the city's public schools he pursued higher education by attending College of the City of New York; and

New York University Law School 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 ...

. Perlman graduated from law school in 1907, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

in 1909, and practiced law in New York City. Perlman was a Special Deputy

New York Attorney General 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 ...

from 1912 to 1914; and a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(New York Co., 6th D.) in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

and

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary For ...

. He was elected as a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or again ...

to the

66th United States Congress The 66th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, comprising the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from March 4, 1919, to Ma ...

to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of

Fiorello H. La Guardia Fiorello Henry LaGuardia (; born Fiorello Enrico LaGuardia, ; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the House of Representatives and served as the 99th Mayor of New York City from ...

. Perlman was re-elected to the

67th 67 may refer to: * 67 (number) * one of the years 67 BC, AD 67, 1967, 2067 * ''67'', a 1992 song by Love Battery from the album ''Between the Eyes'' * 67 (rap group), a drill music group from London See also * 67th Regiment (disambiguation) * 67th ...

, 68th and

69th United States Congress The 69th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1925 ...

es, holding office from November 2, 1920, to March 3, 1927. Afterwards Perlman resumed the practice of law. He was a delegate to the New York State Convention to enact the 21st Amendment, and then became a New York City Magistrate serving from May 1, 1935, to September 1, 1936. Perlman wanted to disrupt rallies in New York organized by the

German American Bund The German American Bund, or the German American Federation (german: Amerikadeutscher Bund; Amerikadeutscher Volksbund, AV), was a German-American Nazi organization which was established in 1936 as a successor to the Friends of New Germany (Fo ...

, but could not find any legal means or justification to do so. Setting the law aside, Perlman then conspired with the organized crime figure

Meyer Lansky Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Lucky Luciano, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the deve ...

to violently attack the rallies using Jewish mobsters. These attacks went on for months. At the

New York state election, 1936 The 1936 New York state election was held on November 3, 1936, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the state comptroller, the attorney general, a judge of the New York Court of Appeals and two U.S. Representatives-at-large, as well ...

, he ran on the

ticket for

but was defeated by the incumbent

John J. Bennett, Jr. John James Bennett (March 2, 1894 Brooklyn, Kings County, New York – October 4, 1967, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York) was an American lawyer and politician. Life Bennett was educated in Brooklyn's public and parochial schools. He was an ...

He was then appointed as a justice of the Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York on November 26, 1936, and was re-appointed on July 1, 1945. Perlman was a senior official of the

American Jewish Congress The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress or AJC) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts. History The AJCongress was ...

and, in 1945, consulted with and provided assistance to U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Robert H. Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as Uni ...

, President Truman's appointee to serve as chief U.S. prosecutor of Nazi war criminals. Perlman died at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City, and was buried at Mount Hebron 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 ...

References

Sources

External links

Jewish Gangsters
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Perlman, Nathan D 1887 births 1952 deaths Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives New York University School of Law alumni Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly American people of Polish-Jewish descent Politicians from New York City New York (state) state court judges Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 20th-century American judges Lawyers from New York City 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American lawyers Burials at Mount Hebron Cemetery (New York City) People from Trzebnica County Polish emigrants to the United States American Jewish Congress